A few weeks ago, our good family friends from California drove up in their Westy to visit us in Montreal, and we took a caravan camping trip down past Quebec City to l'Ile D'Orleans for two nights of camping at Camping Orleans followed by a couple days in the Parc National des Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie. This was our first time camping in Canada after a lifetime of camping in California, Oregon, and Washington State, so we were all curious as to how it would compare.
Pre-departure
En-route
One of the things which really stood out to us was how uncrowded the campgrounds were. We stayed at the Camping Orleans grounds first. The campground is on l'Ile D'Orleans, just past Quebec City, and was pretty luxurious compared to our normal - there was a pool and the campground is right on the water! Beautiful.
Playing with the beach reflections in my sunglasses
Our camp site
Breakfast
Some evening entertainment
There were clean bathrooms, too, so no brushing our teeth in the woods here! The second night there was a rain/thunderstorm, which was pretty exciting in the Westy - sleeping in the canvas pop top felt like being in a small bubble cave pelted by the rain. After two nights we moved on to the Parc National des Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie (probably the longest national park name any of us had heard).
Here, we hiked, picked wild berries, and went canoeing. The thing which really stood out to us was that, in order to decrease park traffic, there was a park wide shuttle which ran every fifteen minutes and connected all aspects of the park. So, once we parked in our campsite, we did not have to drive anywhere - instead, we could walk to one of the shuttle stops and catch a free shuttle to wherever we wanted to go. This is a great idea, as it decreases traffic and pollution while still providing convenience and easy access to the park. Surprisingly, there was almost no one else at the campsite or using the shuttles, so it felt as if we had much of the beautiful park to ourselves.
Moody skies
We saw a beaver swimming past us while canoeing.
Lunch!
All in all, the camping was a huge success, and we all plan to return!