Michigan to Cabot Trail

[feejrfan]

I'm preparing for my first longish trip since buying an 2007 FJR last year. I've got 10 days off starting next Friday (7/17), and I've decided to ride the Cabot Trail. That's the easy part. What I could use some help with is figuring out how to get there and back.

A couple of years ago I had 9 days off in September and put ~4800 miles on an SV650 over a loop that covered Mt. Rushmore and the Colorado Rockies.

I'm not going to be riding the IBR any time soon (though it's been a lot of fun following it here), but with the FJR I figure 5-6K miles in 10 days should easily be in my comfort zone.

Here's a quick map I put together to get a rough idea for a route. I dropped enough stops on the map to avoid the big cities, get around the Gaspe peninsula, and over the Cabot Trail.

https://goo.gl/maps/0bnJa

Other than going around Gaspe and the Cabot Trail, I don't have any other specific destinations. I prefer not to over plan my vacation rides, letting the roads/scenery/weather dictate where I go from day to day. I plan to camp most nights. Hopefully it won't be too hard to find places to put up a tent without having reservations this time year.


My original plan was to leave home early Friday, take the northern route, and catch the ferry over the St. Lawrence on Saturday. That would maximize the time I have to spend exploring Nova Scotia and/or the mountains in New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. If I spend the last Saturday night within 100 miles of Syracuse NY, getting back home by Sunday night shouldn't be a problem.

The original plan is now in limbo because the ferry is already full on Saturday. The next available passage is Sunday evening. I'm not sure if I should spend another day+ in Ontario and Quebec or if I should just stay on the south side of the St. Lawrence and skip the ferry. I've read that the scenery is much better on the north side, but I hadn't planned on spending a whole lot of time there either... Advice?

If I stick with the northern side, any suggestions on where I should spend the extra time?

I'm also open to suggestions for can't miss roads anywhere along (or even a ways off of) this route. I should have a couple of days to explore some of the more interesting areas without worrying about getting form point A to point B.

This is only my second post, but I've learned a lot while lurking. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Matt

 

[HelzBelz]

Hi Matt - Welcome , I live in Montana, but my wife and I took jobs in Plattsburgh NY for 2 years, and I was able to do some great trips into NE Canada while there.

I've done a similar trip to yours, with the major difference being I started in Plattsburgh, and headed to the Montreal suburbs to meet my riding companion who was living in Ottawa at the time, but grew up in Montreal. (ahh, oui oui, having a frenchie with me helped a bit..).

One idiotic thing we did (that doesn't make us laugh):

We stayed on the south/Eastern side of the St. Laurent, as we had already seen Quebec City earlier in the year. This unfortunately allowed us to make the STUPID decision to skip the Gaspe. We took 20, and turned east at Riverie du Loupe And to this day, that's all we ever talk about. Skipping the Gaspe was dumb.. We both live back west now, and we plan to make it back to the Gaspe someday.

I have no idea what I missed on the north side of the river that you are going to see, but if the ferry thing is going to slow you down, you could take the route we took, without skipping Quebec City (which is a pretty amazing place, but bring translator), but staying on 20 and 132 till the Gaspe.

We stayed in Antigonish (pronounced Annie Ga Nish) two nights, at the Whidden park campgrounds and cottages. We camped on night one, before heading out to Cape Breton/Cabot trail, and were back in Antigonish that next night. Rain was coming in for the next day or two, so we rented a "cottage" which was a modular home, in pretty spectacular condition (must have been rolled in the day before). This allowed us to watch TV (weather) and re-charge ourselves and our devices, AND have pretty good/ok wifi. Also allowed us to wake up in the rain and get dressed inside, and be well rested for the rest of the rainy day we were facing.

There is a lot of semi-forested loneliness on your way back to the US from the Cabot trail. watch your fuel. Not sure how much throttle you use (and what your tire life is like) but 5-6 k is pretty much the limit on my tires. although I am running a BT023 GT (f spec) on front right now that has 4400 miles and looks pretty damn good, while the T30GT I have on back with same age is just starting to flatten out in the middle but still has about 1k if I don't mind. Usually I go through 1.5 - 2 fronts to 1 back. Not this time. Bridgestone finally made a tire or two I like.

Enjoy. and good luck.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Sending a PM to the great white nord liberation army for you.. One of the commanders should be able to help.

 

[RaYzerman19]

At first glance, given that you have a mission to get to Gaspe and Nova Scotia in a certain timeframe, your route looks decent. Sure we can put you on some more intersting roads in certain parts, but would have to see what that looks like timewise. The way home from Niagara is all slab, and you should keep that plan if you need to skoot it home on your last day..... Alternative to the ferry at Rimouski is to take the one before, at Les Escoumins to Trois Pistoles, quick look says they have openings on Saturday. Agree Hwy 20 in Quebec is mostly awful boring Montreal to Rimouski, but you can handle it (132) from Trois Pistoles.....

I'll take some more time to look this over and see if there are some tweaks that won't slow you down too much...... one thing I will suggest from past experience, is keep an eye on the weather as you approach Cape Breton. If wet and foggy, the Cabot Trail is not worth riding in the fog...... if it's a bad day up there, plan on an extra day perhaps and have an alternate ride around the Bra's D'Or lakes area... and I would stay overnight in the Cape Breton area (try Cabot Trail Motel just east of Whycocomagh, more economical than going into Baddeck). Other option, ride Cabot Trail counterclockwise to somewhere around Cheticamp, turn around and go back clockwise.

Perhaps others will chime in with suggestions too........

 

[feejrfan]

This unfortunately allowed us to make the STUPID decision to skip the Gaspe.

Unless the weather is highly incorporative, that's a mistake I plan to avoid.

5-6 k is pretty much the limit on my tires. although I am running a BT023 GT (f spec) on front right now that has 4400 miles and looks pretty damn good, while the T30GT I have on back with same age is just starting to flatten out in the middle but still has about 1k if I don't mind. Usually I go through 1.5 - 2 fronts to 1 back. Not this time. Bridgestone finally made a tire or two I like.

This made me double check my tire situation. The bike has a little over 2k miles on Dunlops that were installed by the previous owner. I thought they were RoadMax tires and that this trip might be pushing it a little on miles, but I'd be ok if I took it easy. Turns out they are Q2 SportMax tires. The rear is a little flat down the middle, but that's typical for me in this area - not much opportunity to use the edges around here. 7-8k total miles is probably asking too much for the rear though.

I have a new Shinko 009 rear that came with the bike. Looks like I should mount it up before the trip. I'm sure it's not the greatest tire, but I'm not a super aggressive rider either.

I've got a set of Bridgestone T30 EVO's on the way. At < $200 delivered for the pair after the current rebate, it was a deal I couldn't pass up. Those will go on after this trip.

Alternative to the ferry at Rimouski is to take the one before, at Les Escoumins to Trois Pistoles, quick look says they have openings on Saturday.

That looks like a great option! It's ~900 miles from here to Les Escoumins to slab it all the way. If I go for a more northern/rural route, it would add somewhere between 2 and 4 hundred miles. With the 5pm ferry on Saturday, that distance should be easily doable. I won't know until later, but I might be able to get away Thursday evening. If that works out, I should be able to make it to the Barrie area that night, which would make Friday a little more relaxed.

one thing I will suggest from past experience, is keep an eye on the weather as you approach Cape Breton. If wet and foggy, the Cabot Trail is not worth riding in the fog...... if it's a bad day up there, plan on an extra day perhaps and have an alternate ride around the Bra's D'Or lakes area... and I would stay overnight in the Cape Breton area (try Cabot Trail Motel just east of Whycocomagh, more economical than going into Baddeck). Other option, ride Cabot Trail counterclockwise to somewhere around Cheticamp, turn around and go back clockwise.

This is exactly why I didn't want to give up the extra day waiting on the ferry. Depending on the weather I want to have an extra day or possibly even 2 to use in Nova Scotia. With the Saturday ferry, I should get to NS by sometime Monday. As long as I'm getting back to Maine by Thursday night, I'll be ok on time. If the weather corporates, I'll spend the extra day later in VT/NH/NY.

 

[fjrob1300]

Looks good to me for what you have in mind. Good luck.

Rob

 

[yamafitter]

The Gaspe alone is a two day ride to go from Rivere-du-Loop on the south shore of the St Lawrence around the Gaspe and then down to Moncton.
Ray is correct that you don't want to be riding the Cabot Trail in poor weather. The other thing I would mention that is worth a stop is the Glendora distillery just north of Invermere. They also have an inn on the premises if you do too much sampling.
Also the best views are when you ride the Cabot counterclockwise and I would advise you take a side trip to Meat Cove though that involves some gravel. On a good day the view from the cove is worth the ride.
Depending on the time of day if you continue north on hwy 105 past the north end of the Cabot there is a restaurant at the intersection of 105 & 312. If they are still serving it get the Atlantic Salmon with the Maple Syrup glaze. You can thank me later.

 

[Bustanut joker]

Well three of four posted up...

Now you just have to get out of Flint alive to start your adventure. Where ya located ?

 

[MEM]

In addition to what my good buddies from Upper Canuckistan pointed out, I'll take exception to the statement: "There is a lot of semi-forested loneliness on your way back to the US from the Cabot trail. watch your fuel."

I can't think of ANY road you'd be on where this would be an issue

And "avoiding big cities" north of Portland, Maine isn't a problem. There aren't any

 

[feejrfan]

Bust - I'm just south of Swartz Creek. I'm real close to 69, so as long as I don't run over anything nasty in the construction zones on the east side of town, I'll survive the exit.

Mem - The "big cities" I was thinking of were mainly Toronto and Montreal on the first day through ON. After that, I don't expect run into many population density related issues

 

[MEM]

Bust - I'm just south of Swartz Creek. I'm real close to 69, so as long as I don't run over anything nasty in the construction zones on the east side of town, I'll survive the exit.
Mem - The "big cities" I was thinking of were mainly Toronto and Montreal on the first day through ON. After that, I don't expect run into many population density related issues

Oops! Gotcha. Can't help you with TO but if you're slabbing, stay on 30 south of Montreal. It's the best by-pass ever; not even a sniff of Montreal

 

[yamafitter]

The fastest way to get through Toronto is to use the 407 Toll Road. Being a fine upstanding law-abiding Canuckastani I shouldn't tell you that if you are on the on or off ramps where the cameras are and are travelling at over 160 kph (100 mph) the cameras can't read your plate and the crooks that run the 407 can't send you a bill.

However should the local constabulary witness this your vacation will come to an end as they will hand you a ticket for $5000 and confiscate the bike for 7 days on the spot.

The 407 Toll Road is the most expensive toll in North America and it will cost you about $30 to go from one end of Toronto to the other if you pay the full freight.

 

[FJR2011]

i live just North of Montreal and your trip route looks decent.......some nice areas will be between Quebec city & Escoumins area, Gaspe & then obviously the Cabot Trail.....the only comment i can make, since you will be riding just by the area is Bar Harbor, Maine, it is a very scenic area well worth the stop (IMO) if you have the time to stop and enjoy the sights, also on your route is Mt. Washington area but based on your map i think you have that one covered (make sure your ride the Kancamangus Parkway between North Conway & 93)

 

[Canadian FJR]

Nova Scotia route suggestions;

- Route 6 (Sunrise Trail from Amherst to Pictou.) Eat at Salty's in Pictou on the deck.

- Back on Route 6 (east of New Glasgow to Antigonish)

- Highway to Baddeck (nice spot to spend the night)

- As Ray suggested, do the Cabot Trail CCW

- Marine Drive is okay but not a big deal to skip it if you are running short on time

- To give you an idea. From New Glasgow, around the Cabot Trail and back again doing the highway to & from the Cabot trail can be done easily in a day.

- PM me and I will give you my cell number just in case you run into any issues. Always nice to have a local contact.

Enjoy,

Canadian FJR