Looking Downriver from the First Pool

After leaving the Fence Pool, Les Trous de saumons Trail leaves the noisy river and heads off through the forest, following along a very quiet brook for part of its course. According to the Parks Canada trail map, “[t]his Acadian forest valley is a prime example of the park’s canyons.” It was a lovely walk through sun-dappled trees with a good breeze to keep one cool. Twenty minutes later, the trail comes out at the river again, where one now finds oneself well upriver of la Montagne Noire. At this point, the river’s downhill grade is quite noticeable–as one gazes upriver, it seems as if one is looking uphill and the water is falling down an inclined plane. As I sat soaking in the scene after having taken some photos, I noticed a group of orange/brown butterflies with blue spots on the edges of their wings in the dirt along the shore beside where I was sitting on my three-legged stool; one flew up and landed on my left arm and allowed me to photograph it with my right hand while it rested (this photo is included in my extended description of the trail here).

The trail continues beyond this spot for about another seven minutes, passing by another river view, up a knoll and then down to a footbridge over a side stream, then over another footbridge, and back to the river where one is greeted by a sign proclaiming “First Pool”, which is located below the pyramid-shaped mountain one sees just beyond la Montagne Noire in the previous photo. Descending the side path along the handrail leads to exposed bedrock along the First Pool and to the view one sees here, looking downriver (westward), with la Montagne Noire rising in the centre of the photo.

In the foreground, one sees the dark and deep waters of First Pool, beyond which the river spills over an underwater ridge of boulders and starts down the aforementioned inclined plane, which is as noticible in this view as from the previously described one.