Wednesday and Thursday, July 1&2

Wednesday- Left Caraquet and drove along N coast of New Brunswick to NE corner, a road out to the Acadian Isles, ending at Miscou Island (pronounced micoo), an important 16th century port and the site of the first Christian mission in Canada, about the same time as the Pilgrims landing. Today this is an area of sparse population on islands connected by recently-built bridges, modest but neat homes, salt marshes and bogs, a few fishing ports with many fishing boats similar to one another (like Maine lobster boats but bigger, maybe 40'. straight stems, flared bow sections, large working area aft, a sheltered wheelhouse area and a lower deckhouse forward covering whatever accommodations they have.) Until 1939 these islands were islolated and entirely dependent on fishing, and there was a barter economy: the fishermen were paid with credit at the company store. Sounds like serfdom, doesn't it? The big historical thing at Miscou is that in 1939 a Soviet plane attempting to fly nonstop from Moscow to New York for the World's Fair ran out of fuel and crash landed on Miscou. The plane was eventually salvaged and shipped back to Russia. We drove to the end of the island and visited the 1856 lighthouse there (still operational). On the way back we stopped at a boardwalk over a peat bog and learned about that habitat. New Brunswick has an important industry of cutting peat, which is mostly exported. Don't know what it is used for. We had experience in Ireland with peat turf as a fireplace fuel. It burns with more smoke than heat. Also on return trip on the islands we saw a baby moose running across a lawn. DK where mama was, presumably close by. We continued south along the coast to Kouchibougouac National Park. Try to pronounce that- answer below. Large campground but our campsite is wooded and private, with elec and water. Clouds of mosquitos, but Off repels them well. Grilled fresh salmon we bought yesterday same place as the lobsters. Delicious.

Thursday- Rain forecast today (a sprinkle fell last evening) and this is a good place for hiking, cycling and canoeing, so to make sure we could do it all we decided to extend our stay to three nights. Turns out we'll have to move to a different site tomorrow, but that will be easy. In the end, it didn't rain at all. We spent the morning hiking four short nature trails, and after lunch we set out on a longer hike along the Kouchibougouac River. Based on the sketchy map they provided, it looked like we could hike 5 miles on a trail along the river and then return on an improved bike path. But the trail and the path never did quite meet. I had to bushwhack a couple of times looking for the bike path. and finally did find it. Ended up a bit longer than we'd planned, but we finished in good form. S's new boots seem to be breaking in. For dinner S used leftover lobster to concoct a lobster salad. One more day of roughing it. Answer to quiz above: coochie boo GWAK. No wildlife except mosquitos. But saw tracks and scat of moose on the trail. Roads around here have many warning signs about moose.