Camping Transit, Levis, Quebec, Canada (Quebec City)
Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. ~ Proverbs 4:26-27
It’s nice that Scripture tells us to make level paths for our feet. I like level paths. But so far, there’s not much level ground around Quebec Province. I know that’s not what that verse means, I’m just sayin’ . . .
It was another day of steps. Lots and lots of steps. Again. We visited Montmorency Falls today.
Named by Samuel de Champlain (Remember that name? Discovered Canada in 1608?), in honor of the Duke of Damville, Charles de Montmorency-Damville, Admiral of France and Brittany. By the way, Brittany is a Celtic region on the west side of France. I didn’t know that so I had to look it up. 😊
Anyway, the main waterfall is 275’ high which is 99’ higher than Niagara Falls.
Even though this seems like a lot of them, it’s only a few of the ones we actually took. : )
Those are logs, by the way!
They’ve constructed 487 steep steps up the side of a crumbling mountain, not only to reach the top, but also to provide stunning views of the area. If you’re not interested or able to hoof it up those stairs, you can pay to take the cable car instead. But since we eat well and have calories to burn, it’s up the steps for us. Ugh! However, Blaine tells me that climbing those steps is good conditioning for our next few stops around Quebec Province, so I’m not quite so begrudging now.
Hopefully this one’s a bit newer than that. : )
That’s the easy way up. : )
Other exciting offerings they have here (for a fee, of course) include a zip line across the face of the falls and rock climbing. There’s also a suspension bridge once you get to the top, but you don’t have to pay to cross that. We felt the $12.50/car entrance fee was enough for us.
Some other interesting things about this waterfall? During the Seven Years’ War, in 1759, there was a pivotal battle between the French and English at the base of the Falls. The humidity of the falls caused the English army’s gunpowder to cake, rendering it useless. They retreated, and the French won the battle (though not the war).
And we know that these Quebecois make the most of their cold and snowy winters. In fact, they even have fun at the waterfall! The Falls make intricate ice formations, which they put to use ice-climbing. In addition, we learned about an ice and snow mound that forms here. According to one source I looked at, the waterfall’s natural kinetic energy faces the deep freeze of winter and does the following: When water travels fast, it generates energy (like all that wind we encounter), and that energy typically exerts heat. The energy generated by water over this waterfall can exert enough heat for evaporation to occur, even in the middle of winter. Once the steam hits the freezing cold air, it cools fast and condenses. The result? A fine, powdery snow that settles at the bottom of the waterfall in an enormous mound that they call ‘pain de sucre’, or . . . . (do you remember from our hike last week??) . . . . sugarloaf.
Wouldn’t that be something to see in person!!???
And it’s entirely possible that it was recently made.
It leads to an island everyone says “you have to visit!” It’s called ile d’ Orleans.
Blaine said it reminds him of “Little Rascals”! : )
I’m just gonna say up front – – Blaine and I are neither one into this type of art, but see what you think.
Even with the description, we don’t get it . . .
We couldn’t make out what any of it was, or said.
And as a footnote, it was extremely hot here in Quebec – just like most every place else in North America today! It was so hot, we had salad for dinner. Now something we’ve learned in recent years is that with just the two of us to feed, it’s difficult to come up with ingredients for a chef’s salad, so we buy a sub sandwich somewhere, take the meat, cheese and veggies off to put on the salads and then make garlic bread out of the bun.
But this time, in this place, Subway really skimped on the ingredients. We don’t know if that’s normal for up here, or just this store, but nevertheless, we made it work. Even though the kids working there didn’t know much English. 😊