We will be traveling from Illinois to the Canadian Maritimes July/August 2010. This is our first visit to the area. Following is a draft itinerary I’d like to receive comment on from those of you that are familiar with the area and campgrounds. We enjoy being out of doors, day hikes and having time to smell the roses (or maybe salty air for this trip!). We are comfortable dry camping and don’t really need hook ups. Any thoughts or comments are welcome.
Draft Canadian Maritimes Itinerary
Chetticamp, 3 nights National Park Chetticamp campgrounds (mixed reviews but seems like good spot for basecamp).
We spent a couple of weeks on PEI and really enjoyed it.
We stayed in a motel that has RV sites right across the river from Charlottetown. We were right on the river on a bluff and had great views of the city and watched the boat traffic.
Regarding whale watching. It appears to me that the whale watching boats go out all year long (weather permitting), but the whales are in certain areas for only a short period. You might want to do some research on the whales migration and calving dates and locations to make sure there are whales to watch when you get there.
Don't lock yourself in. Be able to make changes as you discover items you like.
You don't say what you like to do. Have you spent time near salt water before? Have you tried boondocking?
While the order of places you have in mind is logical, consider a circuit since there is more than one route through these provinces.
Have you received your provincial visitors books, yet? I like calling the sites because then I can tell them what especially interests me and they can give more information, ie. pamphlets, say on hiking trails,
Places you've left out:
- Northern Cape Breton Island
- Fortress at Louisbourg, Cape Breton, live history reconstructed fort: a MUST, MUST, MUST for NS.
- either north shore or south shore of NS or both
- Annapolis Royal and historic settlement sites on Digby Neck
- historic sites in PEI is fun to me, ie Orwell Corner again living history village,
- Include a Saturday, have almost empty fridge & tummy. Charlottetown Farmer's Market.
- My fav. lobster place in The Maritimes is New Glasgow Lobster Suppers.
- Acadian Historic Village, NB
- Mactaquac PP
- Grand Manan Island
- Kings Landing
From what you say, you can manage very nicely in provincial camp grounds. Both NB and PEI have serviced sites, but these tend to be in 'open field' type sites, ie. like parking lots. If you can cope without those, you can get more campground type places to park. Since I have a TC, this is what I prefer to do.
Spend atleast a week on PEI, Cavendish with "anne of Green Gables" theme parks, amusement parks and beaches was our favourite.
Charlottetown's waterfront was great.
Fort Louisbourg near Sydney is unbelievable.
The Cabot Trail in Cape Breton is one of a kind, and of course Newfoundland is like no other Province, it's different around every corner.
New River, New Brunswick is an awesome beach and campsite, stay there 3 days atleast.
Peggy's Cove and Lunenberg, Nova Scotia has to be seen in a life time.
Having lived on Newfoundland for 24.5 years and made a number of visits to Gros Morne National Park, IMO that has Cabot trail beat many times over. One does not make a circuit of Gros Morne Terrain as one does with Cabot Trail, but there are similarities & Gros Morne wins every time in my mind.
Gros Morne was developed later than Cape Breton Highlands National Park, when working with local communities had won as a policy over the 'buy out and replace with no buidings' had won. Local communities and local enterprise has created the long (3 hours and more) boat rides in Western Brook Pond and Trout River Ponds. Local enterprise has made all of the near by boat tours off shore for whales, etc. Communities remain showing how settlers used the area. Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse and musuem is one of these. The fishing stations of those who remained are there to be visited.
& because of these activities all of us actually see more of the landscape than at Cape Breton Highlands National Park. All you see of where finishing communities 'were' is the bay beside the Cabot Trail. The experience pales in comparison.
But to add Newfoundland to a travel option means adding a month to the trip, do anything remotely like a reasonable visit.
Include Alantic Canada and go to Newfoundland. I favored it over all the others (except we did not travel PEI).
Listen to Little Kopit, she is an expert on the area.
Clattertruck
2008 SD F450 PSD 6.4L CC 4X4 DRW, Lariat Auto trans 4.30 LS, 2008 Snowriver 108 truck camper. Jeep Unlimited Rubicon as toad.
We spent about 3 weeks in early June 2008 in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Based on that limited experience, I have the following thoughts and comments:
We stayed 2 nights at the Century Farm Family Campground in St. Martins and would highly recommend it. The campground is a large grassy field right on the shore of the Bay of Fundy. A very pretty location and the owners were very helpful and friendly. The WiFi worked too! While there we drove over to the nearby sea caves to watch the tide go out. With the huge tidal range in the Bay, it is amazing to see how fast the water level changes. The second day we drove the Fundy Trail Parkway just to the east of St. Martins. Very scenic and some nice short hiking trails.
We stayed 2 nights at Chignecto North Campground in Fundy National Park. A very nice campground with lots of trees. Lots of bugs (Black Flies?) when we were there, but that may just have been the time of year.
IMO the best place in New Brunswick to witness the tidal range in the Bay is the Hopewell Rocks. We arrived there just at high tide, then went back 3 hours later to walk in the ocean floor. In that time the water level had dropped by 20 feet or more.
On the west side of Cape Breton Island, we stayed 2 nights at MacLeod's Beach Campground just north of Inverness. It's about 30 miles south of Cheticamp, so maybe not a good base camp for the Cape Breton Highlands NP. However, this was one of the most spectacular campground locations we have stayed at. There is a short trail to the top of a bluff with spectacular 360 degree views of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the hills surrounding the campground. We saw whales in the Gulf, probably Pilot whales. Also a nice beach and great sunsets over the Gulf.
At Baddeck we spent one night at Baddeck Cabot Trail Campground and the following night at Bras D'Or Lakes Campground. Both were fine. Don't miss the Alexander Graham Bell Museum while there - very interesting place.
As mentioned by others - don't miss Fortress Louisborg! Plan on a full day there, as there is a lot to see.
I think you would be making a mistake if you skipped PEI. I suggest that you enter PEI via the boat and leave via the bridge - you only pay a toll when leaving the Island and the bridge is cheaper.
Cavendish and Anne's Land are really popular with visitors although we don't go near that part of the Island in summer.
The campground that was mentioned in Stratford is OK but don't overlook the provincial parks. We stayed at Red Point Provincial Park in Aug. and it was great. We were in the "new sites", right at the top of the camp ground and could look out over Northumberland Strait. We used binos to watch whales far out in the Strait. You need to reserve well ahead of time. We like Brudenell PP as well. Sewage hook-up, water, electric, cable on a pull through site for $28 per night. There are golf, horses and kayak rentals right there.
Thanks for the plug for Orwell Corner Historic Village. I have been on the Board of Directors for 15 years (President for 8). I'm also the volunteer interpreter in the blacksmith shop there so all in all I'm probably very prejudiced but I think that it is a very special place.
We always go to Fisherman's Wharf in North Rustico for lobster. Their 60' salad bar and all-you-can-eat desert bar are hard to resist.
July is early for whale watching. The best sighting period is later into September although August can be OK too. It tends to vary year to year.
I hope that you have a great trip and if I can help with the PEI portion (if you come here), just let me know.
Dan
Prince Edward Island
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