True North East: Day 1 & 2
Originally posted: Advrider.com, July 2019
Howdy folks! I'm starting my 12 day journey to the terminus of the Trans Taiga Trail and back to Nova Scotia today. Ride: 2017 Suzuki V-Strom 650XT This is a solo trip, ( I couldn't rope any other crazy folks into coming with me) I have heard of a few others that will be tackling the Trans Taiga at just about the same time, but I suspect we'll end up passing each other in opposite directions. I'll be heading to a friends cottage just outside Mactaquac (starting point) on day 1 as I'm post night shift presently. I'm going to enjoy the ferry from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick for the next two hours and try to get a nap in. Hopefully water skiing later!
Full video series below:
Fog Rolling Over Freeport, NS
Keeping an eye on things while I enjoy my breakfast in Digby, NS.
Digby to Saint John Ferry in the distance.
Refreshments before a post-night shift nap.
Made it to the cottage safe and sound! Enjoyed a two hour long Kayak through the lakes/river that hug the Canada/USA border. Early morning tomorrow. Already tired of pounding pavement. Looking forward to hitting the trails!
Thanks for the hospitality!
Day 2: Jeff rode out to the trail head with me from his cottage. We semi-seriously joked about how he could do the trip on his Triumph Bonneville if he had the time (we were wrong).It was all nice logging roads to start, devolving into some trails that needed to be tackled at the 40-60kph range for a short while. I found my first moose which I caught on the GoPro. (I'll put together some videos for the YouTube channel when I get home{TrailTrash})Quite a bit of Highway to cover to get to Boistown today, but the roads are in EXCELLENT shape.
Beautiful drive.
Little bridges and views like this are scattered all along the trails.
Boistown to Serpentine lodge was beautiful, lots of great scenery, but the logging roads are littered with rocks/pebbles (the kind that make you pucker just a little) and are teeth chattering rough. I passed a sign that stated "Serpentine Lodge 9km", but the trail was a lot of large rock that looked worse than what I had been on. (I should have followed the sign).
“Serpentine Lodge 9km”
The road narrowed into a “soupy” snowmobile trail with a couple of sketchy bridges and water crossings to go through, if there had been significant rain I would expect the snowmobile trail to be impassable with the silt/clay base layer. The terrain in this part is challenging with a fully loaded bike and there is no way out except to go back the way you came if you decide to bail. Once you're through the trail it opens up into an amazing mountain range. I grabbed some pictures, and stopped at Serpentine lodge to say hello (the owner was super welcoming and polite, I'd highly recommend anyone stop in)
A bit of a highway trek the rest of the day;
It was my first time seeing Gaspe and wow was it beautiful. Weather during the day was sunny and about 35C, then about 100km from Matane the sky opened up and the temperature dropped to 18C, a little bit of a shock. Managed to get a hot shower and camp set up before the downpour started.
An 800km day total.
Stay tuned for Day 3, when the real adventure starts….
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