Appalachian Mountains: New Brunswick's Range

New Brunswick is home to a variety of mountain ranges, including the Appalachian Mountains, which form the most mountainous region in the province. The Appalachian Range features stunning parks for outdoor activities such as canoeing, hiking, and camping. The province also includes the Notre Dame Mountains, a small subrange in the northwestern part of New Brunswick. With a total of 1,232 named mountains, New Brunswick offers a diverse landscape for exploration and adventure.

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains are the most mountainous region in New Brunswick, Canada. This 400-million-year-old mountain range offers stunning scenery, with ancient, eroded mountains, river valleys, and gently rolling hills. The Appalachian Range is known for its outdoor recreational opportunities, including canoeing, hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and camping.

One of the notable features of the Appalachian Range in New Brunswick is the Mount Carleton Provincial Park, which boasts the highest peak in the Maritime provinces. The park covers an area of over 17,000 hectares and is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, including 100 species of birds and 30 species of mammals. Visitors can enjoy hiking trails that lead to the summit, offering spectacular views of the surrounding forests and lakes.

Another prominent peak in the Appalachian Range in New Brunswick is Sugarloaf Mountain, which towers over the City of Campbellton. Sugarloaf Provincial Park provides a unique mountain biking experience with a lift-service, catering to both beginner and expert riders. The park offers a range of trails featuring various challenges, such as berms, table tops, drops, and wooden features.

The International Appalachian Trail (IAT) passes through New Brunswick, covering a distance of 274 kilometres within the province. This portion of the trail begins at the border of Fort Fairfield, Maine, and Perth-Andover, leading hikers through a diverse landscape of hardwood and softwood forests, wildflowers, meandering rivers, and wildlife. The IAT offers a moderate to difficult hiking experience and provides the option of canoeing the final portion down the Restigouche River.

The Appalachian Range Route, a 278-kilometre road trip in New Brunswick, offers a variety of outdoor activities and scenic vistas. Along the route, adventurers can explore Mount Carleton Provincial Park, Sugarloaf Provincial Park, and the city of Campbellton. The route also includes stops for canoeing in Kedgwick, tasting maple treats in Saint-Quentin, and mountain biking in Sugarloaf Provincial Park.

Notre Dame Mountains

The Notre Dame Mountains are a portion of the Appalachian Mountains, extending from the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec to the Green Mountains of Vermont in the United States. The range runs from northeast to southwest, forming the southern edge of the St. Lawrence River valley. The mountainous New Brunswick "panhandle" is located within the Notre Dame range.

The Notre Dame Mountains are the result of volcanic activity that occurred over 480 million years ago. They are made up of marine sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Despite heavy erosion, the average height of the mountains is around 600 metres (2,000 feet). The range includes the Chic-Choc Mountains, which are located in the northeastern part of the Gaspé Peninsula and are home to the tallest peak in the range, Mont Jacques-Cartier, standing at 1,268 metres (4,160 feet). Another major subsection is the Massif du Sud, found in the southern part of the range, southeast of Quebec City, reaching 915 metres (3,002 feet).

The name "Notre Dame" is French for "Our Lady," a Catholic reference to the Virgin Mary. The name was first used by Jacques Cartier during an expedition on August 15, 1535, which coincided with the feast of the Assumption of Mary. The name was later popularised by French navigator Jean Alfonse in his 1544 work "Cosmographie," and again by Gerardus Mercator in 1569.

The Notre Dame Mountains offer a variety of outdoor activities, including hiking, skiing, and camping. Several parks protect and provide access to the range, including Forillon National Park, Gaspésie National Park, and Mount Carleton Provincial Park, which is known for its diverse flora and fauna. The New Brunswick leg of the International Appalachian Trail also traverses the Notre Dame Mountains, offering challenging and rewarding experiences for hikers.

The mountains are a source of mineral resources, resulting in a unique mining landscape. The range is also known for its biodiversity, with a variety of plant and animal species calling it home. The Appalachians, of which the Notre Dame Mountains are a part, are best known for their mixed forests and diverse selection of deciduous broadleaf trees.

Mount Carleton Provincial Park

The park offers a range of outdoor activities, with 11 trails catering to different skill levels. These trails provide opportunities for hiking, biking, fishing, and kayaking. For those seeking a challenge, Mount Sagamook is considered the most demanding hike in the park. Alternatively, Mount Bailey offers a more manageable climb with rewarding views. The park also features wheelchair-accessible trails, such as the Williams Falls trail, ensuring that everyone can enjoy the natural beauty of the area.

The park provides a variety of accommodation options, including campsites and heritage cabins. The Armstrong Campground, Mount Carleton's largest campground, offers 88 sites for trailers and tents, along with spectacular views of Nictau Lake and Mount Sagamook. The Williams and Franklin Campgrounds offer more secluded tenting sites on both sides of Nictau Lake. The park also has group camping options and extreme camping experiences, such as the Headwaters Campground, located partway up Mount Carleton Trail.

The park is generally open from January 1 to December 31, with specific dates varying depending on the season. It is closed for a transition period from the end of March to mid-May and again from October to January 1. Visitors are advised to contact the park directly to confirm hours and availability during these transitional periods.

Sugarloaf Provincial Park

The park also includes the north slope of an unnamed ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, as well as two named lakes: Prichard Lake and Smith Lake. A drinking water reservoir for the City of Campbellton is also located within the park's boundaries. Sugarloaf Provincial Park offers a variety of outdoor activities and attractions for visitors throughout the year. The summit of Sugarloaf Mountain can be accessed via a hiking trail that climbs its eastern slope. This trail is suitable for those with intermediate hiking experience and is typically closed during the winter season. From the summit, hikers can enjoy panoramic views of the Restigouche River valley, including the City of Campbellton and other rural communities in New Brunswick and Quebec.

The unnamed ridge south of Sugarloaf Mountain features a network of trails that extend to and around the lakes, as well as through the alpine ski slope. In total, there are 32 kilometres (20 miles) of groomed trails available for snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. During the winter months, the alpine ski resort offers a range of alpine skiing options for beginners to experts, as well as other winter activities such as snowshoeing, ice skating, snowmobiling, and sleigh rides. The ski resort remains operational during the summer, allowing visitors to take in the river valley views from the ski lift. The alpine ski hill also features a downhill mountain bike park.

International Appalachian Trail

The International Appalachian Trail (IAT) is a walking trail that follows the Appalachian Mountains. The IAT was proposed in 1994 by Richard Anderson, a Maine fisheries biologist, with the goal of traversing portions of the Appalachian Mountains in Maine, New Brunswick, and Quebec that the Appalachian Trail did not cover. The trail began in 1995 and has since grown to over 5000 miles (8000 km) in length, including trails in 13 countries on 3 continents around the North Atlantic.

The IAT/SIA starts in the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument in the U.S. State of Maine and ends at Cap Gaspe in Quebec, Canada. The Maine section of the IAT/SIA is about 138 miles (222 km) long and begins on the Katahdin Loop in the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument east of Baxter State Park. The trail generally follows the East Branch of the Penobscot River north through the Monument, before turning east towards Mount Chase and, eventually, Houlton. Just before Houlton, the trail turns north again and continues to and across Mars Hill Mountain in Aroostook County.

The New Brunswick section of the IAT/SIA is about 185 miles (298 km) long and begins at the United States/Canadian international border in Perth-Andover. The trail then accompanies the Tobique River through the village of Plaster Rock to Nictau. The trail then continues northeast to Mount Carleton Provincial Park before heading west to St. Quentin and Kedgewick. It then turns northeast again, crossing the Upsalquitch River and then the mouth of the Restigouche River at Tide Head, New Brunswick. The trail then turns west and crosses the Restigouche into Quebec at Flatlands, New Brunswick.

The IAT has also been extended into Western Europe and North Africa. In 2010 and 2011, chapters of the IAT were established in Greenland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, England, Ulster-Ireland, Wales, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Spain, and Morocco. The inclusion of these regions in the IAT is inspired by geological evidence that the Appalachian Mountains, certain mountains of Western Europe, and the Anti-Atlas range in North Africa are all parts of the ancient Central Pangean Mountains. These mountains were formed when minor supercontinents collided to form the supercontinent Pangaea more than 250 million years ago.

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