We were all up around the same time again and headed off together.  The trail headed through the forest and then followed a dirt road before heading back onto a trail, it was a bit confusing at points and we did have to backtrack once.  After about 9km, we hit the 197 highway, where we took a break.  I was feeling antsy so I headed off ahead of the guys.  It was about 1 km along the highway shoulder before turning into Forillon park, the last section of the trail. 

It was a good climb up into the mountains, but the trail wasn’t too steep although it was churned up by an atv in sections, surprising given we were in a national park.  At the top of the climb, there were three viewpoints that look back to the valley that the 197 goes through and goes out to the Gulf. 

I stopped for lunch at the last lookout and the guys caught up as I was finishing my break.  Since they didn’t stop, I left a few minutes behind them.  We both did a short detour to Lac au Renard.  When I arrived, they were getting in for a dip, but it seemed a bit gooey for my taste so I passed and went back to the main trail.  It was mostly a very gentle uphill and the trail was either lovely underfoot, cushy soft mossy ground, or flooded and very muddy.  I eventually came to another lake and stopped at a bench at a spot overlooking the lake to have a snack. 

It was great to have benches at the viewpoints for once.  After my rest, it was just a couple more kms into les Crêtes 1 campsite; there was one tent platform near a toilet and an abri about 150m away next to a lake.  There was a bench next to the lake and I left my stuff there and went for a swim.  It even had a nice little pebbly beach that gently slopped into the water.  As I was swimming, I heard a big splash, and figured it was most likely a beaver slapping it’s tail on the surface although I didn’t actually see it.  The guys arrived as I was drying off and seemed to bring the mosquitoes with them.  They were sleeping in the shelter, which was the first one that didn’t have any type of door or cover over the entrance, so very much open to all the bugs. 

I was glad to set up my tent on the platform to be able to sleep nice and snug in my bug netting.  I did still have dinner over at the shelter with the guys before retiring to my bug-free palace.  The abri had a bear locker (someone had left a carton of milk in it, gross!) and I had a support to hang my food bag near the platform.  I’ve heard that bears aren’t uncommonly spotted in Forillon, so it was nice to have that infrastructure.