Through the province of Quebec today

On a short hike at our campground for the night

 

A shorter and somewhat easier travel day today, we trekked through Quebec to our campground in New Brunswick. 

With our early 6:30 start on this Sunday morning the Quebec Trans Canada traffic was lighter than we've dealt with on many previous trips out east. We still don't enjoy travelling in Quebec (for various reasons I won't go into here), but even though we love travelling in the US, these days we're very reluctant to cross the US border, so the options are very limited for driving to Atlantic Canada from Ontario. 

Crossing the St Lawrence via Hwy 30 bridge 

Overcast but bright 

 

Later on we started seeing some actual sun, after some rocky driving with gusty winds, rain and mist:

The highway gets more hilly after the Riviere-Du-Loup turn:

Pulp mills still active, producing steam plumes from waste heat

 

This downhill is much steeper than the camera shows

Our various camper vehicles have struggled with the hills in this area over the years. The uphill climb before this downhill has been the only hill this trip that has caused our van to shift down to a lower gear.

The hills have been tamed somewhat since trips with our older vehicles, but our current van's small 4 cyl turbo diesel is very torqey and quite capable on the hills.

 

République Provincial Park is just a few kilometers into New Brunswick, and has been a common stop for us on many trips. It can be hard to search for and find on the Internet, so here's a link in case you're interested:

https://www.parcsnbparks.ca/en/parks/8/republique-provincial-park

 

We were all checked in at the campground by 2:30 Atlantic time (1:30 Eastern). No reservation but no problem getting a site. I had gone into their reservation site yesterday and could see lots of vacancies for our stay, so didn't reserve.

All set up

 

A few pics while hiking around in the park: 

Rose plants are producing Rose Hips now 

 

Rose hips are very common in Atlantic Canada, and other places too. They are known for their high vitamin C content and have been traditionally used for medicinal purposes, including treating colds and boosting the immune system. Rose hips can be consumed fresh, dried, or used to make jams, jellies, and teas.  (credit Internet AI)

 

Several spots are looking overgrown. That's a deliberate re-wilding exercise:

 

 

We've booked in to the park for 2 nights. We like the park, and need a rest day to get ourselves and the van sorted. Our reservation at St Andrews Kiwanis campground is for Tuesday, and only about a 4 hr drive from here.