[Journal for Fieldtrip 12D of the QMIII Project, Quebec, August 9-26, 2012]. During this fieldtrip, Fiona Darbyshire, Charlie Hruska, Vadim Levin, Catherine Phaneuf and I (Bill Menke) installed six seismic stations in Quebec and repaired one already-installed station.

August 9, 2012. Charle Hruska, a former Lamont summer intern who is working as a field assistant, and I drove in my Ford Escape from Tappan NY to Fort Lee NJ, where we picked up my colleague, Vadim Levin. The three of us then drove north, taking Interstate 87 towards Montreal. Shortly after crossing the New York – Canadian border, we stopped a picnic area along the Route 15 in Lacole, Quebec, where we ate a dinner of kielbasa and noodles, cooked on one of our Coleman stoves. We then checked into the Hotel Champlain, off of Route 15 in Brossard, across the St Laurence River from Montreal.

August 10, 2012. We drove over the Pont Champlain (bridge) to the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM), which is in downtown Montreal. We met our colleague Fiona Darbyshire and graduate student Catherine Phaneuf at the coffee shop in the science building. We spent the day at UQAM unpacking and testing the seismic instrumentation. All equipment was working except the N/S channel of one of the geophones. Phone calls to IRIS failed to provide a fix. Fiona showed us the design of a solar panel A-frame stand that she has successfully used on past deployments; we wound up using it at all of our sites. We had lunch at a sandwich shop on one of the city’s cavernous underground shopping mall, and later on, dinner at a Chineese restaurant. Vadim, Charlie and I again spent the night at the Champlain Hotel.

August 11, 2012. We ate a breakfast of egg sandwiches and then went shopping at a Home Depot in the northern outskirts of the city. We then returned to UQAM and loaded up the van. We finish before lunch, and Vadim, Charlie and I took a hike in Mount Royal Park, on a tall hill in the city. We bought salami, cheese, tomatoes and bread at a supermarket, and then walk up Avenue du Parc, past the tall George-Étienne Cartier monument and into the park. The park is surprisingly wild; thick woods crossed by many paths, some paved and others more rugged. We fond a park bench and ate our lunch, and then walked uphill towards the top of the hill. The rock of the park is diabase intruded into sediments, part of the Monteregian hotspot intrusive. We passed one outcrop with a fault and a bifurcated dike. We reached an overlook along a roadway. It commands a great view of the city. We continued along a foot path, and reached a large metal cross, positioned so as to be visible from the city. Finally, we arrived at the Chalet at the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a large stone building on a plaza overlooking the tall buildings of the central city. The interior of the Chalet is open, like a train station, and the walls all lined with paintings that depict historical scenes. The plaza is decorated with colorful flowers. We stood for a while at the edge, gazing down over the building and the St Laurence valley. We then walked down off the mountain, passing a drained lake and a sculpture garden, and descending a path called the Serpent which led into the campus of McGill University. We had pizza for dinner, at a restaurant near our hotel.

August 12, 2012. We met at Fiona’s apartment building, which is adjacent to Parc (Park) La Fontaine in Montreal. We headed up Route 20 towards Quebec City, stopping for lunch at a Tim Horton Restaurant just south of it. We then took Route 175 north through the Laurentide Reserve, a wilderness area of rounded, forested mountains reminiscent of the New Your Adirondacks. We stopped at Cadadian Tire in Chicoutimi to purchase marine batteries for the seismic stations, and then checked in to our respective lodging. I stayed at Camping de la Carriere, across the Saguenay River from Chicoutimi, and the rest of the party at the Comfort Inn. We found a very pleasant picnic spot along the north bank of the Saguenay River east of Canton Tremblay and cooked a dinner of steak and potatoes on the Coleman stoves. The sun was shining and lighting up the rolling hills along the river; the view was not so different from the Hudson River at West Point. I spent a pleasant night in my tent (a Sierra Design Zolo) at the campground.

August 13, 2012. I met the rest of the party at the Comfort Inn and we ate a breakfast at a local coffee shop. We then visited the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC), where we stored some of the seismometers and met with one of its staff, David Noel. He suggested to us a farm in the small village of Herbertville Station, west of Chicoutimi, with a rock ledge suitable for a seismometer. We then bought lumber, concrete and other supplies at a hardware store. Unfortunately, I cut my arm on the buckle of a strap while repacking boxes in the van, a half-inch long gash through the skin on my right forearm. Catherine took me to the local Emergency Room, but they would not accept my UnitedHealthCare Insurance, and wanted $575 just to open an account, with more charges once I had seen a doctor. By this time the wound had stopped bleeding, and while it could perhaps have used a stitch or two, I judged that it would heal on its own and declined treatment. At least a nurse cleaned it and put a butterfly bandage on it. We then met David Noel at the farm, and spent the rest of the day installing the seismometer. The farm consisted of a residence plus three or four steel outbuildings standing among fields, with a view of a ridge with a ski area to the south. The latter had once been used for livestock, but were now empty. The outcrop was granite, cut by felsic dikes. We installed one of the plywood vaults that I had prefabricated back in New York, held to the rock with concrete. We also built an A-frame from 2×3 beams to hold the solar panels. The overall installation took about six hours, and we were very pleased with the final result. We had a lunch with David Noel, eating sandwiches in the farmyard. Later, back in Chicoutimi, we ate a late dinner at a sports bar near the Comfort Inn. I had a plate of buffalo wings. My night at the campground was peaceful and uneventful.

August 14, 2012. We met at the Comfort Inn early in the morning, and after a breakfast in one of the hotel rooms started our drive west. We stopped for lunch at a picnic area on a high knoll off of Route 169 near Chambord. It commands a very nice view of Lake St Jean, a very large lake that is the headwaters of the Saguenay River. The weather was cloudy with occasional sun; we could see several rain storms out over the lake. We ate salami and cheese, together with coffee made on the Coleman stove. We then drove through Reserve Faunique Ashuapmushuan, a large wildlife preserve along Route 167. It consists of rolling tree-covered hills, with many lakes and streams. We then drove north along Road 203, a dirt track that follows a power line, and found a site for a seismometer, up atop a sandy hill. The day was growing late, so we installed just the seismometer vault, building it from a plastic recycle bin recessed into the sand and partially filled with concrete. We then drove to the town of Chibougamau. I stayed at EcoCamping, a campground on a Lac (lake) Sauvage, just south of town, while the rest of the part checked into Hotel Nordic, in town. We had dinner at the Romeo and Juliette Restaurant, adjacent to the hotel. I had linguini with Alfredo sauce. It rained during the night, though my tent stayed dry.

August 15, 2012. After breakfast, we drove north along Route de Nord, a gravel road that crosses Reserves Faunqiues Assinica, a large wildlife preserve, and which eventually connects with the James Bay Highway. The day is overcast, with occasional moments of sun, but with some drizzle, too. We drove for several hours, and then began to explore side roads for a seismometer site. We tried several. We would stop along each, and walk around the adjacent land looking for the right conditions, which included dry ground and a south-facing exposure. We found one on our fourth try, a small clearing atop a sandy hill. We then spent the afternoon installing the station. The area had numerous low blueberry bushes, full of fruit. We picked some and made blueberry pancakes on the Coleman stove, which we ate with maple syrup and with coffee and tea. The site took about 5 hours to install. The drive back was at dusk; we stopped briefly to admire several beautiful evening views. Up to this point, we had seen few animals on our trip. Birds have been the most plentiful, especially ravens, though we have also spotted several hawks perched in dead trees and several grouse by the roadside. But we had encountered no deer, moose or bear so far, and though we pass an occasional beaver dam, I judge them to be a lot less common than in southern New York, where almost every pond has signs of beaver. We have also passed several dead porcupines, run over by cars on the road. They seem blacker in color than those in New York. But this afternoon we lucked out and encountered a fox, which was walking along the highway (looking for handouts, I guess, for we were near the Halte Cheniapiscau picnic area). It was a beautiful animal, sleek and trim with a light brown and white body and with a thick darker brown tail. We watched it in awe for several minutes, before it wandered back into the woods. Back in Chibougamau, we haddinner again at Romeo and Juliette’s (me having lasagna).

August 16, 2012. I awoke with beautiful mist covering the surface of the lake by my campsite. After breakfast, we return to the unfinished site on Road 203, and completed the installation of the station. The day was sunny and we stopped at several picturesque lakes, wetlands and rivers along the way, including the Ashuapmushuan River, to take photographs. The installation went well. We have become pretty accomplished at building the A-frame and assembling and testing the electronic components. We experienced one minor glitch when we discovered that the backup battery on the recorder was dead. This was not necessarily a problem, except that we will need to check with IRIS on whether any special software settings are necessary to compensate. We finish about 3PM; afterward, Vadim, Charlie and Catherine swam in a nearby pond. We returned to Chibougamau, and eat dinner again at Romeo and Juliette’s. Charlie and I split a pizza.

August 17, 2012. I arose early, packed up my tent and met the rest of the party at Hotel Nordic. We stopped and had breakfast at a picnic area at kilometer 132 along the Route de Nord. It’s raining, but the picnic area has awnings over the tables so we have a comfortable time, nonetheless. We also stopped at an overlook at the Rupert River, which flows through a narrow gorge with large rapids and low waterfalls. Continuing onward for several hours, we reached the gas station at Nimuscau. It was closed for lunch, so we backtracked a few miles to a picnic area along the highway and had our own lunch. The picnic area is on a ridge that looks north across low woods towards a lake. Most of the trees in this area are dead from fire. Beyond the lake and somewhat to the west are tall hills and some large buildings, which Fiona explains are HydroQuebec worker housing. By 1PM the gas station has reopened, and after filling up, we continued onward until we reached the intersection with the James Bay Highway, a paved road. We stopped at this intersection, at the Halte de Passages picnic area. A sign explained that the trees in this area were killed by a large fire in 1988. I remember a summer vacation in Maine when the air was full of wood smoke, said to come from Canada, for weeks. I wonder if this is what caused it. Growth is slow here. Even after almost twenty-five years, few trees have grown up to replace them. The land is mostly covered by bushes now. We head north on the James Bay Highway and stop at Relais Routier Km 381, a rest stop operated by the government. It’s undergoing repair and is a mess, but at least the gas station is open. I walk up a nearby hill to a sand quarry while the others but coffee at the restaurant. We then continued northward along the Highway to the intersection of the road to the Cree Nation of Wimindji, a small village of 1100 people. After a brief stop at a picnic area near the intersection, we drove 60 miles down the gravel road to the village, itself. We have been, very generously, lent a house by a geologist who lives in village. We had a spaghetti dinner tonight, which we cook in the house’s kitchen.

August 18, 2012. We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. After an hour or so of making preparations, Fiona, Vadim and I set off to repair the Wemindji seismometer, a previously installed site that has a malfunctioning geophone, while Charlie and Catherine took the day off. We drove most of the way back to the James Bay Highway to reach the site, set on a granite ledge on the side of the road. The ground nearby is marshy, and pitcher plants are growing among the other vegetation. These carnivorous plants are red in color. Their leaves, about four inches high, are shaped into pitches for catching insects. Several are blooming, with solid, waxy-looking red flowers. We swap in a new geophone and then head back to the village. Catherine has cooked a very delicious Sheppard Pie for dinner, using meat purchased in a local store. After dinner, Vadim and I walk around the village. The houses are mostly utilitarian in construction and are well kept up. Many houses have teepees in their back yards. We pass only a few stores and all of them are closed. We wander down to the bay, a narrow arm of James Bay. One section is wild, with meadows of marsh grass. Another has a beach onto which boats, shaped like canoes but larger and with outboard motors, had been pulled up. I tasted the water, which was brackish.

August 19, 2012. We pack up and drive south, stopping at a picnic area to view the Eastmaine River. This section of the river passes through a narrow gorge of gneiss, with rapids. We then spend an hour or more looking for a seismometer site. We try several side roads, finally settling on one which passes close to a rocky ledge. The land between the road and the ledge is a bit overgrown with bushes and is rather marshy, so carrying the gear to the site is a bit of work. The ledge, which is made of slate, is crossed by some weak glacial scratches. We cement the seismometer vault directly on the ledge, and stand the solar panel A-frame nearby. Afterward we return to Relais Routier Km 381 rest stop. We set up our tents in the sand pit to its north. While driving the gear over to the pit, I encounter another fox. This individual is quite different in color than the fox we encountered a few days ago. It is brown and black, but like the other, also has a long furry tail. We set up our tents and then have a chicken dinner at the restaurant at the rest stop. After dinner, Vadim builds a bonfire nearby the tents, starting it with a single match. We all contribute to gathering the firewood, hauling dead trees out of the nearby woods. Vadim delights in bringing several especially large ones.

August 20, 2012. I am up early and make some coffee. We have breakfast in the restaurant. I have an egg sandwich. We return to yesterday’s seismometer site and check the level of the geophone. The concrete was not quite dry when we installed it yesterday, and we are worried that it has tilted, but it is still perfectly level. We then head south. Once again, the gas station at Nimuscau is closed for lunch. We have a lunch of our own at a nearby picnic area, while waiting for it to reopen. We heat up a big can of beef stew, and have cheese wraps, too. We stop at the next seismometer site and download the data. We are pleased to determine that we have already recorded several earthquakes. We take a break for a few minutes and pick blueberries. We see another fox near the Halte Cheniapiscau picnic area, or perhaps the same individual we encountered there a few days ago. Back in Chibougamau, we have dinner again at Romeo and Juliette’s. I have lasagna. Vadim, Charlie and I stay at EcoCamping, Fiona and Catherine at Hotel Nordic.

August 20, 2012. We have a breakfast of fried eggs at Romeo and Juliette’s and then head south. We stop by the next seismometer, which is the one with the dead backup battery, and download instructions that IRIS has told us will compensate for the problem (indeed, we download similar instructions now to all our seismometers). The sun is shining and several of the nearby ponds are very beautiful. We stop at a picnic area, Parc de Ancetres, along Route 169 south of the town of St Fletcher. Catherine has noticed a nearby shop that sells meat pies. We buy one, and also a blueberry pie, and them for lunch. They are still hot and very tasty! Vadim, Fiona and I take the Ford Escape to the seismometer at the Herbertville Station farm, while Catherine and Charlie take the van to the UQAC to pick up the stored equipment. We download the data; the station is working well and has recorded several earthquakes. We check in to the Hotel Chicoutimi, and then meet David Noel for dinner at a nearby restaurant. I have fettuccini. Afterwards, we walk down to the Saguenay River, admiring the reflection of the city lights on the water.

August 21, 2012. I awake early to a sunny day and walk down to the river. The sun is lighting up the cliffs on the far side very beautifully. We have eggs for breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant. We then drive east along Route 172, through wooded and rolling hills north of the Saguenay River, stopping at a picnic area near Sacre-Couer. We then head up Route 172, which follows the northeast shore of the St Laurence River. We pass many beautiful spots along the coast, tidal streams that flow out in to the St Laurence, winding past rocky islands and bluffs. I smile as we pass a sign for Kayak de Mer, and outfitter that Lee Reiser and I used a few years ago during a=our Saguenay River kayaking trip. We stop at a market in Forestville to buy supplies and then at a picnic area at the Ragueneau Archipelago. This area has a beautiful tidal stream emptying into Baie (Bay) à Ti-Jos, rocky bluffs, and fields of wild flowers. We eat lunch under an awning and then walk around the area, following a gravel road that leads out onto a peninsula. Many of the rock ledges have deep glacial groves. The road ends by a tall while obelisk monument. The view from the end of the peninsula is spectacular; we can see the nearby islands of the archipelago and the distant southeast shore of the St Laurence. Nearby the monument are two large dinosaur sculptures. We take turns posing by them. We then continue north, taking Route 389 towards Manicouagan Reservoir. We pass by many beautiful lakes as well as the Manic-2 dam before reaching Hotel de l'Energie, just south of the Manic-2 dam. An attendant at the hotel tells us about a picnic area with a view overlooking the dam. We drive around but cannot find it. Instead, we have dinner (macaroni and cheest with tuna) at by the visitor’s center, below the dam.

August 23, 2012. We spend the morning searching for a seismometer site along the forest roads north west of Manic-5. We find the picnic area that we were told of last night, but have a hard time finding suitable ground for a seismometer. The ground is both very wet and very torn up from tree harvesting. We get to drive and walk around some nice countryside in the process. On one hilltop overlooking a lake, we spot an osprey’s nest atop a tall dead tree. A bird, a juvenile I guess, is sitting in it. Later we see two osprey flying overhead. We finally settle upon a sandy hill behind a sand pit. The installation of the site goes well, despite occasional light rain. Our teamwork is now very well developed and everyone knows what needs to be done to get the station up and working. We stop at the overlook on the way back to Hotel de l'Energie. The sky has cleared a bit and the dam is lit up by the sun. We have dinner in the hotel’s cafeteria. I have fish and chips.

August 24, 2012. Today is sunny; too bad yesterday wasn’t! We head back south, stopping at the Manic-2 dam for the view. We have lunch at a picnic area at Ruisseau Vert along Rt 138. It is right along the water, and has flowering bushes. We then continued south, buying food at the same market in Forestville that we had frequented on the way up. Charlie and Catherine discovered a picnic area at a beach in the town. We spent a few hours there drying out our equipment. We hung out our tents and clothes, and I oiled all the tools, using a spray lubricant that I had purchased in the market. Several of our party swam in the bay. I contented myself to sitting in the warm sun and taking a short walk along the beach. Pink granite outcrops along the beach, in places in contact with a black metamorphic country rock. The surface of the ledge has many glacial flutes. We then continue south, stopping to view a teepee and longhouse displayed along Rt 138 near Forestville. We also stopped briefly by a waterfall. We stayed again at the Hotel Chicoutimi and had pizza at the nearby Mike’s Restaurant.

August 25, 2012. We leave Chicoutimi after a breakfast of eggs at the hotel’s restaurant and a trip to the bakery. We then spent the morning searching for a seismometer site, in the general area of Zec du Lac Brebeuf, southeast of Chicoutimi. David Noel had suggested what he thought might be a suitable spot. Unfortunately, the gravel road to it proved too eroded even for the Ford Escape, which has four wheel drive. We searched many side roads, even finding one that was submerged beneath a beaver dam. We were about to give up when Catherine met a family who gave us permission to set up a station in a clearing near their cabin. Apparently, heavy snow a few years before had knocked down an acre or so of trees. The sandy soil was suitable for the geophone, but the clearing was a bit small for a good sun exposure. We would up building a double-high A-frame, using both the wood we had brought and local, dead-fallen tree trunks. Vadim enjoyed the backwoods woodworking, and cut and notched four logs for the A-frame’s base. We took gravel roads southwest, eventually reaching Route 381. This drive, though only 20 miles long, was done in the fading light of evening and seemed to take forever. GPS proved my worries about getting lost unfounded, for we stayed right on track. We stopped at a gas station along Route 381 for a snack and then headed south to Route 138 on the shore of the St Laurence. This road, which goes through minimally inhabited land, must be pretty in daylight, but proved nerve-wracking at night, for it has many steeply downhill sections. We laughed when we reached the town of Baie (Bay) St Paul on the coast, for endless construction detours took us through what seemed to be pig farms (though if seen by daylight they would no doubt prove to be perfectly ordinary and pleasant agricultural areas). We ate dinner at the restaurant of the Baie St Paul Hotel, but wound up staying at another hotel, the Auberge St Jean, further south along Route 138.

August 26, 2012. The Auberge St Jean hotel was late in opening its restaurant, so we went to a coffee shop further down Route 138, where I has eggs. Afterward, Charlie, Vadim and I said goodbye to Fiona and Catherine, and headed back to the US. We crossed the US-Canadian at about 1:30PM, and stopped for lunch at a rest area on Interstate 91 in Vermont just south of the border. We then continued back, stopping again at a gas station and convenience store in Deerfield MA that has a Subway. We ate our sandwiches outside, at a picnic table. We reached Tappan NY at about 8PM. Julia Levin came by soon afterward, and picked up Vadim, and Charlie as well, for he was staying at their house for the night.

The total trip lasted 18 days and covered 4401.1 miles. The injury on my arm healed without incident. I had purchased bandages and antiseptics the day it happened, and cleaned and re-bandaged it every day. The other members of the party were a bit taken aback by my using duct tape to secure the gauze pad to the wound, but I found that it worked better than medical adhesive tape, because it was less prone to fall off while working and was less prone to get dirty.