Eastern Townships 2013, Day 7: Yamaska River National Park to Montreal

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We successfully made it through the night without any further wildlife incidents -- or at least none severe enough to wake us up. The final day of our trip had arrived, with almost 100 kilometers left to go back to Montreal. Before hitting the road, however, we were about to switch our mode of transport from pedals to paddles.

Packed up and ready to go

Bathroom selfie

Because it was a weekday, all equipment rentals at the park were half-off, providing us with an opportunity to explore the reservoir by canoe. We picked up the paddles and life vests at the info counter and biked to the beach

Never bike without your helm...er...life vest

Much to the biketopus's amusement, my paddling skills continue to be, well, a little underdeveloped, but with the help of Captain Biketopus we safely made it out onto the lake and back. Other than one other canoe and the occasional bird, we had the reservoir all to ourselves.

The hour passed by swiftly and I was glad to have steady ground under my feet again. It was time to get back home! We followed the Yamaska River downstream to Lac Boivin. On an observation tower we stopped for a second breakfast, bird watching, and looking back towards the mountains that we had ridden over just a few days ago.

High above Lac Boivin

The ride back to Montreal was rather uneventful. Except for a couple kilometers between Granby and Saint-Cesaire we backtracked the route we had taken on day 1. In Chambly we passed by the preparations for a large beer festival -- unfortunately we were one day too early -- and stopped for ice cream. I also quickly went into the restaurant where I had lost my gloves and lock on day one, but no luck.

Route des Champs turning from asphalt to gravel

From Chambly, there were only about 30 kilometers left to go, all flat, but our legs and butts were increasingly tired. We made a final stop at the Saint-Lambert locks on the St. Lawrence and at almost exactly 100 km we arrived back home. Hooray!

Home in sight!

We can do it!