The Canyon of the Portes de l´Enfer

Le Canyon des Portes de l´Enfer was not in the first plan of my visit to Canada. But then I was looking for a way to interrupt the 700 km journey from Quebec City to Moncton, New Brunswick, so we wouldn't sit in the car all day. It is usually not possible to find tourist attractions to see in Canada's maps, so I tried the mapy.cz server, where in the tourist version you can come across signs of attractions (in Canada, which does not have castles, castles are mainly natural monuments) and I found this canyon. Arriving in the area is a bit more difficult to orientate, from the highway number 20 eastwards near the town of Rimouski we turn right on the road No. 232, which we drive for about 13 kilometers. Here you need to be careful, only one small signpost points to the waterfalls. We turn right again, pass the village of Saint Narccisse de Rimouski and continue for another 8 kilometers to the cottage, which is the information center of the area. I remind you that the road slowly turns into a paved stony road, on which the speed limit of 70 km / h can be taken as fun. In the cottage we pay a fee of about 14 CAD and taxes for entry to the park and we receive a leaflet with a map (in French, as otherwise we are in Quebec). The informant will also recommend us to first go to the second parking lot and walk the circuits in the northern part and then return and walk the circuit at the Grand Sault waterfall. We get in the car and drive on a really uneven road full of bumps. Here, too, the speed limit is 50 km / h, my Kia and I from the rental shop have half speed on the tachometer, and I pray that the car will not be damaged. After a five-kilometer drive, we get off at the second parking lot. Because we are still waiting for the finish of 450 km, we choose the option of a route shortened by a 2.3 km long circuit (even so, the leaflet states 1.5 hours of walking). At times we walk along the attic sidewalk, at times the stony path, here and there we stop at the board of the nature trail designed especially for children, and on the route there are several gazebos overlooking the river Rimouski, which carries a trough of knowledge lower than we move so far. After half a kilometer we come to a footbridge, which crosses at a height of 63 meters above the river to the other side of the canyon (it is said to be the highest footbridge in the province of Quebec). Crossing a slightly overhanging footbridge is fine, even if it sways a little. On the other side of the canyon is a cartoon lookout tower, but it is successfully replaced by a gazebo. After documenting, we return across the footbridge and continue to the Grand Macpés stream. From here we descend to the river, which will provide 300 steps, which we are alerted to everywhere. We slowly descend along the above-mentioned stream, which forms such small waterfalls on the rocky surface, until we stop at the river bank. After looking up, we see a footbridge arching the 63 meters higher. 300 steps are waiting for us again, this time upwards. After overcoming them, we are at a turnoff, the continuation would take us to Chute Chaud, a warm waterfall, but would extend our journey by an hour, which did not suit us. So we return along the path marked as Raccourci (as I then translated it is an acronym) and after the Sentier du Portage (which should mean the path for carrying kayaks) we return to the parking lot. After 2 kilometers we stop at P1, so a place for parking. The infrastructure is better here, there is a cottage, a camp, picnic tables, restaurants, because it is the end of September, nothing much works here anymore, so we have to make do with our own supplies. In fact, only a 1 km long walkway awaits us here. It leads us to the views of the Chute Grand Sault, ie the large waterfall. We return to the parking lot around the camp. Strengthen even more on the journey to the sounds of eternally falling water and set out to explore further. Definitely this gate to hell is quite pleasant and worth seeing.

He who is afraid cannot go on. The river level is exactly 63 meters below us

224, 225, 226 … that's the stairs, when will I be there?