Eastern Canada road trip

Our second road trip of 2023 (after ☞ Puerto Rico) took us on 37-day, 6000-mile loop around Eastern Canada, heading out via Detroit and returning via Cleveland. We crossed 10 states (IL, IN, MI, NY, ME, NH, VT, NY, PA, OH) and 6 provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edwards Island and New Brunswick. We drove fairly quickly to Baie-Comeau QC. Short stop on the way at Pointe-Noire to watch belugas reminded us ☞ Quebec 2009 trip. Traveling Trans-Labrador Highway was the initial impulse for the entire trip. Driving was easy as the highway is in excellent condition and even the unpaved section of Rt 389 is not bad. Still, vast, sparsely inhabited expanse of taiga and tundra, and very light trafic preserve Labrador’s remote feel. The landscape is great and very interesting. Vegetation was surprisingly green and dense, even lush, although growth of everything (except mushrooms) is stunted. There are beautiful lakes, rivers and marshes. It was then rather disappointing that travelers on the road are firmly ditched-off the surrounding environment – nowhere to stop for a break, except at the road’s edge, or to get a good view, except stopping in the middle of bridges. Most side-dirt-roads, road-side parking lots or post-road-construction sites are neither interesting nor the kind of places one wants to explore. The rest of the trip was easier in this respect.

Scenery was changing all the time: from Great Lakes to St Lawrence River, to Labrador’s interior to Gulf of St Lawrence and Atlantic coast. Many lakes, rivers, streams and fjords. Taiga (boreal forest), tundra, beaches, coastal cliffs and barrens. Some mountains and hills. Interesting rock formations. We saw four black bears (they do not seem to cause problems for campers), 1/2 moose, a heard of 12+1 caribou, one fox, many squirrels and birds, a few dozen pilot whales plus one larger whale (?) far away and several beluga pods.

We started with a general idea where we wanted to go and we did some reaearch about places to visit and possible O/N sites, but the rest was left to daily decissions (did not make any reservations).

We had really good weather most of the time. A few nights with colder temps and several rainy days. Despite late in the season, we were hit by flies in multiple locations, two layers of clothing and mosquito nets helped (to some degree) and once by swarms of really nasty mosquitos. Moderate, passing rain during the day or rain, even heavy, at night was not a problem, but substantial rain made packing our car=camper quite a wet experience on one occasion. And we were on collision course with remnants of Hurricane Lee, which passed over our heads on Prince Edward Island. We spent the night in rented cottage just in case, but it was just rain and some gusty wind. We are getting better finding wild camping sites on our own. We had no problems with car travel/camping, but we have some new ideas how to improve/streamline operations before next trip. As it was later in the season, we had no problem finding space in National/Provincial Park capmgrounds or in inns/cottages.

Completed itinerary
        Main destination   Overnight
Aug 19 Sat 1 Ontario ON Big Bend
  20 Sun 2 Darlington PP ON Darlington
  21 Mon 3 Rideau Canal Kingston Mills ON Mille Roches
  22 Tue 4 Thousand Island NP QC Petite River
  23 Wed 5 Massif de Charlevoix QC Petite River
  24 Thu 6 Pointe-Noire QC Les Dinosaures du Quai De Ragueneau
  25 Fri 7 Lac Manicouagan QC Lac Manicouagan Rt 389
  26 Sat 8 Uapishka Biodiversity Reserve NL Two Seasons Labrador City
  27 Sun 9 Churchill Falls NL Camp Rt 500 Happy Valley
  28 Mon 10 Happy Valley-Goose Bay NL Camp 1 Rt 510
  29 Tue 11 Mary’s Harbour NL Camp 2 Rt 510
  30 Wed 12 Saddle Island NL Grenfell Louie Forteau
  31 Thu 13 Thrombolites Flowers Cove NL Camp Rt 430
Sep 1 Fri 14 L’Anse aux Meadows NL Main Brook
  2 Sat 15 Pointe Riche NL Arches
  3 Sun 16 West Brook Pond NL Barry Hill
  4 Mon 17 Gros Morne Summit NL Barry Hill
  5 Tue 18 Gros Morne NP NL Trout River
  6 Wed 19 Green Gardens/Tablelands NL Lomond
  7 Thu 20 Cape St George NL Inn at the Cape
  8 Fri 21 Boutte du Cap Trail NL Camp Rt 480
  9 Sat 22 Ramea NL Sandbanks
  10 Sun 23 Sandbanks PP NL Ferry to Cape Breton
  11 Mon 24 Cabot Trail/Cape Breton NS Mountain View Motel Pleasant Bay
  12 Tue 25 Skyline Trail NS Cheticamp
  13 Wed 26 Salmon Pools Rd Trail NS Whycocomagh
  14 Thu 27 Charlottetown PE Cavendish
  15 Fri 28 PEI NP PE Cavendish
  16 Sat 29 Green Gables PE Dreamweavers Cottage North Rustico
  17 Sun 30 Hopewell Rocks PP NB The Shire
  18 Mon 31 Fundy NP NB Chignecto
  19 Tue 32 New River Beach PP ME Fogg Brook Resort Palmyra
  20 Wed 33 Lobster Cooker Freeport VT Camp George D Aiken Wilderness
  21 Thu 34 Vermont Long Trail NY Oneonta KOA Journey Unadilla
  22 Fri 35 Erie Bluffs SP OH Broadview Heights
  23 Sat 36 Cuyahoga  Valley  NP OH Broadview Heights
  24 Sun 37 Home IL Chicago

Eastern Canada road trip

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