A Big Axe, A Long Covered Bridge and Mount Carleton Park
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Our Route to Mt. Carlton Provincial Park
After the morning farmer’s market, we were off on TransCan 2 heading north. I caught a fleeting glance of a highway sign for Nackowic, ‘Home of the World’s Largest ????’. I missed what it was, but if it was the ‘largest’ anything, there was just no choice. We had to stop in Nackowic.
Finally, a sign we could read. the world's Largest...AXE!
A small town on the shores of the Saint John River, we weren’t expecting much so we were pleasantly surprised when Nackowic’s Annual Festival on the Bend festivities were in full swing. A parade with a ‘spooky’ theme was in progress. Locals surmised we weren’t native Nackowicans and offered commentary and answered questions. We watched the parade then found our way to the Bg Axe. We could see its handle sticking out high over the main street buildings.
According to the Guinness World Records website: “A steel axe 18.28m (60ft) long, 7m (23ft) wide and weighing 7tonnes was designed and built by BID Ltd of Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada. The axe was presented to the town of Nackawic, New Brunswick on 11 May 1991 to commemorate the towns selection as Forestry Capital of Canada for 1991. Calculations suggested it would take a 140-tonne (308,647 lb) lumberjack to swing the axe, but a crane was used to lift it into its concrete stump.”
This way to 'the Axe'
The World's Largest Axe
We recovered from the excitement and proceeded along the highway to Hartland, Home of the World’s Largest Covered Bridge. At 1,282 feet (391 m) long, the Hartland Covered Bridge spans the Saint John River. According to Wiki, ‘its framework consists of seven small Howe Truss bridges joined on six piers.’ The bridge originally opened in 1901 and was an uncovered toll bridge. The bridge was covered when structural damage due to weather required rebuilding in 1920. It became a National Historic Site of Canada in 1977.
World's Longest Covered Bridge in Hartland, NB
Its single lane is still used for traffic and it has a separate pedestrian passage. As soon as I walked into the passage with a notion to cross, I noticed a proliferation of spiders (big ones!) and thick webs. That ended the excursion immediately.
Back on the highway, we passed up a visit to Potato World in Florenceville-Bristol, the French Fry Capital of the World. We were potato-ed out after PEI.
The Perth-Andover Bridge spans the Saint John River between the villages of Perth and Andover, two communities in one Canadian village. Originally a railroad bridge, this area is subject to severe ice jams and this metal truss bridge has been demolished several times by ice and flooding. Today, however, in late summer, it was an easy crossing.
The bridge crossing connected us to the Appalachian Range Route heading to Mount Carleton Provincial Park, New Brunswick’s largest provincial park. At 2690’ (820m), Mount Carleton is the highest peak in the Maritime Provinces and its wilderness is considered a highlight of Canada’s section of the International Appalachian Trail. It it definitely a long way from anywhere.
Miles and miles of wilderness along the Appalachian Range Route
Welcome to Mount Carleton Provincial Park
It was a weekend and the campground was crowded and busy with lots of families. We sat outside in the evening, cooked dinner, checked out the hiking trails and enjoyed the evening. The trip to the toilets was an obstacle course of kids, bikes and Canada goose poop. The geese (and kids) were everywhere. We referred to it as ‘walking the goose poop gauntlet’.
We awoke to a gray overcast day. Most of the campers had cleared out. Our grand ideas for a long walk evaporated along with the morning. It seemed that every hike required a drive to get to the trailhead. We settled instead on a walk through the forest to the “beach” at Nictau Lake.
We watched a couple of fellows boogie boarding out in the lake. I stuck my toe in the water. Nope... no swimming for me!
We continued along a pleasant forest path till we reached a dirt road that passed by The Lodge, a camp store, cafe, souvenir, rest stop. By the time we retraced our steps, we had walked ~ 4 miles, enough to assuage our guilt for being lazy. We shook a leg on the return trip when we started feeling sprinkles. We managed to get back and cook up a pot of chili before the rain came down in earnest.
We were up early the next morning handling all of our mundane camping chores: refilling the fresh water jugs, emptying the gray water, emptying the toilet then we headed out. Where to? Well, as luck would have it, old cruising friends we’d met in the Caribbean ~20 years ago have an oceanside cottage in Castine, Maine. They reached out and invited us to stay. We’re on our way! Join us… you’ll enjoy a tour of the tiny, historic Downeast town of Castine.