Welcome to New Brunswick! We saw the Old Florenceville covered bridge before reaching our first stop, the Hartland Covered Bridge, and getting there was half the fun. We followed the Saint John River, debating what on earth this mysterious sign was trying to warn us about — turbulent water? Whirlpools? The river was moving at a good clip, so it felt entirely possible.
Only later did we discover we were actually travelling along the Fiddlehead Route — which suddenly made everything make sense.
The Hartland Bridge itself, built in 1901, stretches an impressive 1,282 feet across the Saint John River, holding the title of the world’s longest covered bridge. Unfortunately, we couldn’t drive through it this time — it was closed for construction — but even from the outside, its impressive.
We took a bumpy road on our way to the Village of Stanley, and the journey came with its own entertainment. First, a moose appeared at the side of the road — and vanished just as quickly, leaving us with nothing but the “you saw that too, right?” moment and no photo to prove it. A little farther along, we passed a guy burning rubber for reasons known only to him and his wife and child and all the neighbours who were out at the road watching him waste his rubber.
In Stanley, we spent a few days with Wendy, Eric, and Sandra, getting the full “locals only” tour. We had fascinating conversations, fabulous meals, and fun adventures.
One day we headed out to Sandra’s camp on the Nashwaak River, where we immediately decided someone needs to install an official whirlpool sign, aka Fiddlehead Route sign. There was a massive patch of fiddleheads right beside the camp road. Thanks to Wendy and Eric’s expert foraging, we enjoyed a delicious plate of fresh fiddleheads that evening. We soon realized the camp needs a corkscrew but we got creative with a drill and bit😉
The next day was a blog day for me as we had lots of historical info to include in blog 15.1 while Sharon had a visiting day.
On our final full day in Stanley, Sandra and Sharon went to the community resource centre — a bright, welcoming space that brings together a thrift store, food bank, community kitchen and small hall all under one roof. Wendy was one of the volunteers instrumental in getting this beautiful facility built. Once a week they serve a by‑donation lunch, and we were lucky enough to enjoy it before heading out to the camp. And yes — Sharon may have made a few discoveries in the thrift shop.
Our camp time was full of fun activities starting with setting up some of the new purchases for the camp. Wendy laid out charcuterie spread, and we kicked off a New Brunswick cider tasting. There was plenty sampling and very serious “hmm‑yes‑I‑detect‑notes‑of‑something” commentary. We picked different favourites but when it came to the least favourite, we achieved instant, unanimous agreement.
Washer Toss is a New Brunswick pastime — they even sell the game at the side of the road. Naturally, we had to hold a friendly tournament at the camp. Team Women came to win, and Sandra delivered the highlight of the match with her legendary three‑in‑the‑ring toss, instantly securing bragging rights for her and Sharon. Wendy, served as the highly professional, completely unbiased official scorekeeper, ensuring the women’s victory was fully documented for history. Washer Toss glory achieved, better luck next time Eric and Joel.
To wrap up our very full day, we sat down for a little slab pottery. Wendy, the creative force behind Baden Creek Pottery, guided us through the process. We shaped, smoothed, stamped and hoped for the best. Now we just have to wait to see how our masterpieces turn out. It was a great way to end a perfect day.
While in Stanley we got very used to the one local dog who would bark most of the nights and the rooster who lived across the street and had no sense of time of day😉 On our final morning we decided to try some of the sausages that we had purchased at the Harvest Host Sheep farm we had stayed at in Quebec. We believed we had purchased Lamb sausages, and Duck sausages so Sharon cooked up both batches and we did a blind tasting. All of us really liked the full flavour of the smaller sized sausage although the other one was also good. We assumed the smaller one must have been the Duck since it was different than anything we had tried before. However we were completely surprised when Sharon brought the packaging out and the smaller one was Lama, that’s right from a Lama! The farm did have Lama’s so it made sense, but we didn’t recall the host telling us that. We all agreed we would buy it again if we ever saw it😉 We said our goodbyes to Sandra, Wendy, and Eric and the roosters and chickens across the road and headed off to Fredericton.
Once in Fredericton we did some grocery shopping and then went to Picaroons Brewery right along the St. John River. I tried a flight of their beers including 2 porters and had a Buffalo Chicken sandwich with excellent fries with spiced mayonnaise. Such a great spot along the river to enjoy lunch and beers. After lunch we drove to the south side and saw some of the historic buildings before heading to Mactaquac PP for 2 nights.
Mactaquac was a short distance from Fredericton but the May 24 weekend traffic had begun. As we got to the park and dumped our tanks it was a constant stream of 5th wheels and trailers coming in. We had a nice spot that was close to the lake because we had booked on the day bookings opened. We were staying 2 nights so the next day we did an 11 km hike on Murch Field, Alex Creek, Beaver Pond, Little Mactaquac, and Porcupine Pass trails. This took us to the far corner of the boundary of the park. The weather was absolutely gorgeous with not too much heat and a mix of sun and clouds. We felt very lucky because there no black flies on any of the trails with the exception of the end of Porcupine Pass. Along the way we saw beaver lodges, beaver dams, the major trees of New Brunswick, Canada Geese guarding their nests and young chicks, lots of interesting plant life (using Plantnet ID app to determine names), and at the end we saw the Treego platforms that weren’t open yet this season. Many of the sections looked quite challenging.
If you happen to be looking at our photos on your PC you will see all the captions I put on each photo. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way yet for the captions to show up directly on mobile devices. That will conclude our first blog for New Brunswick with many more to follow.