Canada in June NS, NB, PEI

[TwoKs]

Originally Posted by BBQ

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YOu will be eating lobsters. Lobsters, and lobsters.

Our preferred method is to eat them on the dock next to the lobster pound. Am I correct in assuming you can get them the same way in CA?

[jmai]

My wife and I did the same thing last summer leaving from Massachusetts.

Covering all three provinces is a challenge. Its a large land area and sometimes getting from one place to another is slower than you think. Traveling the back roads is nice and some of the the roads are still gravel, but usually in good shape.

We used a combination of private RV parks and the Canadian Provincial Park system.

Among our highlights were:

Campbobello Island-FDR's boyhood home and some nice hiking trails.

St. Andrews, NB-Kingsbrae Gardens

St. Martins, NB-exploring the sea caves. You must be there at low tide. "Caves" restaurant has great chowder. They will even pack it to go.

Fundy Trail in NB- an 11 mile toll road with incredible views. Lots of scenic outlooks and some trails.

Hopewell Rocks, NB-not to be missed. Large rock formations that rise from the ocean floor and become visible at low tide. Lots of people, but a great place to explore.

Prince Edward Island-lots to do. It does take a while to explore and distances are farther than you think. Potato Museum (great french fries), Bottle Museum, nice beaches, The village of Victoria, about 10 miles east of the Confederate Bridge, is really picturesque and has some interesting shops.

Sherbrooke, NS-restored late 19th century village with most of the buildings intact and people in period dress.

Cape Breton Island-good hiking as mentioned, especially Middle Head. Nice drive from Port Hastings to Mabou (Rt 19) lots of music in this area and some restaurants even have live music during lunch. In Mabou stop in at the Red Shoe Pub-good food and music every night. In this area many churches and clubs have music nights. Locals just having fun, but it doesn't get more authentic. On the east of the island, there is the Alexander Graham Bell Museum and Louisbourg Historic Fort.

I usually get a guide book and see what's available and also contact each province's tourist offices. They will send you lots of info. And there is also the internet.

Have a great trip!

Some pictures of Victoria, Sea Caves and camping on the ocean Spencer's Island, NB

[gk&hc]

We took a similar trip last summer, starting in Upstate NY, and going for 7 weeks. We also drove around the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, which is very scenic and something you might want to consider for an 11 week trip.

We didn't boondock on the trip - there were campgrounds everywhere, some nice, some more like parking lots, but we never had a bad experience. Overall, we stayed in 26 different campgrounds.

On NS, we stayed at Kejimkujik National Park and Cape Bretton Highlands NP. Driving between the national parks let us see a lot of NS. In between, we stayed at Shubie Campground outside of Halifax. Shubie is an interesting campground - it's located next to a town park in a residential neighborhood. However, it's on a city bus line that takes you to downtown Halifax.

On PEI, we stayed at the Prince Edward Island NP, and some of the provincial parks. Charlottetown is also worth a visit. We also did some biking on the Confederation Trail and along the waterfront in Summerside.

Fundy NP in New Brunswick is a great place to watch the Bay of Fundy tides. The Headquarters campground, near the town of Alma, is a great location. New River Beach Provincial Park was also a nice place to stay, if you like being on the water. If you want to feel good about your purchase of a Class B RV, take a drive to the Cape Enrage Lighthouse. It's a beautiful area, and you will never want a larger RV.

We were also able to get our windshield repaired in Mocton, NB, after we put a large, self-inflicted, chip in it (that's a story for another time). That's when we found out our full glass coverage wasn't accepted in NB, although our insurance company reimbursed us when we got home.

Black flies and other bugs were a problem in June, but they were much less of a problem in July. We camped at La Mauricie NP in Quebec in early June and had to leave after one night due to the bugs. That's when we followed the advice of a fellow camper, and looked for a campground with maximum pavement away from the woods. That turned out to be the Quebec KOA, where they had a shuttle bus to take you into Old Quebec, in Quebec City. Just be flexible!

Overall, we stayed a long the coast wherever possible, because we like the water. There were many scenic overlook signs (denoted by a picture of binoculars), and we stopped when ever possible. We were never disappointed. We also found grocery stores in every small town and village in Canada, but this wasn't always true in the US.

Enjoy your trip - you will have a great time.

[TwoKs]

One comfort is that we plan to be back in Vermont in 2019 and hopefully able to take another extended trip in CA. So much to see and do, there’s no sense in rushing past something interesting.

[buzzard28]

Hi, I live in Upper Tantallon, 25 mins from Halifax or Peggys Cove. If you would like some free overnights you can call me at 902-826-7173.

[jvangurp]

57 year native Nova Scotian here:

Late May and June are bad black fly months in NS.

This is true, but if you stay near the shore with any kind of breeze they are often held at bay.

As for Nova Scotia, beware of ticks especially in the western third of the province. Nova Scotia relies heavily on tourism dollars and I believe that the incidence of Lyme disease is not well-reported, because it would be a turn-off to tourists. I've had several family members who contracted Lyme disease. One was caught early and treated successfully but another was not, and that person has reported long term erosion of their general health.

Ticks are spreading year after year and are found even in urban parks in Halifax and north of here. Lyme disease was not accepted as an issue by the medical and government sectors until just a few years ago but now they even have public education campaigns. I don't believe they're deliberately hiding anything. We have a woods cottage in the middle of tick country and don't really find it a big issue. You just keep alert for any creepy crawly feelings and pick the buggers off as soon as you see one. I seldom have them long enough to get an attached bite. The Bravecto advice is spot on. We are religious about it with our pooch. She gets bites but the things die very quickly. The thing to do when finding an attached tick is to watch it closely for a bullseye red ring rash. That's a sure sign it's an infected tick. Keep the insect and go straight to a clinic or emerg and get antibiotics!


Additionally, Nova Scotia has the most restrictive overnight parking legislation of any known jurisdiction. Technically by the letter of the law, I'm not even supposed to boondock on my own land (good luck with enforcing that, I say to them).

This is news to me... never heard of it. Then again I'm brand new to the RV world. I surely have gone tenting on random lands many, many times over the years with no problems at all. RV boondocking is different though of course. My solitary trip so far was to just pull over on a public road at Grand Desert... no problem at all. Well, that is interesting and I'm going to have to check into it as we have plands to boondock quite a bit!

[jvangurp]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

Native-born Nova Scotian here (23 years there before I immigrated to the U.S.).

Additionally, Nova Scotia has the most restrictive overnight parking legislation of any known jurisdiction. Technically by the letter of the law, I'm not even supposed to boondock on my own land (good luck with enforcing that, I say to them). Here's the thing, though: the restrictions are not always rigorously enforced, and I suggest to boondockers that, if approached by law enforcement, ask them where they suggest you find a campground with availability. Especially the public campgrounds, and to a lesser extent the private ones, book solid months in advance of the summer season. Many times, people don't have a choice but to boondock. Here's a PDF reference on that phenomenon:

http://cornwaab.altervista.org/rv-report_1.pdf

This was either never enacted or was rescinded. In any event, there is no restrictive overnight parking ban and I don't think there ever was one.

[Davidk]

I agree with everything that jvangurp says about Nova Scotia. About the ticks ,yes they are getting bad a little more each year. But they are not just here. If going near bushy areas just a quick check to make sure there are none on you or your pets. We have not had any on our dogs here . But we went to Florida last winter and stopped at a gas station /food stop to make our dogs their lunch and go pee in the grass near the edge of the woods. 2 of the dogs had 3 ticks on them in the time to go pee ( 10 minutes at most ), and this was in New Jersey . So no mater where you are just be aware.

As for camping off grid here , the campground association has tried to stop people from camping in parking lots like Walmart, truck stops etc, but it still goes on. If you are driving trying to get to your next location and the campgrounds close at a certain time than where do you go.

It is all good come and enjoy this end of Canada....There is lots to Sea

David

[jvangurp]

Originally Posted by Davidk

As for camping off grid here , the campground association has tried to stop people from camping in parking lots like Walmart, truck stops etc, but it still goes on. If you are driving trying to get to your next location and the campgrounds close at a certain time than where do you go.

It is all good come and enjoy this end of Canada....There is lots to Sea

David

Yep! The way I understand it the Campground Owners Association of Nova Scotia lobbied someone in government to make it seem to be a violation of some Act to have RVs camping out on private Walmart and other box store property overnight. At some point someone in authority actually woke up and realized how stupid it was to try to apply that act to private property and they announced that no law enforcement would ever be taking any action on this. So that whole mess died years ago.