Maine and the Maritimes

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Road trip 2022 kicked off with us driving to the United States border, crossing at Coburn Gore. This would be the first time I would be entering the USA since the pandemic began. From there we found a way to Nataris Campground for our first night. The sky was overcast with clouds, but no rain was falling yet. We set up camp and boiled some water to eat a few packets of ramen noodles. Not the healthiest of dinners but it would have to do for the time being. As our camp was enveloped in darkness, the sounds of loons could be heard across the lake.

The next day we departed early and continued down route 27, stopping at a small diner for a greasy breakfast. A few hours later we reached the city of Bangor. Bev is a big Steven King fan so we went to check out the Stephen King residence, where he spent countless hours penning some of his best fiction. The rain amplified the mood. Then we checked out a few nearby sites such as a giant Paul Bunyan Statue, and the Mount Hope Cemetery, where we found gravestones from hundreds of years back. We then stopped to resupply some groceries at a mall that was close by before heading south. The rain had now intensified as we reached Acadia National Park. We arrived at the Seawall campground and set up a tarp and then the tent. We cooked dinner under the shelter the tarp provided, while the rain continued relentlessly.

The following day the sky was clearing up and after breakfast we got into the Chevy Equinox and began exploring the area. Our first stop was the Bass Harbour Head light station. We walked down along the rocks and enjoyed some very nice views. The weather had become warm and sunny. We continued driving counter clockwise and stopped at a few lookout spots and lakes. Then we headed over the the Acadia main visitor center to arm ourselves with more information. The town of Bar Harbour was nearby so we stopped by to check it out for a few hours. This is mainly a tourist town but we found a nice coastal walk and then checked out a few shops on the main strip. We retruned to our camp and made an awesome camping dinner and attempted to have a fire, unfortunately the wood we acquired could best be described as subpar and was still very wet from the previously mentioned rain, so it was frustrating to keep the fire going.

It was a perfect bright sunny day and we arose early to take full advantage of it. We drove over to the eastern part of the park and began our hike up the Beehive line. This hike wasn't particularly difficult but it did have a lot of exposure with some steep drops. The views were awesome. We continued along towards the Gorham mountain summit for more views. After descending by mid afternoon, we returned to the car and began a scenic drive back towards the camp site. We made a stop at a fish market where I got some Haddock fish for dinner. Bev is vegetarian so she already had some veggie sausages in the cooler. We also stopped at a hardware store where I bought a hatchet, which would make it easier to cut pieces of wood for fire kindling. That night I chopped wood and we redeemed ourselves with a grand fire that we had hopped to have the previous night, but better late than never.

We left early the next morning after packing things up. We drove east along the coast of Maine. There were a few lookouts along the way and weather continued to be cooperative. We ran into some frustration trying to fill out our ArriveCan app before reaching to cross back into Canada, but eventually figured it out. By mid afternoon we had crossed into the province of New Brunswick and hugged the coastline. We reached the town of St. John, where I had last been six years prior on a cycling trip east. St. John is a very industrial town and I wasn't a big fan but Bev wanted to see where her Dad had grown up so we dipped into the eastern part of town and snapped some pictures of a house that had long since transformed from the rural barn it had been. We carried on to Fundy National Park and found a nice campsite there.

The next day we took a day trip to Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, famous for its world class tides. Within a six hour period the tide could rise and fall by 46 feet! We wanted to see both high tide and low tide to experience the difference so we arrived at around 1300h first to see the water at its highest. I tried my best to take pictures in the exact spot so I could see the incredible difference. After seeing the high point tide, we left the park and drove around for a bit exploring some of the surrounding areas. We returned by mid afternoon and now the tide had receded almost completely. We were now able to walk onto the beach. We walked for some time along the wet mud and saw some cool rock formations. That evening we bought some groceries and returned to the campsite.

We had a big upcoming day. We had to get up insanely early, packed up our gear, and drove off. Fundy National Park was socked in with fog and it made for some eerie driving. We reached Moncton and stopped to grab breakfast at a diner named Jean's. We then continued on and eventually crossed over the mighty Confederation Bridge, one of the longest in the world. This 13km bridge connects the province of New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island (PEI) and was completed in 1997. We reached the Souris port in the early afternoon, and lined up to be loaded onto a ferry. This ferry would be bringing us to the Quebec archipelago called Les-Isles-de-la-Madeleine, in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The sun was out so we stayed outside for the five hour journey. As we approached, we could see the colourful clapped board houses that are famous throughout the Maritime region. We returned to the car and then disembarked as the sun was setting. The port was in the town of Cap-Aux-Meules, on the biggest island where a majority of the archipelago's 13000 residents. The islands are connected by sand bars and causeways, effectively allowing for most areas to be reached by a vehicle. We drove along the main street and then turned south and a few short minutes later arrived at Parc de Gros-Cap. We got a sheltered campsite, useful on this landmass with few trees and generally lots of wind. The wind is a major draw for kite surfers, who flock here en mass to take advantage. In fact one of my former neighbors, also a kitesurfer, was the one who first made me aware of this archipelago. It was already dark by the time we finished setting up and we scarfed down some sandwiches for dinner. Sadly fires in our wooded sheltered area were prohibited.

It would now be time to explore this archipelago, but we really had no plan at all, so we started by driving out to the western part of the main island, until we quickly reached the water. While the archipelago is quite long north to south, its width is negligible, it's quite easy to drive across in about fifteen minutes. We reached L'Anse a l'Etang du Nord, and walked around for a while. The wind was strong but it was warm. We then headed north to Fatima Beach, where we walked for a bit. Bev was looking for interesting shells, and we saw some kitesurfers plying their craft. Afterwards we decided we'd drive northward along Route 199 (the only major route in these lands), and drive as far as we could. We traveled through the sandbars connecting the major islands, passed by numerous beaches, and passed by the salt mine that provides tons of road salts to this part of the world. Although this distance was only 60km it still took over 2 hours one way, as we could only go so fast and we stopped at a few places. We checked out Old Harry Beach for a while and picked up some trash we found and then made it to the end of the road, at Plage de la Pointe. There we found some beautiful views as the sun began to dip below. Back near the campsite we picked up some food items at a small nearby grocery store and then returned to our site.

After breakfast we headed towards the island to the south, L'Ile-du-Havre-Aubert. On the way we stopped at the Plage de la Martinique, and walked more beach. Then we went all around this south island. At Plage de la dune de l'ouest we found some incredible tide pools filled with small fish and various birds perched on the rocky cliffs. The on the east of the island we found a strip filled with shops selling unique items and touristy crap. To the south we went to Sandy Hook Beach and walked for a short distance before Bev found some big shells sticking out and proceeded to dig them out. Then she just continued digging and digging for hours and found a bunch of awesome shells! I think it was one of the best days she had in a long time! As the evening approached we headed back to the main island hoping to reach a grocery store but we were completely out of luck as everything had just closed. So we drove to a pizza place and grabbed some pies for dinner.

For our final full day in the archipelago, we decided to return to Sandy Hook Beach. The beach is actually a dune sandbar that extends some six kilometers to the east. We began to walk and walk and just when we figured we'd turn around, we decided we would walk for a little bit more. Before we knew it we made it all the way to the end. Some other people were already there, a few having walked as well, but others had made it using vehicles and we could see that there were tracks on the other side of the dunes from where we had been walking. Now we had to return from the tip and pretty much just retraced our steps back for several hours. It was close to dark when we returned and cooked up a good dinner.

We had to be up early as our time on Les-Iles-de-la-Madeleine was running low. We stopped at the only Tims on the archipelago, before arriving at the nearby port. From there we queued and then were loaded onto the ferry. We were both quite tired and since it was rainy and cool weather, we weren't going to be sitting outside this time. Instead we tried to find some comfy chairs to lean back in. A delayed Montreal Impact soccer game was being played on the screens above. The water was becoming rougher and I could feel it. Bev tried to get some more sleep. Eventually we went to the cafeteria and bought some overpriced food, then we settled in a booth and played cards for a while. We arrived back in Souris by the early afternoon. The wind had picked up but at least it felt still relatively warm, but still cooler than when we had arrived. Since we were so close the the eastern most tip of the island we decided to check it out briefly. There was a lighthouse being renovated and a cool gift shop playing Maritime folk music. From there we decided to drive southwest towards the capital of the province, Charlottetown. Known for the birthplace of Canadian Confederacy, its a fairly small town by provincial capital standards, with a population of just over 40000. We easily found free parking near the town center and then went for a stroll along the harbour. I was shocked to see massive cruise ships docked along. I guess there are maritime cruise ship routes though so not sure why. After about 2 hours we took off and headed to the north central part of the island. We arrived at Prince Edward Island National Park and set up camp. The wind had intensified but luckily it was still somewhat warm.

We checked out the famous Anne of Green Gables Heritage Place, based on author Lucy Maud Montgomery's work. While I'm not the biggest fan of these books, Bev had read them a lot as a kid. It's also one of the biggest attractions to see while in PEI. I do remember visiting this site already when I was much younger on a family trip, almost 30 years earlier, so despite that it brought back some nostalgia. We spent time seeing the famous homes and barns and then went on a walk through the "haunted" forest. That afternoon we decided to head to the eastern most point of the province, near the town of Tignish. The wind had really been ramping up, so as we were walking along the beach coast we were almost blown away at times. By the time we returned to our campground that evening, we went on another beach walk and also had a tough time staying upright. We changed our camp site for one that afforded a bit more shelter since the wind was tearing through. Apparently a storm was headed this way.

It was time to bid PEI farewell, but not before heading to a nice vantage point to take some shots of the Confederation Bridge from a bit of a distance. Then we carried on and exited PEI and after a long bridge ride, we were back in New Brunswick. We made a stop in Shediac to see the giant Lobster, which according to Bev was a must see sight in these parts. Then we drove all the way to Kouchibouguac National Park. Since we still had most of the afternoon available, we set up at our tent site and then went to explore. We made several stops in different sections of the park, and saw varied environments ranging from bigs, swamps, old growth forest and wetlands. By the evening we reached some sand dunes and walked the sandy beach as the sun dipped below. It was windy but nowhere near as windy as we had experienced in PEI. The weather was pretty much perfect on this day. That evening we had another tasty camping dinner and then a fire.

We had a big day ahead of us. The goal was to try to reach a ferry by 18h00, in order to reach the Cote Nord du Quebec (again). We packed up our campsite and left early, and did a small drive around the smaller Acadian peninsula. Soon after stopped in the town of Miramichi to grab a fast food breakfast. Then we carried on through Bathurst, briefly stopping again in some shops. After a few more hours we then stopped in the town of Dalhousie and saw a really nice lighthouse. We then went through Cambelltown and saw a giant Salmon statue. Seems like lots of towns in NB try to outdo themselves with large animal statues! By this point Bev was becoming stressed that we wouldn't be able to make the ferry if we didn't push it. So we crossed the bridge and found ourselves back into Quebec. Then we drove across eastern Gaspesie over the next few hours to reach the St. Laurence River. Finally we reached the town of Trois-Pistoles and queued to board the ferry. We had made it after all. The ferry ride took about an hour and a half and we made it to Les Escoumins. This was the third time in as many years that we were visiting this region in Quebec. Bev had truly fallen in love with the place and loved having the opportunity to see whales. I think whales are awesome too. So it just made sense to come back home this way. We went to the campground (Paradis-Marin) and found a nice site overlooking the water at a distance.

The next morning we were hoping to catch some sights of whales (obviously). Overnight I had heard the sounds of Minke whale blowholes. Rumor had it that the two previous seasons (which we had been around) were some of the best for whale sightings in recent memory. This year was not as good apparently but hopefully we would still have some good sightings. It seemed to have to do with the availability of marine food that will attract many whale species deeper into the St. Lawrence seaway. At least I knew Minke whales were plentiful. Almost immediately after breakfast, we saw a few people congregating onto the seafront rocks, and heard some cheers. It appeared that a humpback had surfaced. We rushed down to the rocks and I did see a humpback surface and then dive. We spent most of the morning sitting on the rocks and looking out. By early afternoon we decided to take a small break and drove out to Les Escoumins to check out a native information area and then stopped at a grocery store. By late afternoon we were back at the rocks and scanning the water for anything that moved. We saw a few Minke's and large gatherings of seals as the sun began to go down. That evening we made another rocking camping dinner and had a massive fire.

With our trip at its end, it was time to pack up our gear for the last time, and head on out. This area of the Cote Nord was becoming really dear to us, and we would certainly be back. Maybe a 4th year in a row? I credit in some ways the Covid Pandemic for really allowing us to stay home in our province these last years and discover these incredible places. We took the familiar and scenic drive down Route 138 for several hours until reaching Quebec City, then the bridge to the south which carried us along through the Quebec regions of Chaudiere-Appalaches, Centre-du-Quebec, and La Monteregie. We would continue on to Ontario to swap vehicles and pick up Fergus, our cat that Bev's parents were looking after while away. Another awesome roadtrip in the books. Until next time!

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