Lac Saint-Jean

Lac Saint-Jean covers around one thousand square kilometres and sits in a basin of sandy soil left by a post-glacial sea, which is why it has genuine sand beaches rather than the rock shores usual on Shield lakes. The Véloroute des Bleuets circles it, two hundred and fifty-six kilometres of signed cycle route through farmland and blueberry barrens; the region grows a large share of Quebec's wild blueberries and the nickname bleuets attaches to the people as well as the fruit. A long-distance swim across the lake, the Traversée internationale, has been held since 1955. Val-Jalbert and the Saguenay fjord are on the same circuit.

History

The Innu, who lived here when Europeans arrived, call the lake Piekuakami, and it got its French name from the Jesuit missionary Jean de Quen, who in 1647 became the first European to reach its shores. The fur trade dominated until the 19th century, settlement of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region ran from the early 19th century into the early 20th, with forestry and farming, and later pulp and paper mills and aluminium smelting grew up around the hydroelectric dams at Alma and on the Péribonka River; the region is the setting of Louis Hémon's novel Maria Chapdelaine, published in 1914 (Wikipedia, Lac Saint-Jean).

Highlights

• The Véloroute des Bleuets - a 256-kilometre signed cycle circuit of the lake.
• The sand beaches - genuine sand on a large northern lake.
• The blueberry country - barrens and farms producing wild blueberries.
• The lake crossing swim - an international marathon swim held since 1955.

When to go

June to September for cycling and beaches; blueberry harvest runs late July into August. The lake swim is in late July. Winter brings snowmobiling on a large trail network.

Things to know

The lake is big enough to get rough quickly in wind. The cycle route has road sections shared with traffic. Services are French-first throughout the region.

Nearby

Val-Jalbert lies on the shore; the Saguenay fjord is east.

Key facts