Les Escoumins

Les Escoumins is a municipality of La Haute-Côte-Nord Regional County Municipality, in administrative region of Côte-Nord, in the province of Quebec, Canada. This locality is part of the tourist region of Manicouagan, on the Route des Baleines and the Route Nature aux mille délices (gourmet route).

The village of Les Escoumins is crossed by Route 138, which runs along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. This route serves the administrative regions of Quebec of Montérégie, Montréal, Lanaudière, Mauricie, Capitale-Nationale and Côte-Nord.

This locality has many ancestral and well restored houses. In the summer season, many boaters enjoy boating on the Saint Lawrence.

Understand
Les Escoumins is a member of the "Association des plus beaux villages du Québec" (Association of the most beautiful villages of Quebec). Les Escoumins is a village-relay, that is to say that the municipality has, through its traders, all the services normally offered by a service area located along a highway.

Geography
The village of Les Escoumins is located on Route 138 east of Tadoussac and west of Baie-Comeau. Facing the village, the bay of Escoumins displays a bucolic setting in summer, because this bay reflects the mood of the St. Lawrence River under the effect of tides, waves, fog, as well as the current of the Escoumins river which crosses the bay on the sandstone at low tide. In winter, the scenery of this bay is magical because the ice is then lifted by the underlying rocks and broken under the effect of the tides, piling up pell-mell and creating piles of ice.

This bay has a dimension of between the mouth of the river Les Escoumins and Pointe de la Croix; and  between the end of the bay and the Pointe-Rouge peninsula which juts east into the river to the ferry wharf connecting Les Escoumins and Trois-Pistoles. At high tide, this bay is navigable for pleasure craft with shallow draft; at low tide, the rocky and sandy bottom emerges. The Pointe de la Croix peninsula stretches towards the southwest to block the bay, leaving a passage of about  at the entrance (at high tide). The metal cross erected there is legendary; formerly, it served as a landmark for navigation on the river, along the coast.

The Highway 138 bridge spans the mouth of the Escoumins river; it was built parallel to the footpath bridge. This path goes around this village bay.

Economy
The main economic activities in the municipality of Escoumins are recreational tourism activities (accommodation, restaurants, hiking, cycling, mountain biking and snowmobiling, grocery stores, convenience stores), forestry, transportation (e.g., ferry, gas stations, maintenance of roads) and public services including a hospital, the health centre of La Haute-Côte-Nord and the municipality.

Salmon fishing on the Escoumins River attracts many fishermen. The "Zec de la Rivière-des-Escoumins" administers a segment of the Rivière des Escoumins for sport fishing. The Escoumins River flows on from north to south-east. It reaches its annual flow of 13 to 20 m3/s in July. A forest road runs along the river, thus facilitating access to the salmon pools. Since 2014, salmon have been able to swim upstream beyond Grand Falls Falls using a fish pass.

In addition, the entrance to the Saguenay–Saint-Laurent Marine Park, located in Les Escoumins, is one of the most sought-after dive sites in eastern Canada thanks to the diversity of species that inhabit the seabed.

Get in
The village of Les Escoumins is accessible by road, boat (via Saint Lawrence River), snowmobile and all terrain vehicles.

By car

 * From Baie-Comeau (. Time: 1 hr 48 min. From Baie-Comeau, take route 138 (north shore) west, to the village of Les Escoumins.
 * From Quebec City (. Time: 3 hr 26 min. From Quebec City, take route 138 (north shore) eastbound, via the Tadoussac ferry, to the village of Escoumins.

By boat




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