Blackflies and Birding : Sainte-Marguerite to Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts
The past few days we've been pushing pretty hard, and we aren't yet used to our full pack weights, so we decided to do a short day today. As a result we had a late start and maintained a much more leisurely pace throughout the morning. To top it all off, we began the day with a fabulous breakfast of fruit and yogourt, waffles with fresh strawberries and bananas, coffee, and fresh orange juice at the Auberge de la Gare . We certainly felt very spoiled today, and are grateful for the many blessings we enjoyed! We made our way back to the trail around 8:00 am which continued to lead us up a gentle climb through a corridor of dense green sugar maple and American beech forest. The warm, muggy, overcast morning was still and quiet apart from the loud 'teacher, teacher, teacher!' call of an Ovenbird, the rising, buzzy 'Zurr-zurr-zee' of a Black-throated Blue Warbler, the melodious trill of a Wood Thrush, and the loud buzzing of a large swarm of mosquitoes. For t