New Brunswick Road Trip - Kouchibouguac National Park 2-Day Itinerary

Bike Loop Trail at Kouchibouguac National Park

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This is the 5th post in a series for this trip and covers days 6-7 of a 13 day road trip. You can view links to the other posts at the bottom of this one.

Two day itinerary for Kouchibouguac National Park in New Brunswick

why visit kouchibouguac national park

Kouchibouguac National Park is at the heart of Acadian New Brunswick. Situated along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and with the Kouchibouguac River running right through it, the area is filled with the life and ecology common of an estuary. With hikes along the water, in the woods, and through bogs, there are a variety of sights to take in. Like many other similar areas along the eastern seaboard, the area is also home to sated mosquitoes so come prepared.

There are many summer activities in the park, and it also offers winter options like cross-country skiing. While we primarily biked, hiked, and took a pontoon boat tour from a neighboring town, there are plenty of other things to do that you can view here on the park’s website.

MAKE THE MOST OF TWO DAYS IN kouchibouguac national park

Tip: Kouchibouguac is in a low-population/rural area. If you want to stay near the park, like we did, your best bet is going to be a rental through VRBO (view some options here) or AirBnb. If you want to stay in an area that is within driving distance but with restaurant options, the small riverfront city of Miramichi is about 40 miles north.

Day 1: With rain threatening to move in later in the day or the following, we started off biking the loop bike trail in Kouchibouguac National Park. We joined the bike loop at Kelly’s Beach and did a cut-over on a mountain bike trail for a bit (there is another non-mountain bike option, too), clocking in 13.23 miles in about two and a quarter hours. In the afternoon, we hiked the 1.2 mile Bog Hike, replete with a lookout tower, carnivorous plants, and lots of mosquitoes. After making ourselves presentable, we left land for the river where we took a 2-hour pontoon boat trip with Phoco Tours. After the boat trip, we enjoyed a late dinner along the river at Captain’s Resto and Lounge, a fine dining establishment very much off the beaten path, replete with a new chef who had come from Holland only three weeks before.

Day 2: After initially hunkering inside to stay out of a rainy morning, we finally headed out for some hiking late morning. We took a short boardwalk hike at Kelly’s Beach (0.65 miles) and attempted - and aborted - the Osprey Trail. The Osprey Trail was entirely waterlogged midway so we ended up hiking a bit under 2 miles in total there. The mosquitoes were intense after the morning rain, and we had to keep ourselves entirely bundled. As a fun surprise, our car battery was dead after this hike and some kind fellow hikers gave us a jump start. This is after Dustin jumped out of the car to flag them down with a lot of gusto (hey, it was a rural area with few people!), and we’re pretty sure they thought we were going to kill them. We drove to Miramichi for dinner at 1809 and then walked along the river park, called Waterford Green.

Rainy mornings are a great time to relax and have coffee and a croissant!

Day 1 in Kouchibouguac National Park: Kouchibouguac Bike Trail; Bog Hike; River Cruise

With dubious weather for this entire trip, we used any non-rainy moment to try to cram in as much as we could! We had pre-booked a river tour for the evening based on the recommendation of our rental house host but otherwise could spend the day however we wanted. While Kouchibouguac National Park isn’t immense, we knew the best way to see the most ground in the park would be by biking the loop trail and got our day started there.

bike loop trail at kouchibouguac national park

While not all national parks lend themselves to great biking options, Kouchibouguac National Park certainly does! Park maps clearly label a large loop trail around the park’s perimeter that is bike-friendly as well as a track that runs through the middle of the park that is meant for mountain biking. The mountain bike trail is 4-miles long and is one-way. There are a few cut-over bike trails for someone who doesn’t want to do the entire large loop.

Due to a slightly askew sign, we ended up cutting over for a segment of the mountain biking trail by mistake. It was single-tracked through a wooded area. In total, we biked 13.25 miles in about two hours twenty minutes, including stops for photos, etc. The bike loop trail is easy to access from several parking lots. We joined up at Kelly’s Beach and headed towards Callanders Beach. From there, we turned right before the Pines Trail on Petit-Large, caught the mountain bike trail accidentally, then cut over to La Source and followed along the River to Ryans and then back to Kelly’s Beach. We passed a number of bikers, joggers, and walkers along the way, but it was pretty sparsely populated. The mosquitoes, numerous in the area, left us mostly alone while we biked.

Vistas in Kouchibouguac National Park off the bike loop trail

We particularly enjoyed the pond about a third of the way through and stopped for some pretty pictures before continuing. The first part of the ride - probably 6-7 miles - was a lengthy slight incline, the kind that you don’t really notice except for the fact that you get tired faster than you think you should. By the end of this ride, we’d covered a significant portion of the trails in Kouchibouguac, which was fortuitous given the sub-par weather and hiking made less enjoyable by the mosquitoes.

Kelly’s Beach looked like a pretty spot for lunch so we headed to picnic table only to get drops of rain on our heads and swarms of mosquitoes, so we returned to and ate in the car, safe and sound!

Bog Trail hike at kouchibouguac national park

In an area already full of mosquitoes, we geared up in full mosquito-fighting regalia to attempt the short Bog Hike. We donned our hooded rain jackets, put our hands in our pockets, and hiked at a pace that may not have qualified us as fast-walking contenders in the Olympics but I’d like to think would have gotten an honorable mention.

The bog was entirely different than the other standard forest trails we’d been on. From atop the lookout tower, a short ways into the hike, we could view the wide expanse of the bog. This is supposed to be a spot good for moose sightings at the right time of day, but we were there early afternoon, which is decidedly not the right time of day.

The out-and-back trail was 1.2 miles in total length. The first part of the trail was quite muddy - though nothing compared to the mud we’d come across the following day! - but after that we were on the boardwalk, mud-free.

kouchibouguac river tour with phoca tours

We are predominantly independent travelers but do enjoy the occasional local tour activity to get access to spots we wouldn’t normally be able to see and to learn more about an area from locals. The host of our rental home recommended we check out Phoca Tours and booked their 3-hour Marine Wildlife Safari river tour on a pontoon boat, which runs from 5-8pm each evening in season, weather permitting.

We were able to book the tour in advance and found the owners to be responsive, friendly, and helpful via email. And the dock from which the tour leaves is very easy to find, right off a major road along the river. The weather behaved so we climbed aboard with about 6 other people.

Because New Brunswick is both French and English speaking, the tour guides are fluent in both plus speak Dutch and German. Our trip had both French and English speakers, and so the guide, Camilla, talked to us in both, serving as her own translator, which was really impressive. Camilla is a local Acadian and spent a 26-year career working at the Kouchibouguac National Park before retiring. She has a great wealth of knowledge of the area’s natural life and other fun stories that she was able to bring to life on our tour. The captain, Kores, was born and raised in Holland and after a career in the Navy and a post-military career that kept him connected to the sea, he and his wife relocated to New Brunswick in 2014.

We learned a lot of history of the area from Camilla and Kores. They discussed the recent changes that locals were concerned about, including trees that were starting to die and no one could figure out the cause. We learned about Acadian history as well as that of the native population, the Mi’kmaq.

The tour begins on the Kouchibouguac River and continues out towards the bay. On the typical excursion, you’ll see both water life, like Gray Seals, and bird life, like the spot that is the second largest Common Tern colony in North America.

Unfortunately on our tour something got tangled in the motor and after a number of attempts to rid ourselves of the object, we had to turn back. This is not a common occurrence; in fact, I believe they said this was the first time this happened in their four years of operating. We still were out about 2 hours of a typical 2.5-3 hour tour but had to turn around before the area where we would likely have seen wildlife. While this was disappointing of course, we appreciated the focus on safety and that they insisted on not accepting payment for the tour (though we all still tipped them for their time). We would absolutely recommend this tour to others and would gladly give it another go if we’re in the area again.

dinner at captain’s resto and lounge in saint-louis-de-kent, new brunswick

The captain of our boat tour and his wife, Liane, are owners of the L’Ancrage Bed and Breakfast across the street from the boat dock. Next to the B&B, they have also opened Captain’s Resto and Lounge, a fine dining establishment. Given that we anticipated returning from the river tour around 8pm, a late time for dinner in an area that has basically no restaurants, we were happy to make a reservation at this spot.

We were able to get a table on the patio, overlooking a small kitchen garden and the Kouchibouguac River beyond. As the evening went on, the mosquitoes definitely started to emerge but we were able to enjoy eating outside nevertheless.

Captain’s Resto and Lounge was just getting started when we visited. The chef had arrived three weeks prior from Holland. He, his wife (who was our server), and their kids found out about the opportunity through Facebook, got connected with the owner, also from Holland, and made the big move. To have moved to an entirely new country having the learn about the meats and produce available in the area and get working as a chef is no small feat! The restaurant was definitely understaffed as they were trying to figure out the right level of staffing to meet their customer size, and they were upfront in explaining that. We were in no rush and so enjoyed a lengthy meal with an appetizer, entrée, and dessert.

The food was utterly amazing and not at all what we expected to find in such a rural area. For our appetizer, we shared the red beet-goat cheese bites with salad and a lime dip. I’ve never seen beets like this, and they were really good. For our entrées, I had the pork tenderloin with rosemary sea salt potatoes, fresh vegetables, and salad, and Dustin had the black angus top sirloin steak with the same sides. We had to move inside for dessert because it started raining, but there were plenty of tables so it was no big deal. Dustin had an almost too pretty to eat Moulleux de chocolate with a cookie spoon (meaning it was shaped like a spoon but an edible cookie), and I had the strawberry bavarois with red fruit reduction, topped with some blueberries and cherries. Because the meal was so good, we nearly returned the following night but decided to try another option instead. This restaurant is currently closed for the winter so while it is absolutely worth a drive from surrounding areas, make sure it is open before attempting a visit.

Day 2 in Kouchibouguac National Park: Kelly’s Beach, Osprey Trail, and Miramichi

Our second and final day in Kouchibouguac National Park was fairly low-key. The morning was swallowed up by a steady rain so we stayed indoors and caught up on blogging while we waited for the skies to clear enough to venture out. In the late morning, we headed back into the park and hiked the boardwalk trail at Kelly’s Beach, a short hike at 0.65 miles total roundtrip that took us out over dunes and an estuary with a lot of shorebirds.

Next, we headed to the Osprey Trail, which is an out-and-back trail whose end section creates a short loop. When we got to that split in the trail, we originally took the route to the right. What was already a muddy, wet trail suddenly became fully flooded. So, we turned around and tried the other route. Nope, equally flooded. At this point, besieged by mosquitoes and flooded footpaths, our best choice was to head back to the car at the trailhead. All-in-all, we hiked about 1.78 miles by the time we got back.

What was an unpleasant surprise is that our car battery had died while we were hiking. I had twice before had the car battery die on me in our car when I really didn’t think it should, but Dustin was convinced I had the car on the ‘accessory’ mode. This time, we had both caught the car dying on us for through no apparent fault of our own. We had sat in the car eating lunch before the hike but hadn’t had it turned on. More on that in a minute.

We found ourselves in an isolated trail parking lot with ravenous mosquitoes outside and a dead car. Awesome. We were starting to talk about what to do next when a vehicle started driving by. Dustin jumped out and at their car, and while they were clearly freaked out, they also were kind enough to stop. We had our jumper cables on us, and they were able to give us a jump so that we could go on our merry way. Because we would need to drive a while to ensure the battery was recharged, we took a driving tour of the area. During that time, I googled weird dying battery issues with our car (Subaru Outback) and apparently the key fob sends out a signal if it’s near the ignition so just having the key in the ignition while the car was off was draining it. Since then, we make sure to take the key out and stow it further away!

After showering and finding a dead mosquito here or there in my hair, we headed north to the small town of Miramichi for dinner at the 1809 restaurant, along the water front. Before dinner, we walked along the river park, called Waterford Green, and wandered through the small downtown area. For dinner, we split an appetizer of bruschetta, Dustin had chicken alfredo, and I had salmon with rice and vegetables. We split a chocolate cake for dessert because vacation.

In the morning, we would be off to our next destination, further north and deeper into the Acadian peninsula.