Jacques Cartier National Park | 5/23/2026
- Izzy Risitano
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
I have always treated vacation categories as separate entities of hiking trips and non-hiking trips. This antiquated ideology was proven wrong on Joe’s and my trip to Quebec this past weekend, where we split evenly between Jacques Cartier National Park and Quebec City.
Situated a convenient 45 minutes north of the city, Jacques Cartier National Park contains much of the upper third of its namesake river. As we got to know the area, it became increasingly clear that this is more of a watersports park than a hiking park; however, this certainly didn’t dampen our fun!
As we waited for our 3 pm check-in at our backcountry site, we got the legs moving with a beautiful hike up L’escarpement, which climbs to a large cliff-top platform one can see from the visitor center parking lot. We opted to go clockwise, beginning with calm flats before a sharp incline, but either direction was equally preferable. The early part of the hike was notably busy with school groups over the flat parts, but then thinned out slightly as we marched our stiff car legs up to the saddle with Les Coulees viewpoint, which I deeply regret not diverging for.
Past the saddle, we continued to climb through a rich moss-filled forest until reaching the modest 1800-foot peak, which felt much higher thanks to the mountainous terrain and deep notch in view. It wasn’t long before we had to head down due to the chilly, persistent wind, where I was amazed at the switchbacks. For still being on the East Coast, the steep pitches of the trail were remarkably easy to navigate. We alternated between a jog and a brisk walk for the remainder of the hike, especially enjoying running down the Nordic trails along the logging zones on the very last pitch.
When we got back to the car, we didn’t waste much time before driving to the Satauriski trailhead and heading 1.5 miles in on a wide river-side trail to Le Grand Duc campground, our “backcountry” site for the night. Despite technically being a backpacking trip, the proximity to the car allowed us to bring ample pulled pork for our gluttonous post-hike creations. Sick of backpacking meals and oatmeal being a dinner excuse, we whipped up “a Portuguese grilled cheese-“ pulled pork with bom petisco, delicious!
After dinner, we started a fire to push through the 30-degree night and had a slow morning as the day warmed up over coffee and breakfast. On Saturday, we had grand plans for Les Loups and Le Scotora, the only two high points in the park sans Friday’s adventure, but found out after hiking 3 miles that all of these are closed for mud season. Although we did see plenty of people ducking ropes, I wasn’t willing to take the risk as a foreigner who cannot speak even the most basic of French. Plus, you've got to respect mud season.
Instead, we turned our 3 miles out into a 3-mile run back, then moved the car to Le Heron, where we crossed over the Rapid #9 bridge and started on South Draveur. The north side, of course, was closed.
Other than some remarkably well-built privies, the river trail was very straightforward and didn't have the notch views I was hoping for. Still, it was a beautiful day that got us about 3.5 miles down, almost exactly across the river from our camp trailhead.
After doubling back, fortunate enough to watch a couple of kayakers brave the rapids, we made it to Sataurski and then up to camp for our last night. Although the higher temperatures were nice, the bugs were not so good in our pre-fire atmosphere. Still on a pulled pork kick, we made mac and cheese to pair and rejuvenated from our day's end slump. Although it didn’t feel like we did a “real” hike, no wonder we were tired—16 miles had crept up on us!
On our way out in the morning, we stopped at the impressive Montmorency Falls Park, then wrapped up the outdoors part of the trip in the afternoon. Jacques Cartier was the perfect add-on to a Quebec City trip. I think the two days there were perfect. As a non-watersports girl, I don’t think I’d need more time there—but for those that are, the possibilities seemed endless!
In conclusion, we did just fine not knowing French, were thankful we packed a "just in case" bear bag, and wished we'd brought mountain bikes to enjoy the long flat trails. Happy hiking in new places!
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