The drive out to the campground the night before landed me in Grands-Jardins National Park. With the place being pretty booked up my only option for camping was an open field, sure enough the sun was shining brightly in the morning and I was cooked out of my tent. I met some friendly travelers from the Czech Republic as I was packing my things up, we shared stories with one another and they even offered up their home for me to stay in if I ever made it out to their country.
Being in the national park already I decided I’d head north to explore it a bit before venturing further east. What a great detour it turned out to be! Exploring the various cities and towns can be exciting but it’s out in nature that I feel my soul truly comes alive. The winding roads of the park took me through tall mountains clothed in evergreens, an abundance of lakes and rivers finding their home at the giants feet.
I found myself hungry, wondering what I’d do for food. Nature responded as one of the places I’d stopped at to appreciate the scenery had an abundance of wild blueberries and raspberries flourishing on the mountainside. Fresh berries from the wild are hard to top and I took full advantage, eagerly stuffing my face. I must have been there for an hour chowing down, even collecting a nice little stockpile for later on.
With a belly full of berries I returned to the road, content and cheerful as could be. I continued to find myself stopping a lot to take in the view or capture a picture, always a worthwhile pause in the day.
Having now exited the national park, I found myself hungry once again and stopped to chow down on some of the apples I’d picked up from an orchard a few days earlier. I had just started to dice a few up when an older man pulled up and struck up a conversation with me. Death had marked him, he had terminal cancer and was expected to live 3 more months. As we talked he said something that stuck with me, that despite being as sick as he was he would look at the state of the world and often think it was more sick than himself. With the last of his strength he was going to travel to Jasper National Park, admiring its beauty before returning to the earth. What would you do if you had 3 months to live, travel the country? Tomorrow is promised to nobody.
Returning once more to the roads I could see the sun beginning to set as the night overtook the last rays of sunlight. I drove to a campsite just before the long highway that would take me to Labrador City tomorrow. I arrived just in time as the lady at the office was just about to leave, she gave me a spot right by the water, one of the nicest campsites I’d had this entire trip! With a complementary bundle of wood I decided I’d start a campfire and write my blog entry for the day. The flame-kissed embers smoldering among the dimming flames have caused my eyes to grow heavy, it’s time to call it a day.
