I went to the park visitor center and hammered out an itinerary that consisted of seeing the sites here at the park for the next three days. After dinner I took the laptop to the outdoor area of the campground here where they have wireless internet and typed until the about 10:30…about the same time the temp started to di[ to about 32 degrees...brrrrr..

9.16.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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While listening to the band play I met a couple about my age from Alberta that were 6 months into an 8 month road trip. Wow, I thought 2 months was a long time to be on the road!

Today I explored Norris Point and a bit more of Rocky Harbor, two small fishing towns located in the park.

One interesting note about this area is that the moose are as abundant as black flies. So when exploring the country side here people only drive about 45 mph on the highway cause you do not want to meet a moose on the road. There are so many moose accidents that the park actually tallies up the YTD count and posts it on a sign at the park entrance.

YTD moose accidents – 16.

9.15.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I sure as heck didn’t see them before bed. I can just see it…these two conspiring on me as I lay down for a “good nights rest”. They know that if I caught them before bed, that I’d rip off each of their legs and wings before they got away.

Well, turns out that my forehead made a perfect spot for them to peck away at all night. So, after waking up to these two (by now) fat SOBs buzzing around my head, I proceeded to trap and rip each on of their legs and wings off. I know it sounds weird, but it felt darn good!

The Keeping’s (who owned the campground) recommended that a hike to Starlight Mountain makes for a good workout and nice view once you reach the top. So, after packing up camp and turning the orange portion of my rain jacket inside out (because it’s moose hunting season) I hiked to the top for a spectacular view of the area. To the north was Cambell’s Lake with hanging waterfalls and to the south, the mighty Atlantic. The hike only took about 3 hours and was well worth the short time.

Next stop: Gros Morne National Park...about a four hour drive.

9.14.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Codroy Valley area in Newfoundland is a very scenic area so I decided to take a drive. The drive led me to the ocean front where gigantic 20 foot waves were pounding the shoreline. This was impressive.

Further along on the drive I happened upon another lighthouse and stopped to visit it for a good while. Once I reached the town of Codroy I stopped at the local auto mechanic so I could tighten up the bike rack. With a welcoming greeting the local mechanic sold me a 7/16ths washer and loaned me his nicest adjustable wrench in the shop. They say up here that if you’re ever in need of some help, go find a Newfie (short for Newfoundlander) – they will assist with pleasure. I found this to be nothing less than true.

After a stop at the wetland interpretive center, I picked up some gifts for family and headed back to camp.

9.13.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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In fact, I packed up my soaking wet tent (and gear) at about 3am because the high winds kept blowing it over. That was the worst storm I’d ever witnessed from the inside of the tent. With the hurricane-like winds and rain pounding the walls, it was like a never ending freight train was rolling over head.

I arrived in Sydney at about 4am and decided to try and find a laundry mat to dry some of my wet cloths and also hang up the tent. With no laundry mats open, I drove to a Wal-Mart style parking lot and proceeded to tidy up the car since everything was so disheveled.

After seeing a policeman drive by and park on the other side of the lot, I decided to go and inform him of my situation. He was totally cool with me laying over in the parking lot for an hour or two until my ferry was ready to depart later in the morning.

After a good break in the parking lot I drove to the ferry terminal and saddled up for an 8 hour ride to Newfoundland. It ended up being a pretty rough ride due to the stormy weather even though the boat was nearly 600 feet long.

9.12.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After bidding farewell to Tim and Donna, some fellow campers from Texas, I headed off in time to catch the ferry. Side note on Tim...it turns out he is the only one-armed policeman in Texas. Furthermore, while fighting for us in Vietnam, he caught some shrapnel and was hospitalized. Once he was fit for action, he went back to the lines and shortly thereafter, lost his arm. After arriving back in the states, he found out that his name was included on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, DC. Tim told me that this unique occurrence ended up landing him on national news for a short segment about his story. These were definitely some great folks.

The ferry departed at about 9:00 am and took about an hour to reach Nova Scotia. After arriving in Nova Scotia I decided to take my time driving to Sydney (the departure point for Newfoundland). Along the way I stopped to visit a lighthouse and grab some fresh fish from the “Fish n Ships”. Although this plate of French fries and fried cod came out of a 20’ x 20’ shack, it sure was fresh, greasy and good!

Found a camp about a half hour outside of Sydney and pitched the tent in nothing less than a torrential downpour and winds in excess of 30 mph…this ought to be a great night I thought.

9.11.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Mainly, I needed some warm clothes since I didn’t have a stocking cap or warm jacket and I was headed due north to Newfoundland. After finding a thrift shop, I picked a stocking cap and nice fleece jacket for a grand total of $5.50 -- I scored on this.

Lately I had been thinking that this trip is a great opportunity to pick up some new skills, so I decided to make some additional stops.

The first was a guitar store. I picked up a beginners book on classic guitar. Since I have a classic guitar in the car and have always played it like a rock and roll guy, I figured this would be a good opportunity to learn how to play it as it was designed to be played. The next stop was a book store.

This ocean going environment has inspired me to learn more about sailing. After arriving at the book store I went straight to the boating section and thumbed through until I found a knot tying book. I figured this would be interesting and somewhat interactive.

Later that afternoon I stopped a Home Hardware and picked up some more propane for cooking and a 5 foot section of nylon rope to practice knots.

9.10.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Side notes:
You know, at first I was getting tired of saying “Hi, my name is Rodger…I’m a tourist.”

But, I’m starting to get used to this gig.

Also, you’ll hear this a lot in Canada…“Aboot, 300 meters up the road, turn left, take a right after three streets, then a left on King, I think”.

First of all...what is this meter stuff? They don’t give you specifics and when they’re done explaining the directions, they go “eh”…like I’m supposed to know EXACTLY where the hell they’re talking about…It’s all good though…in fact, I love ‘em. They are Canadians after all, eh!

Anyhow, the trip around the east side of the island was very scenic with the small communities, farms and lighthouses. There’s a photo of the ocean side in the gallery.

-Rodger

9.9.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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My muscles were sore from head to toe. This was a “recharge” day at camp I decided.

Pretty much just hung out at camp, visited with other campers, read and relaxed in the sun next to the harbor.

9.8.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The sign read: “Mount Carelton: 8.4 km”

…that not so far I thought.

Well, the total trip equates to about 10 miles worth of hiking with an elevation gain of about 1,500 ft…I haven’t hiked like this for at least 3 or 4 years.

Turns out that at a whopping 2,600 ft, Mount Carelton is the tallest mountain in all of the Atlantic Provinces…and no kidding, I was on top of the world when I reached the top. : )

Started the hike at 9am and arrived back at the car at 3pm...it was time to press on to Prince Edward Island…and soon if I’m to get there before dark!

9.7.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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…wasn’t expecting that.

Getting to sleep was a bit difficult, but once I did, it was lights out.

Packed up camp and tried to thank the lady who own the campground…but my French is…well, I’ll put it this way…I don’t speak French.

I’m not sure that she knew I was trying to thank her.

Next stop was Moncton, New Brunswick, but that was like 7 hours and I was diggin the countryside. So, half way there I hit the breaks, spun around and decided to go further into the Appellations mountains…and farther I went...about another 2 hours.

It was getting pretty damn remote and turns out that Mount Carleton Provincial Park ran out of government funding and so was CLOSED to camping! After driving around and looking for a place to pitch the tent, I found a prairie and some other campers (The Anderson’s from Nova Scotia) who had the same problem I did.

So, we visited, set up shop, had dinner and called it a day.

9.6.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Back to tent camping..

Hey though, I gotta say the drive up to Riviere-du-Loup along the St. Lawrence was freaking awesome. I was lucky enough to run into some good people with a micro brewery in the country side. There was a small brewery sign (written in French) off the side of the highway in some farm fields. After slamming on the brakes, I turned up the driveway to find a regular old farm house that brews beer and sells it to passer byes like myself…they served up a fresh, cold red Ale right there in their living room!!

After another hour of driving it started to get a bit late so I decided that the next campground I find is the one where I’ll setup shop for the evening.

9.5.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After having another complimentary breakfast it was off to a castle type building, a hotel called Château Frontenac managed by Fairmont. The building was pretty nice and had a total of 18 stories. We helped ourselves around and learned about its history. Turns out President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met at the Citadel nearby to discuss WWII strategy while many of the cabinet members bunked at the Château Frontenac.

After a bit more touring, I learned that Charles Lindbergh stopped at this hotel to bid his friend Floyd Bennett, also an aviator, goodbye before he died of pneumonia.

Took Adam to the airport, managed to navigate the French road signs back to the hostel, finished up some journal entries and hit the hay ready for more driving the next day.

9.4.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We soon were on the road to Montmorency Falls. The ride to the waterfalls (“chutes” in French) took about an hour and half and ducked under expressways, through fields and along highways. Along the way we saw some waterfalls that were quite impressive at about 20 feet wide by 50 feet tall.

These chutes were nothing but a primer for the falls that we were about to see.

Soon thereafter we reached Montmorency Falls – a river about 100 feet wide crashing 272 ft down a rock wall. Absolutely unbelievable!!! A sequence of stairs took visitors 25 stories to the top of the falls for an uncanny view. I had a jumbo Lafleur hotdog at the top. After riding 12 or so miles and hiking 25 stories, this was the best damn hotdog I’ve ever had.

We jumped on the bikes after about 2 hours at the falls and started the ride back to the old part of the city. After getting back to the hostel I tried to watch some TV, but had trouble keeping my eyes open, so I went to bed.

9.3.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Soon after checking into the HI-Hostel, Quebec City, I could tell this hostel was a bit more refined than the one in Montreal. We cooked up diner consisting of fresh vegetables and bread bought at a farm along Highway 132 and went for a quick tour around the city. With the sound of a live guitar humming along behind some building, we walked back to find a live show at a place that seemed sort of like a cave with rock walls and all…in a place like this, one can’t help wonder about what this structure was used for 200 years ago…maybe a pub for live music!

Quebec City is definitely a 5 star town as far as tourism goes with heavy, heavy French influence. It’s the only city on North America with fortified walls built around the city.

The hostel is in the old, tourist part of the city – the part with giant fortifications, castles, European style streets and buildings…and at only $30/night, I’ll just say “wow!”.

9.2.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We decided to stay in Montreal on this so we could see more of the city since it is a bit larger than Quebec City.

After conversation and suggestion from our roommates, Allen and Joe, we decided to soon visit the Little Italy and French area of town which is east of St. Laurent street. St. Laurent was a busy street full of people and pubs. Just to the east are cool neighborhoods with a bit more of a European feel. Had diner in the Little Italy neighborhood at a place that was quite nice, busy and very cheap – can’t beat that.

Our roommates, Allen and Joe, were an awesome pair…the dad (Allen) and son (Joe) came from across the pond…to be only a bit more exact, England. Allen was an editor for a newspaper in London and Joe was studying at a University. We ended up pairing up the hostel (house) guitar and my classical guitar for some riffs and good ole rock n roll conversation…forget Stairway to Heaven…thankfully they demanded Adam stop playing as soon as he started it. Good song, but how many times can you hear it and still love it, eh?

Montreal is about a 4 star area with the river, small mountains and culture – very cool.

9.1.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Shortly thereafter, I demounted my bike from the back of the car and headed down to the river-front for a stroll through Old Town Montreal and the levy system that runs along the St. Lawrence River.

Along the river was an old grain elevator system no longer used although it offered a glimpse into Montreal’s past economic strength, much of which was driven by agriculture from the western side of Canada.

Although my rear-end didn’t particularly care for Old Town Montreal due to biking on cobblestone roads, it was a very cool, historic area. A tour of city hall, the Notre Dame Basilica and a bite to eat on the open air terrace of an old restaurant topped the day off pretty well.

8.31.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We decided to tour the middle of the city and try our hand at speaking French...turns out there are more Anglophones that I anticipated.

Soon the urban tour brought us to McGill University -- sort an Ivy League university for Canada. After a run around the campus and visiting a local, on-campus watering hole owned by the University that is for graduate student use only, Adam is considering an advanced degree at McGill.

Off to Mont Royal for a nice view of the city from about 1,000 feet up. If you ever visit Montreal, be sure to view it from Mont Royal and also visit the park on top of the mountain that was designed by Fredrick Law Olmsted (NYC’s Central Park designer).

8.30.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Toronto: 3.5 stars. Generally a good city that reminded me a bit of Chicago because of Great Lake shore line…lots of cool businesses, parks and neighborhoods.

Jumped on the "401" and headed off to Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Ottawa is a scenic city with the Ottawa River cutting the official line between the Ontario and Quebec provinces.

Had only about 2 hours to view the capitol building and get in the car before a Seattle style rainstorm came in and slowed traffic and, well, washed my car !!

Finally made it to Montreal just in time to pick up The Adam Smith at the airport... he does not study economics, but rather computers that probably run the econometric models of Adam Smith, the Brit.

After navigating the French road signage and trying to listen to French radio the whole way, we found the HI-Hostel, Montreal and checked in.

8.29.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Had mac and cheese for dinner at the hostel, caught up on the journal.

Said goobye, to all the good folks here...

then went to bed for the night.

8.28.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Readied the bike and rode to the northwest part of the city. Ended up riding into the grooves of a railroad track in the street and had a pretty good crash. Fortunatley I wasn't injured (see video).

Stopped at a barber shop for a hair cut, then road through Yorkville and Queen's Park.

Was able to tour the Ontario Parlimentary Building for free.

Went out to dinner with some folks from Germany, came back to hostel, then went to out with some people from France and Australia to see live music on King street.

Tried to stay up, but missed lunar eclipse this night that occured at 4:51am est.

8.27.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Took a shower and headed off -- Toronto robust!

Most the way to Toronto I took my time. Ended up entering the south west corner of the city so that I could see a bit more of the area.

Frankly I had no directions to the hostel, only the memory of it being near the CN Tower...so I drove until I was close to the CN Tower, stopped at a Dominos Pizza and used a phone book to pinpoint where I would be staying the next three nights...the Clarence Castle hostel.

Shortly thereafter I was greeted by Danny, a long haired dude that was quite nice a proud of his internationally ranked hostel (come to find out it's one of the ten best hostels in the world...and it costs only $25/night...can't beat a deal like that in downtown Toronto!).

Nice place, good night's rest.

8.26.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Packed up camp with leisure and toured through Tekummah, Mindemoya and Providence Bay (a bit of a detour) on my way to South Baymouth.

Arrived at 11:30 an hour and half before its 1:00 departure, but there was no room left so I was bumped back to the 5:50pm boat. The ferry, a 385 ft behemoth called the "Chee Cheemaun" (indian for big canoe), was very impressive as it loaded about 100 vehicles and a handful of semi-trucks with loads of fresh timber.

Although I was a bit unsettled about not having a camp secured for this night, the two hour late afternoon ferry ride across lake Huron was quite relaxing!

Indeed I was able to find an open tent site at Happy Hearts Campground. All in all I slept pretty well despite there being a damn rock in the ground that seemed to find my back no matter where I was in the tent.

8.25.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Crossed boarder with no problems just a few more questions than most folks since I had all the camping gear in the back of the car.

Drove for about 3 hours until I reached Batman's Campground near Sheguiandah, Ontario which is on Manitoulin Island where many natives live. This island was very cool.

The area looked as if it were above 10,000 ft in elevation because there were many lakes and the vegetation was stunted. I'm not sure excatly why it was like this, but I'm guessing it's becuase of the rocky soil and cold weather.

Slept pretty well despite the rain.

8.24.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Stopped at Seney National Wildlife Refuge -- awesome.

Arrived at camp at about 6:30pm est.

Took a swim in lake Superior.

Went to bed.

8.23.07 remains copyright of the author Rodger, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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