Scenic Saguenay Fjord

Our next destination was Saguenay National Park, situated along the east end of the St. Lawrence River and encompasses the regions of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Charlevoix, Côte-Nord, and Bas-Saint-Laurent.

I must admit I had never heard of this place prior to the cruise. It was (and still is) not well-known and not well-explored, which made it less touristy, but it is special.

The 146-mile-long Saguenay Fjord is a glacier-cut fjord and the only one in North America that is inhabited on both sides. Its quaint villages are considered some of most charming in the province of Quebec.

The fjord was carved out near the very edge of the North American continental ice sheet and lies in the interior of the land, providing a water passage into the Laurentian Highlands.  From there, the Hudson Bay can be reached by an inland route, with which Aboriginal people were familiar, long before the Europeans arrived. This makes it unique because most fjords, such as those on Baffin Island in British Columbia, Scandinavia, and Chile, empty directly into the ocean. In the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, there are three geomorphological units lying at different levels at the edge of the Laurentian Highlands and the fjord empties into the St. Lawrence River.

Saguenay Fjord has a system of faults and escarpments that are clearly visible in the landscapes and is located almost at the centre of a collapsed trough 50 kilometers wide on the edge of the Canadian Shield. It is also characterized by 1,150-foot-high cliffs and has 62 miles of hiking trails.

This geological stuff is what makes my husband happy and excited.

We got there by bus. Our 60-minute drive from the ship was a mix of wilderness and pretty, little French-Canadian villages.

My husband was fully immersed in examining the area. He was especially attentive during the brief lecture provided to us at the interpretation centre about the creation of and the characteristics of the fjord, which owes its magnificent topography to a 15-billion meteorite that fell to earth 350 million years ago. He peppered the guide with questions and for a few minutes, they engaged in a discussion that only geologists could comprehend.

The kind guide, however, explained to the rest of us, in layman’s terms, how the fjord was shaped, why the waters of the Saguenay River are so dark and salty, what the sand dunes found in the area really are, and what species can be regularly observed in the park. He also told us about the habits of the beluga whales that inhabit the St. Lawrence River.

The lecture was followed by a two-hour hike along the Meandres des Falaises trail that ended at the Eternity River Delta. Since it was the fall season, the path was littered by piles of leaves that had fallen from the trees from previous days. I enjoyed the relaxing stroll amidst the “crunch-crunch” sound of the brittle leaves crushing under our feet.

After the walk, we spent some time at the interpretation centre to look at the exhibit items and get some souvenirs.