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

Interactive map

Photo gallery – 291 photos

Nature – 96 photos