Various considerations forced the decision to do Boundary from the Canadian side, so after a night at Cathedral Pines (very nice campground, but bring earplugs...27 has a lot of traffic) we reached the crossing at Coburn Gore by 7:30. There appear to be a lot of large cylinders coming in from Quebec--I suspect they're tower pieces for the Kibby wind farm--and they can't get through the gates on the US side. So whenever one is clearing Customs, the truck has to go around the gates and block the road into Canada until the paperwork is processed. In our case, it was about twenty minutes' wait before we could even pull up to Canadian customs, which took about another twenty minutes. We were questioned pretty extensively (including a complete list of every place I've ever lived and a show-and-tell of what knives we were carrying) and our passports run, but no search or real problems.
The turn off 161 onto 212 is quite well-signed and there is now a large Mont Gosford sign at the turn for Rang Tout de Joie. Several miles in there's a left turn to the entrance house and a kiosk with information on the ZEC. (Missing this turn brings you to a locked gate almost immediately.) The gentleman who issued our permit had difficulty with English but communicated quite effectively so we never had to fall back on my hideous French. Admission is now $8/car (including driver) and $2.25/additional person; I thought I had "planned ahead" by getting CAD$10 but had to cover the extra quarter in American (which they had no problem with.) Our hosts were rather dismayed we were wasting our time on Boundary instead of Gosford.
The drive back in was fairly clear: straight through the stop sign and otherwise basically stay on the main road. Shortly after the Gosford trailhead the road deteriorated. (On the ZEC map, basically follow Chemin Gosford until it bears left at a gate and becomes Chemin Clearwater.) The right turn up to the gravel pit is Chemin de la Grive; it's the first obvious right turn and there's a stop sign to the right (i.e. for Ch. de la Grive, not for the one driving in.) We parked at the gravel pit about 45 minutes after passing the gate, probably a bit over an hour from Customs. A high-clearance vehicle might make it a bit faster but the Focus was fine; again, leave the Veyron at home for this one.
The start of the ATV trail was fairly obvious off to the right and we took the rightmost branch, climbing almost immediately and quite steeply. It climbs the ridge west of monument 447 and hits the swath just north of the monument. From here Boundary was a very easy walk along the swath, with an ATV/Jeep trail on the Canadian side for access to the hunting blinds. It was already very hot with a clear day, but the footing was very good and the grades easy. Round trip was just under two hours including lots of photos and general looking around. Hiking the border was a rather surreal experience.
The day was fine but we needed to move on with the NEHH, so we left Gosford for some other time and headed back. Several Canadians on Harleys hit the border before us, so we waited a bit for our turn. A few questions and a short wait while our passports were taken inside, and we were back in.
The turn off 161 onto 212 is quite well-signed and there is now a large Mont Gosford sign at the turn for Rang Tout de Joie. Several miles in there's a left turn to the entrance house and a kiosk with information on the ZEC. (Missing this turn brings you to a locked gate almost immediately.) The gentleman who issued our permit had difficulty with English but communicated quite effectively so we never had to fall back on my hideous French. Admission is now $8/car (including driver) and $2.25/additional person; I thought I had "planned ahead" by getting CAD$10 but had to cover the extra quarter in American (which they had no problem with.) Our hosts were rather dismayed we were wasting our time on Boundary instead of Gosford.
The drive back in was fairly clear: straight through the stop sign and otherwise basically stay on the main road. Shortly after the Gosford trailhead the road deteriorated. (On the ZEC map, basically follow Chemin Gosford until it bears left at a gate and becomes Chemin Clearwater.) The right turn up to the gravel pit is Chemin de la Grive; it's the first obvious right turn and there's a stop sign to the right (i.e. for Ch. de la Grive, not for the one driving in.) We parked at the gravel pit about 45 minutes after passing the gate, probably a bit over an hour from Customs. A high-clearance vehicle might make it a bit faster but the Focus was fine; again, leave the Veyron at home for this one.
The start of the ATV trail was fairly obvious off to the right and we took the rightmost branch, climbing almost immediately and quite steeply. It climbs the ridge west of monument 447 and hits the swath just north of the monument. From here Boundary was a very easy walk along the swath, with an ATV/Jeep trail on the Canadian side for access to the hunting blinds. It was already very hot with a clear day, but the footing was very good and the grades easy. Round trip was just under two hours including lots of photos and general looking around. Hiking the border was a rather surreal experience.
The day was fine but we needed to move on with the NEHH, so we left Gosford for some other time and headed back. Several Canadians on Harleys hit the border before us, so we waited a bit for our turn. A few questions and a short wait while our passports were taken inside, and we were back in.
