Length of stay: 3 days
Visited: August 2026

The summer always flies by way too quickly. In an effort to savour it and create more family memories, we planned a three week road trip around the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec and along the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. And since it’s along the way, we figured we might as well spend the first couple of days of our trip at the cabin.

Day 1: Start of our Road Trip

We set off Friday morning before the Civic Holiday long weekend in the hopes of beating traffic. While we had good intentions of leaving bright and early in the morning, by the time we finished cleaning up around the house, taking care of last minute things with the garden, doing some meal prep and packing the car it was close to lunch time.

After checking Google Maps, for what should have been a 3.5 hour drive, it looked like it was going to take significantly longer. So we decided to fork over some money and take the toll highway for part of the way, which would shave off nearly an hour thanks to heavy traffic. But even then some areas along the drive were still heavily congested as it seemed everyone was on their way to cottage country, camping or wherever for the August long weekend.

By the time we got to the top of the road leading into the cabin it was around 3:30pm. K’s parents decided to come up to the cabin for the weekend as well and met us on our walk in to help carry some of our stuff. We were thankful as it was hot and muggy outside (28°C and felt like 30°C something with the humidity).

We unpacked, settled in and ate a snack. We didn’t do much for the rest of the day as we were all exhausted from the long drive and all the prep work leading up to our road trip. Plus it was nice to just hang out and chit chat.

Unfortunately our evening wasn’t as relaxing as the neighbors across the lake were throwing a party. The music started shortly after dinner and progressively got louder. And at around 12am they had some sort of live concert until 2am. The noise combined with the heat meant no one slept well that night.

Day 2: Day Trip to Bon Echo

I’m an early riser. But as it turns out, my father-in-law is an even earlier riser than I am. And he’s not exactly nimble or quiet. But, it worked out well because I was hoping to get an early start to the day as we planned to return to Bon Echo Provincial Park. It was overcast and muggy when we woke up and there was a chance of rain later in the day with more on the way on Sunday.

After eating breakfast, we packed a day pack and said our goodbyes. We’d be here for another night, but K’s parents planned to drive home later in the morning. From the cabin it’s less than a 15 minute drive to get to Bon Echo. We headed straight for the lagoon where the canoe and kayak rentals are located. They are handed out on a first-come, first-served basis. When we visited last month there was an issue with the payment system and we were unable to rent a canoe. So this time we were hoping for better luck. There was already a line when we arrived, but we were optimistic.

It took about 30 minutes of waiting but we finally secured a canoe for half the day (4 hours) which would be more than enough time to hike the Cliff Top Trail and paddle around the base of the cliffs. We started with the Cliff Top Trail (1.5km round trip, rated moderate) which is only accessible by water. It’s located across the lake from the lagoon, which is about a 5 minute paddle. Near the trailhead there’s a medium-sized dock to tie up your canoe or kayak. Alternatively the park also operates a shuttle boat to the trailhead, but half the adventure is getting there.

There were quite a few canoes already tied up, but there was still plenty of space for more. We left our life jackets behind and grabbed our day pack to set off on our hike. The trail leads 100 metres up the cliffs and features a series of lookouts above Mazinaw Lake. While it’s predominately uphill, there’s a few staircases to help navigate the steepest sections.

The views from some of the overlooks have now been obstructed from the growth of the forest. But there’s still a couple of viewpoints that made it all worthwhile, especially the one at the end. It’s an out-and-back trail, so once we made it to the final viewing platform, we turned around and retraced our steps back to the dock. Our little M managed to hike most of the trail on her own, including all the stairs. She needed a bit of help with some of the rocky sections, but overall did really well.

By the time we finished there were way more canoes at the dock and it was actually a bit tricky trying to get back into our canoe. But we managed without falling in (unlike someone else we saw earlier, yikes). We then paddled along the base of Mazinaw Cliff where there are reputed to be more than 260 painted images or pictographs.

The term Mazinaw comes from an Algonquin word that means picture, writing or painted rock. The ones along the base of the cliff are estimated to be from 300 to 1,000 years ago. While we managed to spot some of the red markings near the waterline, they were quite weathered and faint.

Once we returned to shore we ate a snack back at the car. While we would have loved to go to the beach for a swim, M needed a nap. So we headed back to the cabin to have lunch. And we all ended up taking a nap.

Given that the forecast was calling for rain tomorrow, we packed up some stuff to bring back to the car and did a bit of rearranging. We then lounged around for the rest of the afternoon. Dinner consisted of leftovers from the night before. While the people across the lake were still there, we were hoping the threat of rain would deter them from being too loud and staying up super late.

Day 3: Leaving in the Rain

It rained overnight which made everything feel more damp and humid the next morning. While the people across the lake still played some music in the evening, they were thankfully much quieter. And there were no live concerts past midnight. Perhaps some of the other nearby neighbours complained.

The forecast was calling for 25 to 30mm of rain, most of which was expected in the afternoon and evening. But we didn’t want to risk it by lingering long at the cabin. Plus we had about a six hour drive to get to La Mauricie National Park. We woke up early. There wasn’t much to pack up besides our sleeping bags, pillows and M’s stuffies. I made a trip to the car to take back some of our things and to retrieve breakfast from the cooler.

And then in started to rain. By the time we made breakfast and cleaned up, the rain had let up so we made a run for the car. It wasn’t a bad day to have a long drive.

L