Mt Carleton, NB .... almost

[markopolo]

We had planned to spend a couple of nights at Mt Carleton Provincial Park in New Brunswick but got rained out. I'll try to get back up there because there are few great hikes with awesome views I'm told. It was too wet and foggy for us to try. July and August would be better.

The road into the park was really bad. Someone at the park described it as a cattle trail. The very wet weather combined with logging trucks beat the road up and made for a rough ride. It had me reading Photog's Suspension Topic

There were never before heard creaks and groans (from us!) and the van







I'll update this topic if I get to go up there again.

[Mike]

I wouldn't let my cows walk that road. Looks terrible. Even dry, the potholes will still be there.

[markopolo]

That section was maybe 4 or 5 miles. Definitely the worse "road" we've been on. I posted the photos as info for anyone heading to Mt Carleton - I would not want to take a new RV on that route. We came in from HWY 180 and left the same way. We were told it is not as bad if you come in from HWY 385.

At one point we were stopped on the side of the road and a couple in a Roadtrek pulled up along side asking if we knew how much farther did that "road" go. We were able to tell them not much farther as we had driven on it on the way in the day before.

[Mike]

Your pictures looked like some of the access roads that lead into some Ontario Conservation Areas we've been to. Either they are true washboard roads that rattle your teeth, or enough deep unavoidable potholes that your van does the "curb roll" non stop all the way along. I guess they figure it's just a conservation area, and we'll just put up with it, so there's no rush to fix them. Wrong!!! (for me, anyway)

I'm sure there are similar access roads into US parks and campgrounds, but in our memory, we haven't driven too many. Even most of the little backwoods rest areas and campgrounds have decent access driveways and roads. The road into Canyon de Chelly is reported to be one exception, but we have yet to drive it.

Actually, some of the worst roads we've encountered in our travels have been in Quebec and NB, but those were bad because we drove them in the summer (construction) season. We hope the Rte 132 construction around the Gaspe has been mostly finished. It is one of the best "tour" drives we've found, very picturesque, usually not too crowded, and low speed. Lots of scenic pull outs and rest areas. It's fairly well serviced for the entire route in the many small cities, towns, and villages.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Route_132
Another plus is the climate is usually cooler in the dog days of summer. We've done it thrice for an average trip length of 2 weeks, and only found the heat and humidity was bad for sleeping once or twice.