Sept. 19 - Montmorency Falls (Part I)

“It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves – in finding themselves.” – Andre Gide

We left Québec City this morning and headed east to see Montmorency Falls (Chute Montmorency) and then the Île d'Orléans. This post will cover the falls...I'll do another post for the island. The day started out dreary, windy and cool but began to clear as we enjoyed the falls.

Montmorency Falls is one of Quebec's most spectacular sites. The falls plunge 272' into a bowl-shaped basin on the St. Lawrence River. The waterfall is nearly 100' higher than Niagara Falls, but nowhere near as wide. It can be discovered on foot, by cable car, a zip line or from the gourmet restaurant at the Manor. We parked at the top park, near the Manor and walked across the suspension bridge above the falls, but we read later some people take the cable car up the cliff, do the hike and then go down the 487-step staircase to the foot of the falls. From there you can walk back to the cable car terminal. That would have been fun on a beautiful sunny day, but it was too cold today. 

The suspension bridge gave us spectacular views of the surrounding countryside, although I'm sure the views would have been much better on a clear day. We could see downtown Québec and the Île d'Orléans. I walked down some of the stairs, but quickly decided I didn't need to go all the way down AND back up. The staircase allow you to view the falls from several different perspectives.

The waterfall was first noted by Jean Fonteneau dit Alfonse in 1542, but it was Champlain that named the waterfall after Henri II, duc de Montmorency in 1608. In July 1759, during the campaign to take all French possessions in Canada, British General James Wolfe had a fortified camp near the top of the falls. 

Looking down on the falls from the suspension bridge

Views from the suspension bridge. This is looking over to the Île d'Orléans.

Looking down at the bottom of the park...the cable car terminal is just left of the bridge and the path from the bottom of the falls is to the left. 

Looking towards Québec City and the Manor

The waterfalls from the top of the stairs

Looking down on the stairs...that's a long ways down, especially if you have to come back up.

Cable cars going up to the Manor

A view of the falls from the bottom of the basin...we stopped here on our way over to Île d'Orléans.

A closer look at the staircase

Park map

The park is open year round. When it gets very cold, fine splashes from the falls freeze and eventually form the famous Sugar Loaf, an impressive cone of ice at the foot of the waterfall.