Perfectly Pristine Opemican Park

It is getting near the end of the camping season, but I still wanted to get one more trip in. So my sister, Heather,  and I decided to go camping for a couple of nights in Quebec at Parc National d'Opemican. 

It is a park that neither of us had been to before so we turned on Google Maps to help us find our way there. 
We were almost there when Lady Google told us that we would soon be arriving at our destination but would have to park the car and walk the rest of the way in. 

Don't Listen To Lady Google!!!
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When we arrived at the spot she said we needed to walk from, there was still about another 7 km to go. And we were able to drive all the way to the park office. The only time you needed to walk was to go from the parking lot to the building. 

From the parking lot we could see a big, modern looking building. This was the park office and store. 

We parked the car in front of the Service Centre sign and began to look around. It was a beautiful day and we were in a beautiful park. 

As you go towards the office, there is a large stone with a carving of some fish on it. How unique! 

Just before the walkway to the office there were three large signs. On the left was a satellite image showing the location of all 28 provincial parks in Quebec. On the right was a satellite picture of Opemican park which comprised of 4 different areas of land in yellow. 

The long wooden bridge with black iron railings leading up to the office doors, made it feel like we were entering a place of grandeur. 

The office and store had big glass doors, and glass walls. There was a door that went out to a balcony. 

They had all sorts of things for sale here. 

There were hats and coats and bags and shirt. 

There was also some artwork for sale here. I particularly loved this one that was done as a 3-D painting that popped right out of the frame itself. This was created by Francine Plante. 

I chose a new T-shirt to buy that I couldn't resist. 

At the desk we were greeted by a wonderful lady named Roxane. She was so friendly and pleasant. I just loved her! She is one of those people you couldn't help but instantly like, and she seemed to truly love her job. 

She asked if we had our access passes on our phone. Apparently they do everything digital here. I didn't have mine because I didn't have time to check email before I left so I didn't even know I needed one. I was expecting the paper version like they do in Ontario. I tried to get on the internet through their wi-fi in the office, but my phone just wasn't co-operating with us. Roxane was so patient with me. Finally, we had to give up. Roxane was able to print out a receipt that I could carry with me that would work as a substitute in this case. So, we weren't completely out of luck at least. To be honest, I really would have rather just had the paper permit. So much more simpler than dealing with digital stuff when I am trying to leave civilization and the digital world behind. 

She explained to me how to get to our campsite. It was going to be over 7 km more to drive to get to that part of the park because the park is spread out over a wide area in sections. The main campsites were right near the office, but we had reserved a walk-in site which is at the other end of the park. She let us know that there was no potable water at that end of the park.

She also told us that there was a trail to a waterfall in that section of the park. I was excited about that. I like waterfalls. 

We left the office with our new purchases in hand. We were curious about the rest of the building so we decided to look around. The comfort station was downstairs so we followed the signs to see what it was like. 

Downstairs there was a long hallway with a bunch of rooms. At the end of the hall was a door leading to the outside. We began to look into each room as we headed towards the door.

There were women's and men's bathrooms. They were so clean that you would think they had never been used before. 

Naturally, there were flush toilets. The stalls were spotless, 

In the bathrooms were showers that were also sparkling clean. 

There were double sinks and large mirrors. 

Further down the hall we found a family bathroom. It had a regular sized toilet and a cute little children's sized toilet beside it. The dividers between the toilets had some fun spiral designs on it. 

The sinks were also adult and child size. So cute!  There was a change table on the wall and a shower in here too. 

When we went out the door at the end of the hall, we came out into a children's play ground.  This playground had all sorts of fun equipment to play on. There were climbing ropes, and slides, and steps.

They had an adorable snail and dragonfly bouncing spring toys to ride on. They were very whimsy looking. I particularly liked the snail. 

There was a big red boat to play in with climbing ropes inside.  This playground would delight any child. And it was all brand new looking and perfectly spotless. Much thought and care has gone into this playground.

Outside the building on the side of the wall, was a set of sinks for washing children's hands after play.

On the same wall was a set of drinking fountains. Again, there was one for adults and a lower one for kids. 

In the same unit as the drinking fountains there was also a place to fill up water bottles and jugs. We took the opportunity to run up to the car and grab our water jugs to fill up here since we now knew that there was no potable water at our campsite. 

From the playground we spotted what looked to be a nice little sandy beach. We headed over there to check it out. 

Off to one side of the beach was some sort of white structure. I have no idea what this is, but I do know that it is part of an historical site. 

On the other side of the beach was a dock with a canoe and a boat shored up to it. Oddly the beach had a rope fence around it. 

On the rope fence were signs indicating "no swimming for people or dogs" and "no canoeing" . It was unclear to us why this would be the case. 

It wasn't until I got home later and translated this sign that I understood why the beach was off limits. The sign reads as follows: 

"In the past, Opémican Bay has been the scene of important industrial activities for the region, as evidenced by the historic buildings. Unfortunately, these activities have led to contamination of the sediments of the bay, which forces us to temporarily limit access to it until it is decontaminated and rehabilitated.

This major work will be completed in the coming years. The rehabilitation in this exceptional natural site will allow the reopening of the sandy shore of the bay for water activities and swimming.

Access to the water through the sandy shore of the bay is currently prohibited.

In the meantime, we invite you to use the sandy shore near the Auberge Jodoin, which has been tested and is not contaminated. We have set up a temporary boat rental center there.

Thank you for your understanding, Opemican National Park team."

Unfortunately, even after I got home and scoured the maps and internet, I could not locate this "Auberge Jodoin" place that the sign spoke of. As far as I can tell it is one of the historical sites in the park. But where in the park exactly, I couldn't say. It would be something you would have to ask about at the desk I guess. 

Between the beach and the parking lot there is an interesting little educational display that you can walk through. 

It is a hands on educational area that tells about mixed forests and biodiversity.

The information is displayed in a fun way on circles all over the section. 

Heather and I spent a few moments here reading some of the information. 

After that we hopped into the car to go back to the highway so that we could continue on to our campsite. 
Unfortunately, we made a wrong turn and got a bit turned around. We must have looked confused because as we were slowly driving and trying to figure out where we were, some local residents pulled up beside us and kindly helped us figure out where to go. I wonder if they get that a lot. 

We actually weren't that far away from the highway and with one right turn we were back on course. We drove 7 km up the highway, past the town of Laniel.  We knew we were almost there when we saw the sign for the three different trails. Another 2 more km to drive and we would be there. 

At last we came to a parking lot with a large sign that welcomed us to our campground.  We had arrived! 

The sign had a "You are here" star on the sign and showed us the nearby hiking trails as well as the locations of the four walk in sites in this area.  We would be at site number five. 

Beside the big sign were a number of carts that were provided so that we could transport our gear up to the site. These guys have thought of everything! 

We grabbed two carts and loaded them up. I kept dropping things out of my wagon because I over loaded it just a bit. 

The first thing we passed on the way to our site was a great big wood shed. It was almost the end of the season, so the wood shed did not have a lot of wood left in it. To the left of the shed was a big tank of water. You couldn't drink it but you could use it to do dishes and stuff like that. You could also filter it if you had a water filter system with you. We had our water from the drinking fountain at the office though so, we didn't need to use any of this water. 

Within throwing distance of the wood shed, there was the cutest little outhouse that I ever did see. It looked like a tiny little cabin. 

Inside was a vault toilet and a little closet that kept cleaning supplies. Just like everything else in the park this bathroom was spotless.  The air freshener spray that they used smelled like oranges. It was the most pleasant outhouse I have ever used. 

Attached to the outside of the outhouse was a first aid kit and a hand sanitizer dispenser. 

Site number five was the first one on the walk in trail so, we didn't have far to go. 

The trail to our campsite was wide, gravel,  and well groomed. It was a lovely little walk actually. 

The campsite was a good size. The picnic table was in great condition and even had a piece of metal on top at one end so that you could place a camp stove or a hot pan there and not damage the table. This is a fantastic idea! 

The fire pit was clean. Very clean. As a matter of fact the whole site was immaculate. There was not one bottle cap, not one piece of paper or plastic in even the smallest amount anywhere. We found this to be true of every part of the park that we visited. The staff here took super great care of this park. 

The next thing that stood out about this site was the cute little miniature wood shed that held our own private stash of wood to use. It was a nice touch. There was even a plastic tote under it that contained some newspaper and a bit of kindling to start a fire with. Yep! Like I said, they thought of everything!

Posted to a tree at the edge of the site was a sign asking you to please not wander off the site and into the surrounding forest. This prevents damage to the surrounding area.  I could see kids being disappointed by that because there were a whole lot of areas that kids would love to be climbing and exploring in around this site. Granted, the site was situated on the top of a high, and steep, rocky, hill. So, it is probably safer for kids not to be wandering too close to the edge of that anyways. 

We set up our water jugs at the end of the table and began unloading our carts and setting up camp. 

There was more than enough room for the 10 person tent that Heather and I would be sharing for the next 2 nights. 

Once the camp was set up, we had time to relax and really look around.  The leaves here were beginning to change into their fall colours in an unusual way. The edges of the green leaves were edged in red as though someone had come along with a red magic marker and outlined them all. 

Other looked like they had been dabbed with a sponge in red and yellow paint. 

There were not many mosquitoes or other biting flies. The only fly I saw at all actually was this little Banded Thintail, It doesn't bite or sting, despite looking like a bee. 

There was no one else in this section of the park. It was just us. We had the whole place to ourselves. In light of this, we decided to walk further down the trail to see the other three campsites before the sun went down. 

The campsite next to us was number six. We couldn't see it directly from our site, but it wasn't very far at all. 

It looked rather a lot like the site that we were already on. Actually, I think ours was prettier than this one. 

Number seven was a little further of a walk, but none of them were extremely far apart from each other. 

This site had a better view of the river below. It also had a second level to it. The top level seemed to be the place that you would pitch a tent. 

While the lower area seemed to be where you would have your fire and eat your meals at the picnic table. 

Number eight was the furthest away. This meant that it was furthest away from the bathroom, but it also meant it was the most private. 

Not only was it way down at the end of the trail, but then it also had a curving side trail to it as well. You would definitely benefit from using the wagons to bring your stuff over to this site. 

That said, this was the most beautiful of the four sites and the one with the best view.  It also had two levels to it. 

Unlike site number seven though, this one had stairs leading down to the next level. Site seven only had a small sloping hill down to its lower level. 

This site was also designed to have space for the tents on the upper level. 

And the lower level was for the firepit and eating area. 

However, this site had some logs for seats that the other sites didn't have.  The view to the lake was much more unobstructed than all the others. This site is probably the best of the four sites if you don't mind being so far away from the bathroom. 

I took a closer look at the little wood shelter that was built here. I realized that it was actually made out of a couple of pallets that were turned on their side and attached with some two by fours. Pretty simple really. 

The roof on it was just some boards with some cedar shingles on top. 

We sat here and enjoyed the view and the peace and quiet for a bit. But we were getting hungry so we had to get back to our own campsite to make ourselves some supper. 

Over by our wood shelter a very large toad was hopping along. I had seen a lot of toads this year. This one was probably the biggest one I had seen out of all of them. It was much lighter in colour around its belly compared to the others as well.  I watched him as he disappeared under a pile of rocks. 

We built a fire and ate supper. Then we just sat around the fire talking and enjoying each others company until about 10:30 at night. 

When it was almost time for bed we packed up the food into the wagons and headed down to the car to store it for the night. It was a bit of a trek to put food away but we didn't mind. 

On the way back, we passed the wood shed. We had noticed earlier that there was a sign indicating that the area was under surveillance by a camera. We looked and looked but we never saw a camera anywhere. We wondered if that sign was just a bluff. Not that it mattered because we had more than enough wood at the campsite and we didn't need to steal any from the wood shed. 

Besides, while we were looking around the wood shed, we happened to see a very large spider up on the ceiling. Very large. 
Who needs a camera to keep people from taking wood when you have a guard spider? After seeing that thing, I wasn't about to go hanging around that shed, that's for sure. 

We got back to camp just as it was starting to rain. Time for bed anyways. So, we doused the fire with water (we weren't going to trust that the rain would put it out), and headed into the tent. 

Aside from the rain, all was quiet outside. There were no loons, and no other critters or people making noise. It was very peaceful and we were very tired, so it wasn't long before we were fast asleep in this picture perfect park.