June 13-19, 2023

We left Hermon, Maine and traveled the short distance (about 2 hours) to the Canadian border station. Passing through uneventfully we made it to our first destination near Fredricton, New Brunswick, the River Run Resort & Grill. It’s a nice campground right on the river on the site of the old Kelly’s Sporting Lodge. They have some very cool domes that can be rented, each with its own hot tub on the deck. The camping sites are spacious and have full hook-ups, though just 30 AMP power.

   

After setting up camp we took our bikes to the Morell Park Trail for a ride. It was a bit of a gloomy day but we had a wonderful ride. The Lupine is in full bloom everywhere so I couldn’t resist taking lots of flower pictures…more to come.

On our second day in Fredricton we had a lot of rain so stayed mostly inside. I was able to go for a nice long walk in the afternoon and get some more flower pics. Sorry there are so many but it’s too hard to pick my favorites 🙂

After two days we left Fredricton and drove to the beautiful (but very hard to pronounce) Kouchibouguac National Park on the Atlantic coast of New Brunswick. We camped at the South Kouchibouguac Campground with full hook-ups and just a few feet from the bike trail and Kouchibouguac River…absolutely fabulous!

The only thing that marred our 5-night stay here was the weather, lots of cold and rain. We knew it was coming so we made the most of our first two days, taking long bike rides on the fantastic 36 mile bike trail system. As soon as we got set up we peddled off for a 15 mile ride taking us by Kelly’s Beach, Beaver (where we saw a beaver!), Pines and then back up to the river and our campsite. We only saw a couple of other people on the trail. We hear that things don’t get busy here until July/August.

The next day we got in another long ride into the less-traveled northern part of the park, hoping to see a moose or bear (from a distance!). Though we did see some bear scat we saw no wildlife 🙁

As we expected the next two days over the weekend were cold and rainy, in the upper 40’s and windy. Yuck! We took the opportunity to drive into town for some groceries and stopped by the Visitors Center to check it out.

 

Monday was cold again but not raining so I bundled up (4 layers on the top, 3 on the bottom, hat, scarf and gloves) and set out for a walk to Kelly’s Beach, about 3 miles round trip. It is a beautiful spot and I’m sure very pleasant on a warm sunny day.

After a rest and some lunch I set out for the Kouchibouguac River Trail for another 3 mile round trip. It was also a beautiful walk and I was shedding layers on my way home as the sun was trying to make it’s way out and it began to warm up.

As you can probably tell, I loved this park and would highly recommend a visit! Next we are off to Prince Edward Island.