A week ago was the peak of the famous autumn where everything was colorful, but by the time I am writing this post, the snow has already fallen with no intention of stopping. Last weekend, right before the last leaves fall from the trees we went to the Jacques-Cartier National Park, 45 minutes from Quebec City with our friends, fellow Indonesians; Ira and Degi.
 |
| Do you see that middle peak? That was where we were going! |
The park has multiple trails with different level of difficulties and Le Scotora is one of the most challenging trails in the park. The trail leads to the top of Mount Andante, about 809m high, in total of 16km round trip hike and it starts at the Jacques Cartier River.
Le Scotora trail is considered as a historic trail because it was the same trail that used by the Indians and the Jesuit to reach lake St-Jean. They must have had quite the legs because this trail isn’t really a walk in a park and I imagined that they must have carried what Indians and Jesuits would carry back then along the way. I brought along only a sandwich, a water bottle, and a bit of courage to finish the trail without dying, and I kid you not, I almost abandon them midway.
After crossing the wooden Jacques Cartier river bridge, we will find the area for rustic camping. When I say rustic, it means a non-service camping site; a flat(ish) forest area where you are suppose to just find your spot to build the your tent. The only luxury you have on this camping site is the tiny wooden toilet. You can’t miss the camping area because it has few metal poles to hang your food up so the bear won’t go rummaging your tent. Yes, bears exist in this conservational forest. Fat and protected.
 |
| On the right side is the metal pole to hang your food when you are camping in this area. |
The first section of the hike is a steep rocky trail to reach the massive plateau. I must admit, this was actually the hardest part of the trail. Once you have passed this part, the trail gets easier. We reached the top of the plateau and greeted by the boreal forest, which is the second section of the trail.
The boreal forest part has its own uniqueness, it has been said that this part is invested by the cute, hard-working, industrious, big-teethed, engineers of nature : the beavers. Although we didn’t see any of them, we did see the badass dams they have built. If people have a bucket list of what they want to do before they die, I have a bucket list of animals I’d love to see in the wild before I die, and beaver is on the top of the list.
 |
| Do you actually know what animal is this? |
The dentally challenged rodent is actually a significant emblem of Canada. Without it, Canada would not exist. The explanation is simple; fur trade. Back in 16th century, the fur trade was the backbone of the economy and was a major international business for hundreds of years. Beaver pelts were highly priced, it was used to make a lot of winter gear such as hats to winter coats. Beaver were hunted down for their fur to the point that they were almost extinct. Fortunately, the extensive conservation efforts and wetland rehabilitations have helped the beaver from the verge of extinction.
 |
| The slow economy has once again affects beaver lifestyle. Young beavers are forced to take up side jobs; pole dancing on daylight and dam construction works at night. Foto source: Colink from Flickr |
We did find few freshly nibbled woods scattered along the trail which means there are definitely beavers in this area. I wonder how is the statistics for beavers who died because of the woods they were nibbling fell on them. It’s tragic but at least they died doing what they loved.
 |
| Beavers are bad ass, they build this lake with nothing but their teeth. The only thing my teeth do is chewing food and make my dentist richer. |
 |
| Very serene yet slightly eery, especially with the grey sky we had that day. |
 |
| The dead trees branches looks like bones sticking out of the black water. |
 |
| Human looks tiny compare to this rock wall. |
 |
| The surface of the rock wall, look how straight is the surface, it almost unnatural. |
On spring, spontaneous waterfall appears from these walls from the melting snow. Along the way we also saw few creeks of cold water. The water source of this creek was the peat lake made by the beavers so the water is dark brown. I kept my duck habit (my tendency to go barefoot in whatever natural flowing water body I find) to myself that day because Ira and Degi were there, lets not freak them out too much just yet.
I think we already surprised them by taking them on this trail. Degi thought it would be a walk in a park. Well he wasn't totally wrong, technically. I just forgot to mention the details of the trail we were about to take and I should have warned them of how our legs would be the next day after the hike: dead.
The view on the top of the Mount Andante was spectacular, it's totally worth the walk. You can see very far from up here. One down side of this spot is it is not fenced, there are no barrier for you from tumbling down like a meatball to the bottom of the valley. For someone with acute acrophobia (fear of height) like me, this situation was challenging. My legs were shaking and my crotch was tingling, however, I still managed to enjoy the view although I looked like I was about to crap my pants the whole time. Taking a decent pic of me on this spot was out of the question.
The day was short and it got dark pretty fast, we decided to get back to the car before the sun was completely hiding behind the mountains. It was about 4PM when we were heading back. We did the round trip hike for about 6-7 hours, including multiple breaks, a lunch break, and numerous stop to take pics. We did well. I felt a bit euphoric having done the 16km hike so taking a cheesy pic to celebrate was necessary.
 |
| We did it, yay! |
If you are in Quebec City and surrounding, do visit the Parc Jacqued-Cartier, highly recommended!