Saturday morning as I was about to turn onto rue Michaud I saw a suspension bridge blocked off by a fence and I thought to myself how that bridge was very small and it had better not be the bridge I drove almost three hours to see. The famed suspension bridge that had occupied my thoughts for two weeks was in the Guinness Book of Records at the time it was built as being the longest pedestrian suspension bridge. I realized my angle, the fact that I was driving and couldn't really look at it and the placement of the fence may have skewed what I was seeing, but as I turned down the new road I had lost sight of that bridge. It turns out that was the bridge and first impressions are most definitely deceiving sometimes and especially so this time.
I arrived just before 11am, parked in the free parking lot, grabbed my back pack and walking stick and headed across the road to the information center to buy my ticket to the park. When I was researching the place I knew there would be a fee to get in. That seemed like a no-brainer to me but there were comments on Trip Advisor where people complained about there being a fee to walk across a bridge and walk outdoors. Yeah, it's a bridge and a trail but it's a well maintained bridge and trail and a lot of money went into putting the place together for visitors. The $7.50 (Canadian) was well worth the several hours I spent in the park.
Note: the building on the right has two shops. The one up the front steps is the information center, museumish space and gift shop. You need to go to the side door on the left and just down the hill to get your ticket for the bridge and hiking - there's also another gift shop. There's a restaurant in another building to the left and a smaller building between those two, to the back that had an artist selling his crafts (this day they were very expensive, not very good crafts. I imagine they rotate artists).
Ok, ticket bought, map held onto tightly, hand stamped and I was on my way. What the heck with the hand stamping? The place is fenced in...but I found out later there's a bike trail that hits the edge of the park and it's free to bikers but there's a sign that says if the biker goes off trial they need to go to the office and buy a ticket. Through my entire hike, though, I don't believe any of the people I encountered were park employees so it's probably pretty easy for a biker to ditch the bike and blend in or for someone to just walk in from the bike trail. But why be a jerk? Buy the ticket and respect the folks who put the hard work into making the place a nice place to spend the day.
For several hundred feet there was an art exhibit of sorts. It was very interesting. I'd never encountered anything like it so I was a little put off with it and hoped the entire trail wouldn't be littered with the art. It seemed like too much for me to want to take in. The pieces were very creative. Maybe if I'd been prepared for their presence I may have enjoyed it better because I do like creative things.
(some kind of whirly thing around the tree. the ball in the upper right hand corner was something too)
(this was actually pretty cool - a hot air balloon attached to lines above. it moved when the wind caught the line)
I had a paper copy of the map but there were a lot of maps on sign boards throughout the park. There were also quite a few signs telling about the history of the park. The town harnesses the energy from the river and there was lots of signage with that history. Those signs, unfortunately, were all in French, where the other ones were in both French and English.
The trail is very well maintained and though I would have liked to have walked it barefoot there's a rule against that. I am the queen of bending rules but I didn't figure that was one I'd avoid getting caught at. Barefoot really wouldn't be a problem here, though.
As I rounded part of the trail and caught my first sight of the suspension bridge my doubts as to its length were quickly brushed aside. The three hour trip was most assuredly worth this bridge.
As you can tell, it was a beautiful day. It was a perfect day to discover this bridge. It may no longer be the longest in the world but it is a great bridge. I wasn't the least bit scared. That was kind of a bummer, but I suppose for most people it's a good thing. It's high up and really long but I never had the sense that I was going to fall or not make it to the other side. The gorge is beautiful and the swaying and jumping of the bridge added to that beauty, if you can imagine.
People can enter the park the way most people would exit it, walk a bit then go up the stairs to the end of the bridge and begin walking the trail. It's really ingenious on behalf of whoever set up the layout of the park. I know it was the bridge that drew me there but there must be lots of people who don't want to deal with the bridge to get to the hike.
(here's a picture of part of the walkway to get to the steps. personally this would scare me more than the bridge. thankfully I took the picture after I'd left that trail)
Did I mention that this hike isn't a run of mill, boring hike in the woods with mosquitoes and no facilities? Well, it isn't. There are a few areas to break up what some might call a boring hike, nary a mosquito in sight and a centrally located outhouse.
There's a cave down a long stair section toward the river. It was built by workers from the hydro plant to move water from the river to the plant. It was pretty cool...dripping with water and looking somewhat ominous. It reminded me of a Mark Twain story and I wondered if Injun Jim was around the corner.
Further down the trail you can see the dam. The water seemed low to me, but that could mostly be because it could have been a hundred feet higher from the way the gorge has been cut. The water comes from a couple of lakes in Vermont so it was interesting to me to imagine that Vermont is helping to power parts of Canada when other parts of Canada have that huge Hydro Quebec project to power them.
There were lots of families with their kids out on the trial. None of the children I saw had a problem with the walk. There were some older people who seemed to be worn out before they were half done, but it really isn't a difficult walk at all. This coming from a chick who does walk often but whose body really isn't accustom to difficult physical tasks. Pretty much anyone can walk this trail.
There's a tower in the park called Couillard Tower. It has 120 steps to the top and even though going up stairs is usually avoided by me I was determined to experience as much as I could in the park so I put my left foot forward and began the climb and 120 steps later I was very happy that I did. The wind was crazy up there and the view was beautiful. The surrounding area is fantastic to look at and you can see the bridge from there. Really a good decision to have gone up.
There is a section of trail just before you get to where the trail is going under the bridge that has a large rock formation to the left and begs to be explored. You can tell where other people have walked up that rock so you know you're not the only one itching to get to the top to see the river from another view. I began to go up the rock, but it was a bit slippery with the pine needles and smooth rock. I wasn't sure how safe it would be to descend and I was about to tell myself to just go for it and figure it out later but I heard children's voices coming up behind me and I knew I didn't want to deal with a bunch of parents getting pissed at me when their kids wanted to do it too and weren't going to be allowed so I got back on trial and continued walking. I'm really bummed about it too. Further down I saw where there was a little trail down from the rock. It must be part of that trail from where I had started and if I'd just waited for the kids to pass I could have walked the ridge of the rock...next time, I suppose.
(it's actually more straight up than it looks. honest)
The trail continues down to the river. A sane person knows that the river is dammed and swimming in that area would be reckless, but I'm not too sane and my plan was to take the boots off and wade a little bit, but, dammit, kids again! So I sat on a rock and wished. Next time I need to go on a school day so I can misbehave.
The old hydro plant is still on the property along with the spiral staircase inside. The machinery is amazing to me.
At the end of the trail the Mountain Trail begins. I didn't go up this one because frankly I was pooped and I still had a long drive ahead of me. The exit is just over a small foot bridge that takes you back to the ticket building and you exit through another gift shop. I bought a slush puppie and a postcard. You don't have to exit this way. You can turn back around and do the trail all over again - or even just half of it because it crosses itself - and cross the suspension bridge again. I didn't, because, as I said, I was tired.
It was a great day and I'm sure I'll make the trip again. Next time I'll plan to stay over night and hit that Mountain Trail.
(a little mountain run off)
