Gorge Trail By Day

It was going to be a busy day. We planned to hike the Gorge Trail during the day and then hike it again at night for Foresta Lumina. 

We were up by 9, had a nice breakfast, did some puttering around, and then off we went to the Welcome Center. You have to get your hand stamped before you go on the hikes in the park so that  they know that you are a camper there and not just someone who snuck in. I guess this is because the trail seems to be shared with other near by venues. (Although you would never really know it to look at it.)

This trail is jam packed with so many things to see on it! It was full of history and mystery!  The first stop was the old knitting factory and where the old Penman's was. Apparently they made ladies "bloomers"  (undergarments) there way back in the day. 

The majority of the trail was made up of boardwalks and bridges. Every inch of it was clean and well taken care of. It was a real pleasure to walk here. 

To our right was the gorge and to our left was a cliff of rock with trees growing on the sides. All the rocks sloped down on an angle towards us. I noticed that my brother and Penny had stopped to look at something in the rocks up ahead. 

They pointed out that some of the rocks were being held in place and supported by some steel rods. It was kind of a scary thought to think that this cliff side could come sliding down at any time. But it was also reassuring that someone had thought about this and had taken measures to try to prevent a possibility of that occurring. 

We passed a gate that apparently closes at 5:30 PM. We assume this is so that they can set up for Foresta Lumina without having campers come walking through during the set-up procedures. 

Looking up ahead we could see a wooden bridge that crosses the gorge. We could also see a building in behind that. We had read on one of the sign posts that the building is a hydro plant. 

Once we got to that wooden bridge we turned around and we could see where we had been. From here we could see just how slanted the rock face really is. The rocks looked like something from out of a painting. 

Down by the hydro plant there were pillars of bamboo. 

We didn't go to the Hydro Plant building (at least not yet). But we could see that there were picnic tables over there and it looked like a pretty spot to sit if you are so inclined. 

Instead we continued across the wooden bridge until we came to the Foresta Lumina photo-op site. We all took turns taking pictures of each other under the sign. 

From here on out we started seeing strange and mysterious things. We wondered how different it was going to be at night. We saw lamps covered in strange woven sticks, like large bee hives hanging from posts. 

Then we came to a valley with more of these stick-woven, bee hive like things hanging everywhere above our heads. 

The valley had pillars or tablets  bordering each side. Each tablet had pictures, symbols and words cut into them.  

At the end of the valley was a giant bird made of sticks, suspended above a building. 

Some of the trees were painted with the Foresta Lumina logo on them. 

After the valley the path went upward. There were sets of stairs in three different directions. We decided to go up to the the top of one of the sets of stairs. From there you could look down and see the roof of the Hydro Plant far below. 

Then we came to a part of the path that was narrow and had a bamboo fence along the border. You could see that on the other side of the fence was actually a street of the town of Coaticook. It was a little disappointing to feel as though you had left the park and entered the town but at least they had made some effort to try to make it so that you didn't see the street directly. 

And on the left side some wild roses were growing to help distract your attention. 

The path didn't run very far and it was definitely worth the effort to get to the end of it because at the end we came to a huge suspension bridge. 

The view from up here was wonderful. You could see the rocks of the gorge far below, and the trees went on and on into the horizon. 

This was a fairly long bridge too. If you bounce up and down the whole bridge bounces so if you are afraid of heights then it might make your stomach queasy. However, as far as suspension bridges go, this one felt pretty safe. If you walk slowly the bridge doesn't bounce ... but you can't account for other people on the bridge; they might bounce. 

On the left side of the bridge I could see the Hydro Plant and the wooden bridge looking very small in the distance. And down below I could make out a person scrambling around on the rocks. I didn't know what they were doing so I zoomed in my camera to see if I could see clearer. 

It was a lady and she seemed to be building an inukshuk. Then I noticed that there were other inukshuks all around her. 

We spent quite a bit of time on the suspension bridge, but eventually we had to move on and see what was next. 

Next we came to a giant cross on a hill. I am sure there is a sign or information post somewhere telling what this cross is all about, however, I didn't see it and so I don't really know the purpose of the cross. 

Next we came to an area that looked like it was straight out of an episode of Survivor. At any minute I half expected someone to come out and get voted off the island. 

It was here that we discovered the Wishing Rock. 

The sign said that when a child a child places there hand on the rock and makes a wish, their wish will come true. 

This whole area was a bit of a mystery. There were things that looked like drums and there was a structure with ropes hanging from them. It was roped off because they didn't want people to touch them. There purpose of this section eluded us. 

Hanging above our heads was a stick formation of the Foresta Lumina logo. It looked like something from out of the Blair Witch project. 

And all along the ground were metal boxes with flame designs carves into them.

We had been walking for awhile by this point. There was a bathroom here and some benches and a water fountain. So we stopped for a rest and refilled our water bottles before continuing on. 

Next we came to a sign that told us about the Hemlock forest. Apparently mosquitoes are repelled by Hemlock! That is why there are no mosquitoes in Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook! I never knew this. Now I want to go and plant Hemlock trees everywhere! 

We went down a long flight of stairs until we got to the bottom of the gorge again. This is where the cave is located. We all decided to go spelunking.

On the walls were the original lamps that they used to build the tunnel, circa 1923. 

And where did this tunnel lead to? Nowhere. Just to a brick wall. The cave wasn't very big at all really. According to the sign at the mouth of the cave, there is actually another tunnel on the other side of the wall. This cave was only used to build that tunnel and had no other purpose. 

Also on the sign at the mouth of the cave is a warning that the roof is low and to be careful not to bang your head. Despite this warning and despite the fact that they even painted it orange so that you can see it, both Tessa and I still managed to bump our heads on the rock. 

After the cave, the trail started back in an upwards direction again. None of these ups or downs were strenuous. You hardly noticed it really. What I did notice though was some parts of the board walk were covered in wire mesh instead of boards so you could see right down to the gorge below. 

And in some places there were no boards at all; only wire mesh for a floor. 

If you looked way up you could see how high the trail was going to take you. 

We came to a place where there was a dam in the river. 

The dam looked like it had an interesting little fortress dungeon on the other side. But there didn't seem to be an easy access to get to it so we didn't go and check it out. It would have been fun if we could though. 

Instead we had to make do with exploring a giant wooden tower. 

The higher up the tower you went, the smaller the platforms got. There were benches on some levels so you could sit and take a break if you needed to. The very top platform could only hold about 3 people or so and there was no room for a bench up there. 

Oh but the view was spectacular. Way down below we could see the suspension bridge that we had been on earlier. And we thought we were high up then. This was much higher! 

Looking over the edge of the tower you could see the tree tops below us. 

After the tower we crossed a paved walkway to be able to continue on the path. We all had fun and mimicked the painted cross walk guy on the pavement as we walked. We got a bit of a laugh out of that. 

There is a neat rock formation called The Pot Hole. Apparently it was formed when a piece of stone got caught up in a whirlpool and spun around so much that it drilled a hole. 

According to legend, the good witch Eglantine uses these pot holes like a cauldron to brew her potions. 

We went down another flight of stairs and discovered what can only be described as the land of inukshuks. There was a section roped off with inukshuks and signs saying to place your fairy pebbles there. We figured it had something to do with the Foresta Lumina festivities that night. 

On the other side of the path there were inukshuks everywhere in the gorge. I didn't see just how many at first because they all blended in with the colour of the stones in the gorge. But once I notice done or two I began to see more and more. I realized that this was the place I had seen the lady from way up on top of the suspension bridge. 

The next place to go to on the trail was the Hydro Plant. We had come full circle. We approached the Hydro Plant from the back of the building. 

There was a little door at the back where you could go through and actually see the inside. 

You can't go very far inside. But you can get to a spot where there is a window looking out onto the floor below and you can see the giant generator inside. 

That completed our hike of the Gorge Trail. It had been a long walk and we realized that we had to do almost the same amount of walking again that night when we do the Forest Lumina hike.  We decided we had better go back and get some rest if we were going to do all that walking again in the same day. 

So, back at the camp, some of us went for a nap while others of us went for a swim in the pool. I did neither.  I just relaxed and sat and did some bird watching. 

I saw a beautiful black , white and orange bird I had never seen before. It was a Towhee. 

After resting up and having a good supper, we were all prepared to go on our next adventure.....Foresta Lumina!