Laurentian Area north of Montreal

[deppstein]

I will be heading up to the Laurentian area north of Montreal at the end of April to explore and do some camping. Has anyone been up to that area? Any campgrounds to suggest? Places to see in particular? Only have a week...unfortunately. I prefer to boondock or stay in wooded campgrounds, rather than stay at chock-a-block RV parks, but don't know what will be open. Hiking, biking on the agenda.
All thoughts and suggestions welcome.
David

[Blue~Go]

I haven't replied because I don't have any useful info on that area, but ..... that ought to be amazing! I hope you'll show us a bit of it after you've been there. I do miss the north country.

[caconcourse]

We stayed at the Algonquin Provincial Park (State Park) nearby on our Great Lakes trip last summer. It is a very nice wooded park with lakes, bigger than some of the Canadian National Parks we visited. Bring "Loonies" (Canadian dollars) for the laundry, I had to walk about two miles to get change, and she would barely give up a single coin for me. Interestingly, in Canada, sites with electrical hookups are called "Hydro", since so much of their electricity is hydro-electric. We stayed in a "Hydro" site, but the box was so far from our site parking spot, our cord wouldn't reach, so be aware.

I think this was a picture from that park:

Clay

[deppstein]

Thanks caconcourse for suggestion of Algonquin...it's a bit further west than I have time for on this particular run...but I have heard great things about it--supposed to be terrific for multiple day canoe trips, so I will be sure to take the canoe with me when we go.

Blue--I can understand your missing the north country. I'll be sure to take some pics and send them along.

David

[caconcourse]

More bike rack info:

The top hooks are mounted with 3M very high bond tape (VHB) and the supplied screws. The tape provides the bonding strength, and it is very strong. We snagged a dump water hose on the bikes one time, and it pulled so hard it broke the bike wheel and bent the hook (ouch), but did not affect the bond in any way. It was so hard to get off when I had to replace the hook, I actually peeled off some of the gelcoat (ouch again) when I got impatient and pulled the last bit instead of cutting away with a razor. I filled in the resulting gouge with marine epoxy, but it is hidden under the replacement hook. The bent hook was so stiff and strong, I could not straighten it out, even with a vise.

The fork blocks are also mounted with VHB tape, but also have bolts with washers and nuts on the inside. Some units have their outdoor shower in this area, so it might be harder to locate the blocks exactly right. The handlebars are turned inward so the forks are "upside down" on the blocks, This makes the mounting more compact.

When the bikes are mounted, there is a cavity above the handlebars and between the rear wheels, where we stuff the front wheels. We strap the two wheels together at one point at the top, so they form a triangle inside the cavity. We use Velcro straps to hold the handlebars from both bikes together, and we strap the front wheels to the handlebars and frames, so all of the parts are like a single mass attached to the wall. We've carried the bikes over 20,000 miles with no problems, other than cloth covers (two attempts) shredding in the wind, and the aforementioned water hose incident.

Here is a parts list, (all from Amazon):

Very high bond tape:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012R ... UTF8&psc=1

Wall hooks:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019 ... UTF8&psc=1

Fork Blocks:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F ... UTF8&psc=1

Velcro Straps:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012 ... UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Fastening-YiwerD ... J9S2DD7GHK

More pics:

Clay

[deppstein]

Well, I'm back from camping at Parc Plaisance Quebec (about an hour and 40 minutes west of Montreal along the Ottawa River). The Parc is nice enough, and there are lots of wonderful biking opportunities...BUT...we hit it too early in the season. Still snow on the ground in places, water in the bays also still frozen in some areas--I could have lived with that, if it weren't for the relentless rain. It just wouldn't quit. We did manage one day afternoon and evening of just clouds, but the rest of the time it was cold, damp, and danky. Oh well, some trips work out better than others. Had one good ride, managed one meal on the grill, and had a couple of poker nights sitting in the Rig. Sorry Blue...the pics I took won't have you pining for the North Country...maybe next time--headed up to Camden State Park in Maine at the end of the month. Hoping Spring will be much further along.

Have attached some pics anyway--one of how I mount the solar suitcase and dry bags on the ladder, one of the "mud-season" surroundings at Parc National Plaisance, one of a GIANT Beaver that waddled through, and a shot of The Boys playing poker at the dinette.

Cheers,

David

[Blue~Go]

Oh I can just imagine that weather. But how nice you have the cozy dinette to sit around and play cards! Not quite so cozy in a tent...

Thanks for the dry bags/solar suitcase layout shot - that's interesting.

And yeah, geez, that beaver is huge!