View Full Version : New England/Canada
Dogginfox
01-31-2008, 22:36
Whats up gang? My friends and I are trying to plan a roadtrip up the east coast. We would like to go to maine or canada and spend some time in the backcountry. Initiallly we were going to go west but we figured there was alot of stuff up the coast for us to see. (we are comming from GA) So I am asking for suggestions. We would like to do a little fishing maybe rent a canoe but we would also want to go spend 3 or 4 days without seeing a soul as well. We had kicked around the idea of trying to get a bush pilot to drop us off and hike back, we have about 10 to 14 days and we are planning on going in june/july. I am trying to make this a "total experience" and see alot. Many of the websites i have found really aren't alot of help. I am hoping to make this one of my most memorable trips because this might be the only time my buddies and I have an opprotunity to do this kind of thing. We liked the idea of new england bc we get history, mountains, cliffs, fresh and salt water, the possibilities seem endless. Any info or insight is appreciated. Hope you can help me with planning one heck of a trip.
Thanks,
Dogginfox
You have some options when it comes to Maine, are you hoping to just see the Maine woods, or do you want to summit any particular mountain(s)?
June and July is a tough time of the year to find isolation one Maine trails, but there's bound to be someone on here with a much more extensive knowledge of Maine trails than I have.
Kirby
Lots of bugs in the New England woods in June and July. Aside from that, "it's all good." Consider the Adirondacks in upstate New York as well. Lots of great lakes and high peaks there.
rlharris
01-31-2008, 22:42
You'll probably get a lot of suggestions for hiking, etc. In case no one else mentions it, if your final plans include crossing the border into Canada, bring a passport or a photo drivers license and a birth certificate. New regulations concerning border crossings by land went into effect today.
June and July are actually what we locals consider prime time to be in the outback.
Fishing is good and the notorious blackflies keep the softer tourists out of the woods .
Blackflies actually serve as a natural population control ally in the Maine woods.
I'd be willing to offer up some
We would like to do a little fishing maybe rent a canoe but we would also want to go spend 3 or 4 days without seeing a soul as well.ideas via a PM, don't want to give away to many secrets to a worldwide audience.
Dogginfox
01-31-2008, 23:05
I dont neccesarilay(spelling?) want to cross to canada just looking for a little solitude. We dont mind others we just want to enjoy the experience without it being like living in a city. Heck meeting other hikers is part of the fun. We all have passports and ID so thants not a problem. I am open to anywhere in these areas just lookin for a memorable trip. I was thinkin maybe we could spend a day or two around the coast then move inland and enjoy that as well. Water is a huge plus we are all fisherman. I am just trying to avoid the family of 5 on the yearly outing car camping and staying up till 5 am. I love hiking around other exprienced and eco friendly hikers. Not only are the stories good I usually learn a new recipe as well. I will keep the adironacks in mind and give them a look. If anyone has suggestions anywhere that is within a 20 hr drive from ga let me know. We still have time to plan so all options are available. Thanks everyone for your help, posting of photos and a complete report will be a must once we decided on a destination. Again thanks
Dogginfox
01-31-2008, 23:07
Oh btw woodsy the only way we could except is if you came and cast them with us. I'm sure you wouldn't object to that would you?
warraghiyagey
01-31-2008, 23:12
Oh btw woodsy the only way we could except is if you came and cast them with us. I'm sure you wouldn't object to that would you?
Woodsy's a poser. He doesn't know how to fish.http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/laughing021.gif
Sorry Woodsy, you know my behavior goes downhill into the night.:)
Oh btw woodsy the only way we could except is if you came and cast them with us. I'm sure you wouldn't object to that would you?
well, you sound like an adventureous crew by the sounds of your vacation description....possibilities are endless.....:) I might be up for a cast or two,
have a great place in mind for y'all already......
warrgy: Woodsy's a poser. He doesn't know how to fish.http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/laughing021.gif:datz:) :) :)
4eyedbuzzard
01-31-2008, 23:18
...We liked the idea of new england bc we get history, mountains, cliffs, fresh and salt water, the possibilities seem endless. Any info or insight is appreciated. Hope you can help me with planning one heck of a trip.
Thanks,
Dogginfox
Since you mentioned history, for a day of something different far from the backcountry Boston has a lot of American historical sites including the freedom trail walking tour http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/
warraghiyagey
01-31-2008, 23:22
Man I hate to say this living in the area but the freedom trail is pretty lame. I can think of a hundred routes that they could have called the Freedom trail here that would have had more historic significance.
K. Back to my corner.http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/ad/hiding.gif
Dogginfox
01-31-2008, 23:24
Sounds good to me woodsy. What area are you in I will give it a look see. Like I said we are completely open at this point and local insight is always a plus. We are an adventurous bunch although young we have some great experience and skills between us. We have a solid fisherman, AT thru hiker and I have the land nav/medic skills so we will go feet first into about anything. We made through everything so far, with hopefully many adventures to come.
Man I hate to say this living in the area but the freedom trail is pretty lame. I can think of a hundred routes that they could have called the Freedom trail here that would have had more historic significance.
K. Back to my corner.http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/ad/hiding.gif
Gettin' use to that little chair, eh? :D
What area are you in I will give it a look see
Down the road a piece from the AT and Bigelows
warraghiyagey
01-31-2008, 23:32
Down the road a piece from the AT and Bigelows
What happened to the fourth bangy head guy? If I don't respond do they all turn into smileys?
warraghiyagey
01-31-2008, 23:33
Gettin' use to that little chair, eh? :D
It makes me fell safe. . . from the possible blowback caused by my petulance.:D
Dogginfox
01-31-2008, 23:57
Woodsy, I think tha adirondacks look good.. Do you have any recomendations? With 6 mil acres I think that should be enough space. :-? Sorry I am unfamiliar with you area being that I've never been north of the mason dixon other than sitting in airports. You insight would be helpful, I mean how can I not listne to a fisherman that hikes and is local. If you ever get down around GA/NC I will have to return the favor.
Lots of bugs in the New England woods in June and July. Aside from that, "it's all good." Consider the Adirondacks in upstate New York as well. Lots of great lakes and high peaks there.
This would be my recommendation as well. The high Peaks are maybe my favorite place on earth. Tons of remote places to hike/canoe/fish, etc. Check out the ADK (Adirondack Mountain Club).
warraghiyagey
02-01-2008, 00:06
Woodsy, I think tha adirondacks look good.. Do you have any recomendations? With 6 mil acres I think that should be enough space. :-? Sorry I am unfamiliar with you area being that I've never been north of the mason dixon other than sitting in airports. You insight would be helpful, I mean how can I not listne to a fisherman that hikes and is local. If you ever get down around GA/NC I will have to return the favor.
Ahem . . . mind if I take this one Woodsy? K.
The Adirondacks are limitless in places and ways to enjoy the outdoors. There are places you have to be flown in. Gearless climbs - Keene, NY.
But for outdoor enjoyment my suggestion would be Limekiln Wildlife Management Area. Plenty of sites to camp very far from the next site. Miles from nowhere but close enough to get into a town for supplies and to rent a canoe. Also close to Indian Lake and Blue Mountain Lake. Blue Mountain is a great climb and the trailhead is just a mile or so north of the Adirondack Museum.
Access Limekiln from the little town of inlet at the north end of the Fulton Chain Lakes and just 10 miles or so from Old Forge.
For larger mountains just 45 minutes up to Saranac Lake and less than an hour from Lake placid.
If you're looking for the best climb New York has to offer - Mt Marcie is also a relatively short drive from Limekiln.
Phew.:)
Dogginfox
02-01-2008, 00:11
Thanks alot very informative my head is spinning right now
warraghiyagey
02-01-2008, 00:13
Thanks alot very informative my head is spinning right now
Sweet. Get used to it if you make it to the Daks. That's where my heart is.
Someone I knew took a float plane from Flagstaff Lake (Stratford-Eustis) to one of the ponds on the AT and walked back to her car. Had a nice 3 day hike. For real solitude, look into going into northern NH:
http://www.cohostrail.org/
4eyedbuzzard
02-01-2008, 00:36
Man I hate to say this living in the area but the freedom trail is pretty lame. I can think of a hundred routes that they could have called the Freedom trail here that would have had more historic significance.
K. Back to my corner.http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/ad/hiding.gif
Just one of many possible suggestions for a bit of US history in New England. Perhaps you could offer some better alternatives.
IIRC, there's a whole chain of lakes in the DAKs... all interconnected. And numbered accordingly. I think one end of the chain is at Old Forge, about an hour or so north of Utica, NY. When I was young we took some vacations on Fourth Lake.
If you're looking for the best climb New York has to offer - Mt Marcie is also a relatively short drive from Limekiln.
Phew.:)
The Adirondak Loj -- not far from Lake Placid -- puts you pretty much at the center of the high peaks region. Trails fan out from there to all the high peaks. I understand these days you need to have a bear canister. Apparently the bears up there are smarter than the average AT bear.
To whet your appetite, here's a photo from Marcy Dam:
http://www.terrapinphoto.com/marcydam2.jpg
And here's the same shot from a slightly warped perspective:
http://www.terrapinphoto.com/marcydam_vortex.jpg
warraghiyagey
02-01-2008, 04:50
IIRC, there's a whole chain of lakes in the DAKs... all interconnected. And numbered accordingly. I think one end of the chain is at Old Forge, about an hour or so north of Utica, NY. When I was young we took some vacations on Fourth Lake.
Yup, those are the very same Fulton Chain Lakes I mentioned. Great canoeing!!.:)
warraghiyagey
02-01-2008, 04:52
Terrapin, those photos almost bring a nostalgaic tear to my eye. Thanks.:):)
Woodsy, I think tha adirondacks look good.. Do you have any recomendations? With 6 mil acres I think that should be enough space. :-? Sorry I am unfamiliar with you area being that I've never been north of the mason dixon other than sitting in airports. You insight would be helpful, I mean how can I not listne to a fisherman that hikes and is local. If you ever get down around GA/NC I will have to return the favor.
Can't help you much there, been through the area, it is beautiful. They don't hack their forests off like timber companies in Maine do...
Now, if you want to talk about a real wilderness canoe trip, the 100 mile Allagash Wilderness Waterway:eek: in northern Maine, I can help with that.
fresh and salt water BTW, No salt water in the DAKs, bring fat wallet too, NY prices on everything are steep.
Whats up gang? My friends and I are trying to plan a roadtrip up the east coast. We would like to go to maine or canada and spend some time in the backcountry. Initiallly we were going to go west but we figured there was alot of stuff up the coast for us to see. (we are comming from GA) So I am asking for suggestions. We would like to do a little fishing maybe rent a canoe but we would also want to go spend 3 or 4 days without seeing a soul as well. We had kicked around the idea of trying to get a bush pilot to drop us off and hike back, we have about 10 to 14 days and we are planning on going in june/july. I am trying to make this a "total experience" and see alot. Many of the websites i have found really aren't alot of help. I am hoping to make this one of my most memorable trips because this might be the only time my buddies and I have an opprotunity to do this kind of thing. We liked the idea of new england bc we get history, mountains, cliffs, fresh and salt water, the possibilities seem endless. Any info or insight is appreciated. Hope you can help me with planning one heck of a trip.
Thanks,
DogginfoxAre you driving up, or flying up?
I am from Saint John New Brunswick, and have seen some of Maine, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, Labrador, North Shore of St.Lawrence, and Gaspe. It's all good. You can't see it all of course in 10-14 days, but you can see alot. You can even go to France while you are here, as their empire still extends to North America.
The most impressive historic site is Fortress Louisbourg in Cape Breton. All the National Parks are great in their own way. The bigger ones take more time.Newfoundland and Labrador have the most 'remoteness', I would say Northern Maine would be next, but I don't have to go even that far to get lost from here in Saint John. The best salmon fishing would be the Miramichi in New Brunswick, the Mackenzie in Cape Breton, and the Humber in Newfoundland. Prince Edward Island is a lot of fun in a small package, and you can take a ferry from there to the Magdalene Islands in the Gulf of St.Lawrence.
If you were to focus all your adventure in one area that would be the most different from the rest of North America I would suggest the West Coast of Newfoundland. That could include kayaking, hiking in Gros Morne National Park, fishing on the Humber River, and a long long long drive up to L'anse aux Meadows. There are many remote lodges you could drive or fly into.
However, your best bet might be either to fly into Bangor, and start from there, or to fly into Halifax, and plan your route from there. If you want to do a crazy amount of driving, there are small ferries from the West Coast of Newfoundland to Labrador and Quebec and from there to Anticosti Island and the Gaspe Penninsula, so you could do some sort of a loop around the whole place. That might work best if you rented a small RV and had 2 or 3 drivers.
Perhaps it would be best if you described the type of activities or expectations, and whether or not you are into long drives. If you wanted to use your own vehicle it wouldn't add that much to drive right up from Georgia. The most scenic coastal drives would be the Cabot Trail in Newfoundland, the West Coast of Newfoundland, and the North Gaspe Coast, but I wouldn't do those drives unless they were on my way to something I wanted to do or see along the way. Don't be afraid to go out of your way to catch stuff like Fortress Louisbourg, but don't try and do too much in a single day either.
Here is a link:
http://www.pc.gc.ca/index_e.asp
Here are some sites within that link:
Fundy National Park, New Brunswick
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nb/fundy/index_E.asp
Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nb/kouchibouguac/index_E.asp
Prince Edward Island Nation Park
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/pe/pei-ipe/index_E.asp
Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ns/kejimkujik/index_E.asp
Cape Breton Highlands National Park
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ns/cbreton/index_E.asp
Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada
http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/louisbourg/index_E.asp
Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nl/grosmorne/index_E.asp
Port-au-Choix National Historic Site
http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/portauchoix/index_e.asp
L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, Newfoundland
http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/meadows/index_e.asp
Red Bay National Historic Site
http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/redbay/index_e.asp
Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve, North Shore of St.Lawrence in Quebec
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/qc/mingan/index_e.asp
Forillon National Park, Gaspe Penninsula in Quebec
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/qc/forillon/index_e.asp
There are many good Provincial Parks and Historic sites also. They vary between being small local historic attractions or picnic spots, to major parks on par with National Parks.
Here are the sites for the Provincial Parks and Tourism Sites:
New Brunswick:
http://www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca/
http://www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca/en-CA/HNNationalAndProvincialParks/HNPProvincial.htm
Prince Edward Island[B]
http://www.gov.pe.ca/visitorsguide/index.php3?number=1010978
[B]Nova Scotia:
http://parks.gov.ns.ca/welcome.asp
[B]Newfoundland and Labrador[B]
http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/parks/
[Quebec]
http://www.sepaq.com/pq/en/
http://www.sepaq.com/sa/en/
... and of course there is also Maine and some places south of there. ;)
I second a lot of what has been said here already, especially about the Daks - stay away from the town of Lake Placid if you are looking for solitude (its very charming but also can be crowded/touristy) - and head out to summit some of the 4,000 footers.
Also, in Maine, I remember car-camping at Matagamon campground in Baxter State Park. This campground was pretty cool because our site was right on the bank of a branch of the Penobscot. This would be awesome for a fly fisher(wo)man. I think we fished one or two days but mostly we day-hiked. It was car camping but still very remote and quiet. It was really really nice. This was a few years ago though so I hope the place isn't all crowded now.
Anyway, good luck & have fun!
Terrapin, those photos almost bring a nostalgaic tear to my eye. Thanks.:):)
That's nothing. I have a many photos of Canandaigua Lake from probably before you were born. ;)
Whapmagoostui
I think it would be really cool to drive up north,
way up north to Labrador or Northern Quebec,
and then just keep walking or paddling or snoeshoeing,
and not stop until my native woman falls in love with me,
or my supplies run out. Perhaps she lives in Whapmagoostui.
10-14 days.
20hr drive time.
Alot of these places are very cool, but you have constraints.
I would think history and scenic could be found much closer to Athens.
But then I have most of my psycho road trips out of my system.
mudhead;
I would think history and scenic could be found much closer to Athens.
Athens, Maine? LOL, very scenic:rolleyes:
warraghiyagey
02-01-2008, 11:06
That's nothing. I have a many photos of Canandaigua Lake from probably before you were born. ;)
Those would surely make me weep. It's where magic girl still lives and we hikes many hundreds of miles hand in hand there.:sun
warraghiyagey
02-01-2008, 11:08
I second a lot of what has been said here already, especially about the Daks - stay away from the town of Lake Placid if you are looking for solitude (its very charming but also can be crowded/touristy) - and head out to summit some of the 4,000 footers.
!
Tarrytown??
Did they ever catch that headless horseman guy??
http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/laughing013.gif
StubbleJumper
02-01-2008, 11:49
You might also consider Parc Nationale de la Gaspesie. It's a beautiful place, not too far from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Baie des Chaleurs which is supposed to have the warmest water north of Virginia. Slightly west is the beautiful Matapedia valley which has salmon rivers.
http://www.sepaq.com/pq/gas/en/activiteete.html
Ineresting that this came up. Last night I was looking through my Maine guide book, and thought to myself that if time allowed, I would like to drag my feet through Maine and do some fishing. I've been looking around on the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife website about licenses and such. I noticed a disclaimer that due to mercury levels adults should only eat two fish meals per month. Is this the Maine government covering their butt, or are mercury levels a real concern?
Mercury levels in fish are now a concern everywhere on the planet, but I thought it was mostly from fish that are fairly high on the food chain. Perhaps with inland waters there is the potential for greater concentrations, which would effect all fish. I understand forestry can increase concentrations of mercury in streams and lakes, but I am not exactly sure how. I'm guessing it is in very small concentrations everywhere, and becomes concentrated by logging operations, either through increased runoff into streams, or by concentration at mills. Not sure.
Do they publish what the concentrations are in the water and in the fish?
Do they publish what the concentrations are in the water and in the fish?
I couldn't find that, though I'm still looking, here's a link if you want to have a look.
http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/eohp/fish/index.htm
are mercury levels a real concern?
Yes. Sad.
OregonHiker
02-03-2008, 13:28
Man I hate to say this living in the area but the freedom trail is pretty lame. I can think of a hundred routes that they could have called the Freedom trail here that would have had more historic significance.
K. Back to my corner.http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/ad/hiding.gif
Such as?