Day 4 - Prince Edward Island National Park

Today's plan was to drive from Fundy National Park to Prince Edward Island National Park.

As I was driving through New Brunswick, I saw a sign for Hopewell Rocks. When I had arrived in New Brunswick on day 2 of my trip, I had stopped in a tourist information center just before I arrived in St. John. I had told the gentleman a little about my plans and he had made a comment that I would be near Hopewell Rocks. I didn't think much of it at the time, but since I was now here, and I was in no particular hurry, I decided to go check it out. Ultimately, this is a short walkway along the Bay of Funding, with some interesting rock formations. Based on the tides, you can walk out to the rocks, but I had arrived after low tide, so I wasn't able to walk out to the rocks. It was still a nice little diversion from the drive to Prince Edward Island.

I arrived at the Confederation Bridge, which led from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. I hadn't really paid any attention to this prior to my trip, but now that I saw the bridge in front of me, I was amazed. The Confederation Bridge is about 8 miles long, and it's really impressive. The toll, which you pay only in the Prince Edward Island to New Brunswick direction is $47.75 Canadian!!!

Once I crossed the bridge, I had to drive across the island to the North shore, which is where the national park is located. Prince Edward Island (PEI) is a very agricultural province, along with fishing. Have you ever been to the store and walked past the fish counter to see mussels labeled PEI mussels ... well, apparently, PEI has a very large mussel industry!

Once I got to the park, I checked in at the registration desk and parked my car at my camp site. There was a walking/biking trail that essentially followed the road along this section of the North coast. The trail was mostly flat, and it was a beautiful day for a ride. I stopped briefly at Cavendish Beach, and even spent a few minutes in the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. I then continued the ride to the end of the trail. It was about 10 km each way.

After the ride and a shower, I made dinner, did some reading, and then went to sleep. Tomorrow, I'll be leaving Prince Edward Island and heading to Nova Scotia.

Day 3 - Fundy National Park

The plan for today was to spend the day hiking and biking in Fundy National Park. Based on the information I had been given at the visitors center yesterday afternoon, I decided to ride the Goose River Trail first. According to the park guidebook, this was an 11.85 km trail that followed the coast line South of the park. It was rated as a “difficult” trail.

As it turned out, the rating was a little understated! The trail had a lot of very steep sections and hairpin switchback turns. The good news, was that it was VERY smooth, with an almost gravel like based for most of the way. I had to walk the bike up a lot of the steeper sections, but at the end of it all, it was good ride, an excellent workout, and I was glad I did it.

After that, I needed a little time to recover so I ate lunch and planned the next part of my day. I decided to do the very short, and beginner rated Ship Haven Trail, which led to a covered bridge. I figured this would be a good way to get myself going again.

After that, it was time for another hike, this time on an “intermediate” rated trail. The trail was a 4.5 km loop that led to a point overlooking the bay called Matthews Head (of course there was no way I could pass this up). The hike turned out to be a little more difficult than I expected, but that was probably because I was already pretty tired from the bike ride. After that, I debated heading back to the campground for a shower, but there was really one more bike ride that I had really wanted to do on the intermediate rated Black Horse Trail. It was only 4.5 km long, and with an intermediate rating, I figured it might not be too difficult, even though I was really tired from the earlier part of the day. As it turned out, the trail was perfect ... exactly what I had been hoping for. It was a nice, easy and fun ride, and it only took me about 25 minutes.

I headed back to the campground and grabbed a much needed shower. After that, I got in the car and headed into the small nearby town of Alma, New Brunswick. There was a local brewery, so I stopped into for a beer. Then, it was back to the campground for dinner.

Tomorrow, I'll be leaving New Brunswick and traveling to Prince Edward Island National Park.

Day 2 - Acadia National Park to Fundy National Park

Day 2 of my journey had me traveling from my campground outside of Acadia National Park to Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Canada. Along the way, I'd be passing by St. John, New Brunswick, so the plan was to stop there and do a little sight-seeing.

I woke up, made some breakfast, and broke down my tent. The drive through Maine to the Canadian border was all on a single lane highway that wound its way through the Maine wilderness. It really reminded me of driving through the Adirondacks, only with smaller mountains!

I reached the Canadian border and went right through the Canadian immigration and customs check-point. I arrived in St. John about an hour or so later. There's not really a whole lot to see and do in St. John, at least as far as I could find out. One of the biggest tourist attractions is the “reversing falls”. The tides here are very extreme, and there's a river that ends at the bay. When the tide is at low tide, a waterfall is created where the river meets the bay. As the tide comes back in, it appears as though the waterfall is flowing in reverse. I had arrived during a low tide cycle, so I didn't get to see the water flowing in reverse. There was a nice walkway from the reversing falls along the harbor into the downtown area, so I decided to take that walk. As mentioned, there really wasn't very much to see.

Before leaving St. John to head for Fundy National Park, there was one important thing I had to do. St. John is the home of Moosehead breweries, so of course I had to pay a visit for a beer. Unfortunately, since it was Sunday, they didn't offer tours, so I had a beer and then hit the road.

I arrived in Fundy National Park at around 5:00. The visitors center was still open, so I went inside to get some recommendations for some bike rides and/or hikes for the next day.

After that, I went to the campground, got all set up, made some dinner and went to bed. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day of hiking and biking!

Day 1 - Acadia National Park

I left New City a few minutes past 4:00 am headed towards Acadia National Park. I arrived at a little past 12:00, exactly as planned.

My plans for the day were to do some bike riding on the carriage roads in the park, drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain, and if time permitted, go into the village of Bar Harbor.

I had no problem finding a parking spot at the Eagle Lake entrance to the carriage roads. After getting into my biking gear, making a lunch and some drinks to take along, I headed out on the bike. It was a great ride. I rode the big loop around Eagle Lake, Jordan Pond and Bubble Pond. It was about 11 miles in total, and it took about an hour and a half, including time for a lunch stop. Since it was still pretty early, I decided to stay on the bike and ride the carriage road towards Witch Hole Pond. From there, I was able to take a very short ride on the "regular" roads into Bar Harbor.

As luck would have it, I arrived at low tide, which meant that the sand bar to Bar Island was passable, so across I went on the bike. I got across to Bar Island and considered taking the trail to the top of the "mountain", but the tide chart that was posted made me decide not to take any chances ... The idea of having to call for a water taxi to get me back across wasn't very appealing. So, back across I went and then I rode down the main street of Bar Harbor. I found a likely spot to grab a beer and took a little break.

After that, I wanted to drive to the top of Cadillac Mountain. I was debating between riding my bike back to Eagle Lake or taking one of the free shuttle buses. It was only about a 3 mile ride on the road, so I decided to ride it. It wasn't a bad ride, though there were a few big hills ... on my road bike, they wouldn't have been any problem at all ... on the mountain bike, they were moderately difficult. I got back to the car, put the bike gear away and headed to the top of the mountain.

It was a beautiful day, and the views were awesome (will upload pictures some other time). I spent a little time at the top, and then decided to get on the road to my campground for the night. I arrived at the campground at around 6:00 and set up the cot tent. After that, I grabbed a shower and made dinner. After dinner, I relaxed and did some reading, and then it was time to get to sleep.

Tomorrow, I head to Fundy National Park in Canada, via St. John, New Brunswick.

Canadian Maritimes Adventure

In about 32 hours, I'll be heading out on my next great adventure. This one will be a solo mission, as Josh is working, though I don't think he was really all that interested in this trip anyway.

I'll be exploring the Canadian maritime provinces, and from there, I'll continue into Labrador, through Quebec and then back home.

This is a two week journey. Along the way, I'll be visiting some of the larger cities in these provinces, as well as several Canadian National Parks.

The "highlight" of this adventure is the Trans Labrador Highway, which has been called the "Loneliest Road In The World".

Here's the itinerary:

Day 1 - New City, New York to Bangor, Maine
Day 2 - Bangor, Maine to Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, Canada
Day 3 - National Park, New Brunswick, Canada
Day 4 - Funding National Park to Prince Edward Island National Park, PEI, Canada
Day 5 - Prince Edward Island National Park to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Day 6 - Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to Cape Breton Highlands National Park, NS, Canada
Day 7/8 - Cape Breton Highlands National Park, NS to St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
Day 9 - St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada to Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada
Day 10 - Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada to St. Barbe, Newfoundland, Canada
Day 11 - St. Barbe, Newfoundland, Canada to Port Hope Simpson, Labrador, Canada
Day 12 - Port Hope Simpson, Labrador, Canada to Happy Valley Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada
Day 13 - Happy Valley Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada to Labrador City, Labrador, Canada
Day 14 - Labrador City, Labrador, Canada to Baie Comeau, Quebec, Canada
Day 15 - Baie Comeau, Quebec, Canada to Lake Placid, New York
Day 16 - Lake Placid, New York to New City, New York

This one is "about the journey".

I'm not sure what my access to the internet will be ... certainly for most of the time in Newfoundland and Labrador I'm not expecting any, but I plan to log each day and will upload to the blog when I can.

That's about it ... Hopefully, I'll have a Bon Voyage!!!