Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada - September 2006

[frostbite]

Well I've finally got around to posting a ride report for a little jaunt taken September past. The destination:

Grand Manan - a little island off the coast of New Brunswick.



I was heading to the Island with some new friends from the New Brunswick Dual Sport Club. Since members of the group are spread over the entire province the plan was for everyone to meet at the Ferry in Black's Harbour for the crossing to the island. However, since the crossing takes approximately 1.5 hours it was necessary to catch the first boat Saturday morning at 9:30 in order to get a full day of riding in.

Since some of the guys lived 3 hours from Black's Harbour it was decided that some of us would travel the night before and stay at my brother's hunting camp in nearby Musquash. Murphy's Law strikes and it pours rain on Friday night. I wimp out and throw the bike in the truck and drive to Musquash in relative comfort. Four guys from Moncton toughed it out and ride through the rain.

3 Hours on a DS bike in the pouring rain is scary 8O. Stopping every half hour for the guy on the XR to gas up didn't improve their time much either :wink:

When I met up with them in Musquash they were soaked!!. A few minutes later and we were at the camp. Fortunately my brother was kind enough to stop in several hours earlier and start the fire. By the time we arrived the place was toasty. It was the first day of moose season and they downed their animal 10 minutes after sunrise (at least that's the 'official' story...)

11 rounds (don't ask), 3 hunters, and 45 minutes later...



Yes, that is a can of Moosehead beer on the head. Empty I'm sure.

After much too little sleep we were up the next morning (Saturday) at the crack of dawn. We hit the road at 7:30am and travelled the scenic root along the Bay of Fundy, throughChance Harbour,Beaver Harbour, Dipper Harbour... well you get the idea.

After a brief stop to top up the XR with some emergency fuel (I carry a couple of MSR cans for emergencies) we made it to the ferry dock in Black's Harbour.



We began to get a bit nervous, a few of the guys from Fredericton were supposed to have travelled the natural gas pipeline the evening before and camped overnight somewhere nearby. We hadn't seen hide nor hair of them yet, no answers on the cell, and the boat was starting to unload cars after arriving from the island. A few minutes from departure and they arrived, essentially in the nick of time.



We then boarded the boat as a group. It was my first time with a bike on an ocean going ferry. Apparently its necessary to strap your ride down in case of rough seas. They have straps available for just such an occasion. Luckily the seas were calm that day so no mishaps in the vehicle bay.







An hour and a half, and a good breakfast later, we were on Grand Manan. The first order of business was to check into our accomodations. Some of the guys wanted to 'sleep under the stars'. Pffft I called ahead and rented a house. At the end of the day all but one stayed in the house. It gets chilly here in autumn (downright frigid to you Texans :wink and I had no dreams of roughing it.

The accomodations:



$110 per night. Three bedrooms with BBQ, firepit, and a full view of the Atlantic. They owner gave me a key to the house, one of those old iron/steel units, and said "We usually don't lock it but in case your worried about your things, here you go". Very refreshing.

Now it was time to get down to some riding. Since I had encountered some unexplained vibration in my bike I didn't want to hit anything to nasty. Another our group, Brian, didn't feel he had the tires for serious off-road duty (coincidentally, the same tires I had). So we decided to tour the island ourselves and let the other guys hit the heavier stuff.

We decided to visit the southern tip of the island first. I had never been to Grand Manan before, Brian (on the KLR) had but I was riding ahead of him. When you get to the end of the island there is no warning, guard rail, sign, nothing. It just ends.

Brian stops and tries to get my attention but I keep going, and see this a few feet ahead of my front tire:



To get a perpsective of how big a drop this is look at it from a different angle:



Fortunately I stopped in time or someone else would be writing a very different ride report. I then got a group shot of the bikes.



...and something for the ladies



We take a few pics then make our way to an island off Grand Manan, White Head Island. The ferry to White Head is very small, maybe 8 cars or so. Fortunately this time of year it wasn't too busy. A couple of DS bikes don't take up too much space anyway.





Coming into White Head...





Once of the great things about touring these small islands is the complete inability to get lost. White Head has 1 main road. You get off the ferry and turn left or right. Once you hit water turn around and go back. The mainstay of the island is fishing (surprise!!) so plenty of piers, nets, and boats, and really good roads believe it or not. We tried a little beach riding but the beach we tried consisted of rounded rocks the size of golf balls. Scary riding to say the least.



The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world. At high tide the deck of this boat would be level with the pier. More than one tourist has sunk his vessel tying off too tight at low tide.



The work of a local 'artist'. I think it's a pig.





We then returned to Grand Manan, travelled North and hit some back roads. We found an airport believe it or not, drove right onto the runway since the gate was wide open. Nobody was around; a Cessna was parked near the gate. A strange experience after the near anal probing you get at the major airports. I found out later from one of the guys in our group ( he has a pilot's license) that Cessna's of that type don't have a keyed ignition; we could've hopped right in! He wanted us to show him the airport; I quickly changed the subject. 8O

We eventually found ourselves on the ominous sounding Dark Harbour Road. A really twisty/turny (read: bike heaven) stretch of asphalt bisecting the island East to West. At the end we found a series of Salmon cages in a concealed harbour, presumably 'Dark Harbour'.





The beach in this area was littered with these small lorries. While an 'old' looking design they appeared to be of new construction. Perhaps they used them to harvest the Salmon from the cages?



Nighttime was approaching so we headed back to the house where I investigated the cause of my mysterious vibration (to no avail). The rest of our group arrived a short time later and we swapped stories from the days ride around the firepit.

Sunday morning Brian and I caught the early boat (7:30am) while the rest of the group slept in. It was a chilllllly ride to the ferry I'll tell you. We hit the mainland around 9am, said our good-bye's, and went our separate ways.

All in all a good trip.

[ejcycles]

Hi Frostbite
That is really cool!!! I liked all the pics, as I have not been to Canada It looks like you guys had a ton of fun {no pun intended} I would have loved to have time to get a ride in like that!!
Bruce

[frostbite]

I would have loved to have time to get a ride in like that!!

The hard part is just commiting to do it. The rest is details. It requires a little planning, perhaps some begging and wife bribery (ok maybe more than 'some'), but in the end it comes down to making the time for it. You don't even have to go far. I went on about 3 excursions last year; two were simple day trips. Grand Manan was the only 'overnighter' and none required me to go farther than about 2-3 hours from home.

It's amazing the stuff you can find in your own backyard if you're looking. I hear the cruiser crowd talk about the 'Freedom of the Road'. Nowadays you're not going anywhere on a Harley, Goldwing, etc... that you couldn't take a minivan. Dual-sport is the real freedom of the road because it allows you to leave it. Now with the Chinese DS bikes its affordable for the masses. You see a trail/path/road, you take it. It's amazing the trails we pass everyday on the way to work that we haven't explored.

[FMYStreetRacer]

that looks like a awsome ride. it's amazing how different things are up there from down here (florida). here all we have is old people and beaches.