Prior to the village is a gravel road leading to a lighthouse on the point. It is an unmanned, unpopulated lighthouse.. and, therefore, it was a lighthouse dedicated to entertaining just me and me only on this day. I liked the attention. I soaked up the views and enjoyed the peacefulness of being off the beaten track. But time is precious… and I headed back into civilization.

Low Tide, Marina, Covered Bridge in St. Martins

St. Martins is a small hamlet on the Bay of Fundy. The main street is lined with homes and stores. There is a small museum and a marina. Just off the main street is a sand and pebbled beach.

At low tides the beach reveals itself and the water empties the marina stranding boats. Boats must time the tides to enter and leave the marina. At the marina the road continues to a covered bridge and to the entrance of the Fundy Trail.

The Fundy Trail… threw me for a loop partly because of my lack of research… and partly because I assumed too much. I figured the Fundy Trail was a hiking and backpacking trail. But to my surprise it is a sightseeing driving route and hiking trail second but with a twist. The road is only 14 kilometres long and then hits a dead end and you must drive back the same way you came.

Along the road are lookouts, points of interest, waterfalls and beach trails. All connecting to the Fundy Trail footpath. The main centre is at the Big Salmon River. The centre is also home to a suspension bridge. It is from the suspension bridge that the trail becomes a backpackers adventure. It is 41 kilometres long and it connects to Fundy Park. The trail is rough, rugged and challenging. You must pack out what you pack in. I so wanted to do it.. but for now I just added it to my ever growing wish list.

Fundy Trail.. and we begin!

Plans are to complete the road therefore connecting the to Fundy Park. It is an actual running joke amongst the locals.. as it is taking forever to complete.. some say it may never complete… “ha ha ha, ho ho ho,” they laugh away.

I arrived at the gates and the park cops were there to take my money so I could see my country. This is common unfortunately. Sadly, the more I travel this country the more I see that anything that is beautiful is locked up under key and charged an admission. Very few backyards left to explore at will. The parks just do not get it. Parks should have a free access area providing some free hikes, lookouts, picnic areas, etc. to attract ALL people (locals and visitors) and then charge an admission for the top sightseeing destinations. A great example of this is Gatineau Park in Quebec and some parks in British Columbia.

Anywho.. I paid the blood money and entered the park embarking on my, there and back, adventure. It was going to be a drive and hike type of day I figured. The road route was lined with picnic areas, large parking lots, plenty of lookouts and viewing benches… plus some had access trails connecting to the Fundy Trail and one connected to Melvin Beach. There were many views of the Bay of Fundy. On my clear day the skies kissed the ocean – it was blue on blue scenery for as far as the eye could see.

Melvin Beach Low Tides

My first stop on the Fundy Trail was at Fox Rock Lookout. It was a viewing deck with a picnic area overlooking the Bay of Fundy and some cliffs. Where was the adrenaline rush in it? There was none.. been there done that… I am getting spoiled.. next please.

Things picked up at my next stop – Melvin Beach. (Main Blog Photo) Here I connected to the Fundy Trail and hiked down the hill to the massive pebbled beach. It was raining out. It did not matter I had rain gear and a walkman. The tide was out. The cliffs and boulders were exposed. They stood tall and were colored with an angry red.

The beach was a sand box filled with smooth, round and sculptured beach stones. They glistened from the rain. It was like walking on marbles. Two steps forward, one step back sort of thing. I danced. I hummed. I picked up rocks and studied them pretending to know something rockish. No matter no one was around. Not that it matter.

Left the beach and hiked back up the hill. Rain dripping from my brim of my baseball cap. The air smelled like fresh cut grass. No one was out. No one was as stupid (some would say smart) as me to do this in the rain. My legs burned. The music played. And before I knew it I was in my jeep again, dripping wet, feeling great. “Whats next!”

Suspension Bridge

I set my compass on the suspension bridge. On the way I stopped at a few lookouts. None provided access to the shoreline which I already knew, but you never know, I snooped anyway. The suspension bridge crosses the Salmon River and is a main starting point for backpacking the toughest part of the Fundy Trail (41 kilometres of wilderness bliss) .

Just my luck.. as I am crossing the suspension bridge to take pictures a group of backpackers appear. It was like the spirits were teasing me. Rubbing it in my face. They knew I would love to be joining this group exploring 41 kilometres of grunting and sweating with wet river crossings, wilderness camping, campfire stories, wildlife sightings, mosquito bites and dirt, mud everywhere – sign me up – what is there not to like!

St. John Sign

I am camping high up on a cliff in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. There are swallows, swifts and seagulls playing tag in the air currents out my front door. And the city of St. John is on full display, spread out below me, at my feet. The views are endless. Out front I see the bridges tic-tac-toe, back and forth, across the Bay of Fundy connecting the community of St. John together. At night…  in the distance the horizon glows a sharp orange, the illuminated temples and domes of city churches poke into the dark skies and the lights bounce off of the glass-like surface of the Bay of Fundy.

Everyone knows I like elevation. I think it is because of my youth living on the west coast of Canada where mountains breed like rabbits. St. Johns provided me plenty of opportunity for elevation which was a good score for moi. In town there were two sites perched up on hills with great views of the city and the Bay of Fundy – Fort Howe and the Carleton Martello Tower. The hill of Fort Howe is also the location of the giant St. John sign. I could not resist a photo moment.

St. John surprised me and satisfied many of my adventure needs. There were plenty of old buildings and history to uncover and learn. Many downtown buildings were built in stone and red brick dating way back. There was the amazing Irvin Nature Park.. it was big, loaded with sightseeing hiking trails, beaches and rocky shorelines.. and it was free!

Cruise Liner in Port

There were lookouts providing far reaching views of the city, wetlands and rocky shorelines. Some lookouts were historic others were natural. And I was surprised to learn that St. John had such a developed port for servicing cruise ships. On my stay I saw three different cruise liners pull into the port downtown.  Good for them and tourism.

I started my visit poking around in the downtown core of St. John. The waterfront street is centre stage, as far as population growth is concerned… lots of people, especially if a cruise ship is in town.

The downtown core is home to patio restaurants, the port, Market Square, churches, boutiques and restaurants… and it connects to the Harbour Passage (code to me until I found out it was another way of saying a waterfront promenade walkway) .. and a good one at that.

Leaving the cement behind, I moved onto bigger and better things the next few days like parks and trails. In town I visited many parks and lookouts. The biggest and most popular park is Rockwood Park. It is up on a cliff overlooking the city. Throughout the park are a series of manicured and wilderness trails connecting to many lakes, beaches and viewpoints. Rockwood is (do not quote me on this) the largest municipal park in Canada?!? But nothing turned my crank more than the Irving Nature Park. (Main BLOG photo)

The Gorge in Irvin Nature Park

What a score of a park. It is propped up by cliffs, bluffs, beaches and marshlands with views overlooking the Bay of Fundy. The point of the park is at the end of a long penunsula. I set my eye on the point. I wanted bluffs big time. It took forever to get there though. Every stop along the way was another beach, picnic site, bluff, or lookout with a sightseeing opportunity. There were private beaches and busy beaches – private cliffs and busy lookouts. I had to make tough decisions.

I also noticed young and old enjoying the park. Irving Nature Ppark is ideal for all ages as it is accessed by road and trail. There are kilometres of hiking trails connecting to wetlands, mud flats, cliffs, coves, bluffs and lookouts. And there is a 6.5 kilometre gravel loop road which explores the park through the forest connecting to the many lookouts, beaches and picnic sites.

It is sometimes the people you meet that make or break a trip. Sometimes it is people that make a good trip into a great vacation. I have noticed – without a doubt – traveling west to east that there is a vast difference in the “friendliness factor” from region to region.  Some places just seem to breed nice people while others mutate into grunting, frowning monsters. In Fredericton, New Brunswick I was tripping over nice people allot.

Feeling BIG Time Canadian in San Quentin

The last few days I traveled from Edmundston to Fredericton – the capital of New Brunswick.

At the beginning of my trip I was on the road at 5 AM and took a detour route down some backroads looping around to the village of San Quentin before heading south. Why? Well… because for one I got an early start,  it was a nice day, the sun was almost awake and San Quentin was supposedly a doorway community to wilderness activities.

But it was not the activities that stirred my interest.. nope.

What made my day was the massive, shimmering maple leaf  located at the entrance of  the village of San Quentin. When I arrived at 8 AM the first thing I saw was the maple leaf.

It sent goose bumps up my spine.  It had “photo” moment written all over it.  It could not have gotten any more Canadian than that at 8 in the morning at the start of a road trip.

Heartland Covered Bridge

Still beaming from ear to ear.. all pumped up on Canadian pride…  I continued to the community of  Florenceville.  I stopped into the tourism office.  Two young girls greeted me.  I had to prompt them (seems I have to do this in many towns) to tell me about the parks, points of interests and trails in their community.

They said they had no trails.  “Here we go again,” I shrugged.  “But I just past one,” as I am pointing down the highway.  “Oh, yah that one. It is not that bad. Follows a river, ” she giggles. “Ug,” I think to myself.  I’m out of here.  I walk the beautiful promenade on the waterfront of Florenceville. I took a picture of a well kept covered bridge. I hiked the trail, where there are no trails according to local resources.

Next  I was  Heartland – Home of the worlds longest covered bridge. From there I wandered down the River Valley Scenic Highway Route to Woodstock and then into Fredericton.

After a long day I settled into a campground on Mactaquac Lake in Fredericton, New Brunswick. As I am setting up base camp, my neighbour sees I am having issues with some of the levers and gears and comes on over to see if I could use some help.  Funny how in some communities you cannot find help and in others it is always nearby.

It turns out the man and his wife camping next to me were from Fredericton. They were just camping to get away from the homestead for awhile.  We seem to hit it off and he gave me some inside information about their community. We talked about Marysville, the Garrison, fishing, The Green Promenade, Nashwack River and Fiddleheads.

Turns out Fiddleheads (baby ferns) are eatable and are some sort of provincial deliquecy. My camping neighbour proceeded to fill me in on the cooking of the Fiddleheads and how people like to eat them with vinegar. It was interesting. I guess my camping neighbour sensed my interest in the local menu, so as I am finishing my research in Fredericton – guess who shows up but my camping neighbour with a jar of fiddleheads and New Brunswick syrup – yes straight from the tree. Like I said earlier, sometimes it is the good people who make great vacations. (Main BLOG Photo)

After researching all the parks, trails and sights in Fredericton I proceeded to get ready to leave. As I was packing up, my lock on my camper jammed. “Hmm.. a potential “suck big time” moment,” I thought.  I took the lock  a part and found that it needed some welding. I duct tape the door handle shut and was going to hunt out a welding shop on my way to St Johns.

On my way out of Fredericton I stopped into a Spring Shop and thought I would see if they would weld it. Give it a shot anyway. As it turns out it was “Good Guy” working day. The guy that greets me welds my lock for no charge and then we talked for 15 minutes about his trip to British Columbia and my trip across Canada.  We laughed, we listened and then we left each other to continue on with their day.

My time in the Isles was coming to an end and now I must head south. The plan was to travel the coastline roads from my campground on the Gulf of the Saint Laurent in Acadian country to the mighty Miramichi River and the community of Miramichi.

Waterford Green Wharf-Miramichi River

Bro.. had already traveled through the community about two months ago prior to my, snail pace, arrival. Luckily for moi, Bro got the research bug while visiting in Miramichi and went out and explored some of the major parks and trails in the region. That left me with “filling in the holes” type research.

Miramichi is a community at the junction of rivers, bays and highway routes.  It is connected by two bridges connecting two main villages (one on each side of the river) – Newcastle and Waterford.  Waterford has a great waterfront park with views of Miramichi and the bridge.

After a few days in the region I hit the back roads and highways making my way over to Grand Falls. It was a long drive with little company. The odd logging truck would provide some company playing cat and mouse with me on the narrow roads. They would come tumbling down long hills with a cloud of dust trailing behind them like a long cape. As they pass by, there is usually a ting bang or clunking sound from the rocks, pebbles and flying bark chunks left in their wake.

After time in seclusion I arrived, first, in the village of Plaster Rock.  I stopped into their local Tourist Park (the sign said so) and asked them about things to do and they said they really do not have tourism in town and the village is more of a stopping gap… hmmm, I was confused your sign says Tourist Park.

I asked for more information. She told me that it is home to the largest pond hockey tournament ( OK, that is cool but allot that does for me now in the middle of summer ) and she asked if I saw the largest Fiddlehead statue. I nodded dumfounded, she tried, and I moved on.

Gorge Falls

Next I pulled into Grand Falls. Nice little village. Main street was done up nice with flower gardens. At the entrance to town is their “claim to fame”  – a massive gorge. Unfortunately the summer hear wave, have left the water levels low, and the river was not so mighty at this time. But on the positive side the lack of water exposed the rock gorge to its fullest.

The last leg of my journey, over the last couple of days, eventually landed me in Edmundston, New Brunswick during their construction season. Lots of detours, making sightseeing interesting. The village was spread out on both sides of the river. One village was under road construction and the other half was open for research.

While researching I spotted a fort high up on the hill. I soon found out it was called a Blockhouse. A fort like lookout tower used for guarding the river in the old days. I visited the Blockhouse, took a tour to the top for some photos. I also met a red coat who agreed to have a picture taken with him. He was the tall, silent… the wooden personality type. (Main Blog Photo)

The peninsula road travels along pebble, cliff and sandy shorelines only to bump into recreation beaches, lighthouses and marinas. It is not uncommon to find  bogs, wetlands and marshes on both sides of the road with cat tails and reeds swaying back and forth. The wind never seems to stop here. The wind is your friend on the peninsula.

Kite surfing, wind surfing, fishing and sailing are big activities on the peninsula. Where I am staying there are kite surfers all day playing in the wind. Some bob up and down trying to stay afloat while others cut like a knife slicing through the water. My base camp is in Shippagan which is at the doorstep of the peninsula. From here I could set out exploring without the travel pod.

Shippagan Lighthouse

In Shippagan and all up and down the coast are Acadian Flags. They are everywhere. I visited the downtown shops.  There were more flags! I visited the main attraction in town – the aquarium – more flags. I visited the port and marina… and more flags.

While I was visiting the marina there was a lighthouse. The lighthouse was one of many I viewed today. This lighthouse in Shippagan marked the trailhead to a waterfront promenade. Lucky me!

This was no ordinary promenade either.  For one,  most promenades are not so well maintained and colorful. In Shippagan the entire promenade was decorated in.. you guessed it… Acadian flags.

The flags hummed in unison as I walked pass them. It was a distorted hum created from the flutter of the flags tortured by the high winds blowing in off the bay. To say the least it was a bad hair day. From a distance the 2 kilometre promenade looked spectacular decorated in blue,white and red flags. (Main Blog Photo)

Windsurfing

From Shippagan I traveled the coastline and over a bridge onto Lameque Island. The island was a continuation of the flag party. Hail Acadian!

The big attraction on the island is the Eco Park – bridge walks and bog discoveries. Took a look but declined the offer.

What I found more entertaining however were the kite surfers and wind surfers tearing up the water in the bay opposite the park. These wind worshippers were far more experienced than the ones near my base camp. They were staying afloat and getting air and moving as fast as light.  My camera could almost not keep up with them.

Miscou Lighthouse

Next I crossed a massive arch bridge connecting Lemeque Island to Miscou Island.

Miscou Island is the last stop on the peninsula. The island is home to one of the more popular beaches in the region and a lighthouse.

The beach is long, sandy and great for walks. There is a raised boardwalk path cutting through sand dunes so to access the beach.

The lighthouse is located at the end of the road on the tip of the peninsula. It is one of the few lighthouses you can enter and climb to the top. All I could see after the lighthouse was horizon and water. Too bad , because I would of  kept going, going and…