Just returned from a trip to the maritimes and thought I would fire out a quick trip report.
First I did Nova Scotia's White Hill. I went in by the Lake of Islands approach. "Not Won in a Day" recommends this route as an overnight option but upon checking with the rangers the Lake of Islands backcountry site is no longer open for camping so I decided to do it in one long day. The trailhead has also been renamed (Branch Pond Trail) and the trail doesn't officially go all the way to the Lake of Islands but stops at an overlook a couple miles in. The trail was still easy to follow all the way to the first junction requiring a turn and then on to Tipover Lake. There is a cabin at Tipover that is still used by the park for maintance in the area. After Tipover lake the trail (meaning old fire roads) deteriorates significantly and it turns into more of a bushwack and slog through bogs. I never felt that I was in danger of loosing the trail completely but it did require a bit more attention. The second stream crossing before the junction with the fireroad coming from the Franey Mountain approach was the trickiest spot since the trail merged with the stream and became very overgrown and thick. The last 1/2 mile was off the old roads and very thick bushwacking but not impossible. The total roundtrip was right around 30 miles and took about 11 hours. Beautiful hike with great views as well as 5 moose (one right on the highpoint), lots of ptarmigan, 2 snakes, lots of frogs, pitcher plants and other unusual flowers.
Question for you GPS gurus out there. I had my etrex vista on the whole way in and it showed very good satelite reception. It showed my mileage in as 14.5 miles from trailhead to summit but when I got back to the parking lot it showed my total distance as 30.5 miles. So somehow I picked up an extra 1.5 miles even though I walked out the same way I went in? Seems like somethings wrong.
After some sightseeing and whalewatching we headed over to New Brunswick for a nice hike up Mt Carleton. The hike is very straighforward on well maintained trails with a very nice view from the exposed rocky summit.
From there it was off to the glorious PEI highpoint. If I didn't stand on the exact highopint I was close enough for me. I could have been within a couple feet but not seen a marker since the woods were grown thick with tall ferns. My GPS said I was in the right spot but after White Hill I didn't really trust it and used my map to make sure I'd walked around and gotten to the highest point.
I took 9 days including flying from Georgia to Halifax and got 3 HP's with plenty of extra time for sightseeing.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about these HP's (or any of the other Canadian HP's for that matter).
That just leaves Barbeau Peak and Ontario for me to complete the Canadian HP's. Anybody interested in a trip to Ellesmere Island in 2005?
Later,
Tom
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