Day trip to Gaultois August 4th

The ferry we took left Hermitage at 11:15AM and arrived in Gaultois half an hour later.

She is the Terra Nova from Ottawa and costs a mere $1:00 per trip for seniors.

We rode outside as you can't see much from the cabin.

We stayed in Hermitage Bay with land nearby the whole trip.


Looking back at Hermitage.

A rock covered with gulls along the way.

Pulling in to Gaultois.

Gaultois has a few very bad roads and most people use these all-terrain vehicles.

Workers are preparing to off-load the cargo here.

The boardwalk from the harbour to one side of town. We are walking over to the Hotel to get lunch.

We passed this fishing shack at the other end of the board walk.

We decided to explore the town and soon found ourselves heading onto a walking trail with lots of beautiful small lakes.

Joanne got this picture of a pitcher plant.

Here is a larger one but without a flower. You can see the pitcher shape of the leaves.

The path was worn enough that we could always see it and it was dotted with a few benches and some signs with names of lakes or viewpoints.

It was a nice partly overcast day, comfortable for hiking.

Lots of water lilies.

There were wood paths over the boggy bits

We passed Halfway Hill with plenty of time left so decided to walk the whole trail.

Then everything changed.

The path became a little less travelled.

A dead tree lay across the road but we could see that we were nearing the bay again.

We decided to continue but the trail was becoming more difficult. At one point we had to scamper down rocks with a tiny stream running through them. There was still the odd bench or wooden walkway so we felt we were still on the trail even though it didn't seem like it.

Sometimes the peat moss was wet and we slid. We all fell at least once but were continuing because we were so near the end.

We came out onto a marshy area full of reeds and peat where there was no evidence of a path.

There was a deep stream we couldn't cross without getting wet so we decided to turn back and walk out the way we came.

Joanne took a picture as we were contemplating the path saying "This may we the last picture anyone ever sees of you two!"

Without stopping to smell the flowers it took only an hour and a half to walk out the way we came.

At some point Joanne noticed that she was missing one of her gold ear rings, probably caught by a branch or something.

Later we discovered it laying along the gravel road we had come down from the town where she stopped and took off her sweater on the way in.

We all enjoyed the hike except for the last bit.

Gaultois is known for its beautiful trails and people come to Gaultois just for the purpose of walking the trails which meander through the hills beside the little lakes.

We enjoyed our lunch at the hotel restaurant and would do the same again too.

We made it back for the early ferry home with 7 minuits to spare.