Mount Carleton, New Brunswick

[Stan]

Sentier this, sentier that, I thought as I planned a hike to the highest peak in New Brunswick, Mount Carleton, situated in a provincial parc by the same name … how will I ever get all these sentiers straight? Well, c’est francais where sentier means trail and it comes before the actual name of the trail, like baie (bay), as in baie this and baie that. You get used to it. Once you do it becomes a lot easier to read maps en francais.

I first became interested in Carleton as a hiker’s must do from articles and photos and from the fact that it is one of the more prominent peaks on the International Appalachian Trail in Canada … that’s Le Sentier des international Appalaches que rejoin le fameux Appalachian Trail. We looked forward to this park as we drove 140 miles from Bathurst on the east coast of New Brunswick on rt. 180, a route resembling the Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire with all the appurtenant warnings about wildlife crossing … we did see a black bear.

Mount Carleton can be hiked as a 9.6 km (6 mi) loop with an elevation gain of about 400 meters (1300 ft) to a fire tower on the summit. We hiked clockwise from the trailhead parking lot to a junction just past a backcountry campsite, Headwaters, where we took the shorter and steeper trail to the right. This was a most interesting route, the other more sheltered and suitable to inclement weather, and led to a mini knife edge to the tower, which is a beautiful structure but unfortunately trashed a bit. There was no summit register though that didn’t stop graffiti artists from carving and painting their names on the walls and table and etching them into the plastic windows.

Ascending Mount Carleton from the west resembles trails in the White Mountains:

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Mini knife edge on our ascent:

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Here is the view to the north:

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Once off the summit cone the trail back is pleasant and easy with a shelter about halfway:

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We stayed in nearby Saint Quentin and, although I had researched the area pretty well, there is nothing like being there to get the lay of the land and next time I’m staying in the park where there are 4 campgrounds, all on Big Nictau Lake, one backcountry campsite on the trail to Mount Carleton, and two camps of recently constructed cabins, one colony more primitive than the other. I also learned there are other worthy hikes in the park as well as some beautiful paddling opportunities on the lakes. Mount Carleton is about 200 miles north of Millinocket and Baxter Park.

Here are links to Carleton Provincial Park: http://tourismnewbrunswick.ca/Products/M/Mount-Carleton-Provincial-Park.aspx
http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/s...er.200804.Mount_Carleton_Provincial_Park.html
http://friendsofmountcarleton.ca/

August 2012

 

[Sunshine Chris]

Sounds like you had a great hike! Good for you. I like the pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[RoySwkr]

I thought that the rougher half of the trail was inferior to the traditional route, would go up and down the traditional route next time

Attn TR - due to labor laws they needed 2 lookouts to staff it, maybe why it closed down?

 

[spider solo]

aaahhhh..
We learned a lot from this report. Yes it's true, for the countless times we have been through Saint Quentin we have never been to the Parc..shocking !
We are like a "horse heading for the barn" by the time we get there and we continue on with just a stop at the local Tim Hortons.
So we are humbled, now that we know how nice it is, Now we will make it a point of going there..(and I'm sure it is a thousand times nicer than camping in Kedgwick which we could never bring ourselves to do)

So very nice indeed and who can say you can't teach old dogs (like us) new tricks. All we can say for now is... woof... woof.

by the way very stylish hat Eric has..dapper dude I'd say

 

[Stan]

by the way very stylish hat Eric has..dapper dude I'd say

Erik's leather hat has a history. The one shown is his third ... I bought it for him WITH a stampede string having felt a bit responsible for the loss of the first two ... the first lost on a bushwhack paddle between Johns Pond and Waquoit Bay on Cape Cod. We were actually going through a golf course on the Quashnet River and it fell off while going over a foot and a half drop ... sank and washed away and we never could find it. A shame, too, because it had been a gift from his dear friend "Snake Woman" who picked it up while on an archaeological dig in Belize.

Neither one of us remember which hike the second hat was lost on but ... if you ever see a seal (or a shark) off Cape Cod wearing a black leather hat with no stampede string, let us know.

 

[spider solo]

Erik's leather hat has a history...
...Neither one of us remember which hike the second hat was lost on but ... if you ever see a seal (or a shark) off Cape Cod wearing a black leather hat with no stampede string, let us know.

Quite humorous and I believe # 2 hat might be rumored to have met it's fate in the Moose River of Maine. I hear it is all the rage among the stylin Moose population up through those parts...