We departed Fredricton with a loose itinerary to find our way north to the remote Mt Carleton Provincial Park using only unpaved roads. We departed the pavement in Ward Settlement a few miles north of Freddy. A search of the records indicate that Robert Ward arrived around 1841 which was too late to have been a loyalist from the American Colonies. We did not identify any members of the Ward clan remaining in the settlement which is now part of the town of Stanley Parrish so there was to be no grand family reunion during this sojourn.
Most of the terrain we traveled through on this ramble is privately owned by major forestry concerns; many of the local folks scattered amongst the woodlands make their living in the forestry industry.
We came out of the wood lands onto Route 107 to stop at the convenience store rumored to exist at the junction of Route 107 and Route 105 in the hamlet of Juniper (named for the Juniper bogs in the area). It does exist and it was open but the six local folks hanging about the store (pop. 200) were none to welcoming so we bought a couple of cold drinks and went back into the woods.
From Juniper we covered a 32 mile stretch of dirt roads until we reached Plaster Rock. Plaster Rock (pop.1000) is a metropolis based on the size of most of the villages and hamlets we encountered in this part of New Brunswick. Like most of the other villages in the area the economy is centered on forestry and logging. The village sits along side the beautiful Tobique River.
We stopped in Plaster Rock to buy groceries for the next several evenings and to satisfy the Beast’s insatiable desire for diesel fuel (Juniper has no diesel fuel). A nice find occurred while we were driving through town to the grocery. A restaurant – lil’ Pepinos – purveyor of house made pasta, pizza and other Italian dishes in the woods of New Brunswick. You betcha – we pulled right in and ordered a pie. The restaurant did not feel Italian in the least but the pie was pretty dang good. No washing dishes after dinner at the campsite for us tonight!
From lil’ Peppinos we drove 30 miles north (mostly on pavement to a location along the Tobique River in the settlement of Riley Brook (pop. 100). This site is popular with kayakers and has campsites and firewood. All in all it was a good day on the road.
The next morning we set out north on Route 385 to camp and hike at Mt. Carleton Provincial Park (MCPP). The road is narrow, winding and hilly and we began to see mountain peaks in the distance. The peaks we were seeing were actually the northern portion of the ancient Appalachian Mountain Range which extends in to Canada.
MCPP is very remote with dirt roads, primitive camping, no cell or wifi and a very dark night sky (just the way we like it). MCPP is a designated Dark Sky Park. Additionally, because of its remote location there are very few people visiting or camping in the park – uncrowded hiking trails make for an entirely different experience.
There are eleven designated hiking trails within the 42,000 acres of pristine forest and lakes inside the park boundaries. Four of the trails reach summit peaks. Mt. Carleton, at 2690 feet, is the highest peak in the Maritime Provinces. We did not tackle any of the summit trails on this visit due to the combination of warm temperatures and trail ratings – next time!
That is it on our wood lands ramble in Northern New Brunswick. From a post standpoint we are going to circle back and report next on our time on Prince Edward Island.
Be seeing you!
ON THE ROAD with Maria + Stephen 