GNBR Day 10 - Mattawin to Lac aux Sables

 44.7 miles, 2881’ climbing

Sept 1, 2026

Lac aux Sables Campground

Moose sightings: 0

It was nice not to need to pack up a sopping camp first thing in the morning. Instead we had a restaurant breakfast, and we headed out on the smooth paved shoulder of the highway alongside the wide and calm Rivière Saint Maurice. Mist was rising off the water. There were some big trucks on the highway, but the shoulder was wide enough that it wasn’t disturbing. The river was beautiful. The amount of water here is mind boggling to a southern Arizonan.

After 10 miles, we turned away from the Saint Maurice onto a smaller paved road and started climbing, you guessed it, next to a creek. There were some farms and homes, few cars and no huge trucks. In 6 miles we came to Mekinac (Trois Rives), where we stopped at a friendly market to pick up sandwiches and drink a Coke. From there we turned off onto dirt roads, all of it a little loose, but the scenery made up for it: lakes and creeks with enough of an open forest to see them, a few houses here and there. 

We climbed and then descended on a road with quite a loose surface. When we caught up to the road grader, we knew why, though the road beyond it was very good. Why grade it? Some lakes had large docks and more homes with amazing views. 

Heading down a hill, we were suddenly met with a road closure. Below us we could see a giant backhoe and other large equipment, apparently replacing a bridge over a creek, and way too busy to stop work for a couple of cyclists. We consulted maps and saw no roads whatsoever to get past the closure, and we were 30 miles into our ride. We looked around but it was too steep to bushwhack. Finally we knocked on the door of an adjacent house to ask if they knew how to bypass it. The darling lady of the house immediately understood our predicament and showed us a small path on her property leading down to a small bridge across the creek, upstream from the closure, and getting us back on our way. Most of the people of Quebec with whom we’ve interacted have been similarly wonderful. We’ve spent a lot of time in the woods with just the two of us, but when meeting people they’ve been great: warm, friendly, more than willing to work with our fractured French.

Almost right away the feel of the countryside changed. Instead of dense forests, we were riding thru large farms. We saw corn and soy beans, some apple trees next to homes. In the distance in our next town we saw a striking pair of towers from the town church. We pedaled into the beautiful town of Saint Thècle and stopped in front of the church of the same name. We ate our sandwiches and read placards describing the history. A lady stopped to offer more history, and another passer by patted Sarah warmly on her shoulder.  A man on an e-bike stopped to chat with Ed.

Leaving Saint Thècle, there were a lot of historic homes. Farms were integrated right into the edge of town. A few more miles took us into Lac aux Sables, our destination for the night. We shopped at the market, then rode to our campground which mainly caters to people who have a year round RV spot. Many have elaborate decks and outdoor spaces. We have a shady picnic table wand fire ring tucked in next to a creek, an outlet of the lake with its sandy beachfront just a minute away. We bought fire wood, made camp, did laundry, lit a fire, made dinner… a great evening with a peculiar absence of mosquitos (much appreciated).