Jul 8, 2025 – Three More on the Parks Canada List

Here’s a fun fact – Parks Canada was established in 1911, the world’s first national park service.  So far, Vivian and I have been to 8 Canadian national parks (including Newfoundland’s Gros Morne) . We love Parks Canada. So, when I did my research this year’s travels through New Brunswick and Quebec, I was excited to learn about three additional national parks that we could visit.

Kouchibouguac (that’s coo-she-boo-guac, guac as in guacamole) National Park is one of two in New Brunswick. We visited Fundy Bay last year when I didn’t realize Kouchibouguac existed. The park is located on the Gulf of St Lawrence, across the Northumberland Strait from Prince Edward Island.

It does not offer dramatic landscapes where gravity-assisted water carves through forested rocks or high vertical cliffs line the coast. Instead, it offers sandy beaches, estuaries, salt marshes and bogs. A gentle and serene flatland.

So, Vivian and I relaxed and took respite from the road, enjoying a full serviced campsite for a few days at this lovely park.

Next, we come to Forillon (for- ee- own) National Park, on the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. There is a lot more to Gaspé Peninsula, so I will save that for our next blog. Nevertheless, Forillon stands out among other national parks in Canada, although it does share an important feature with Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park –  the Appalachian Mountains.

Certainly not flatland, Forillon offers more vertically inclined hiking trails and coastal cliffs. We chose to stay at its campground next to the water where rocks, not sand characterize the beach.

With some steep inclines, we had strenuous hikes in the park, but took casual walks along its coastline near our campground. It is a beautiful park.

Last and before we leave Quebec, is La Mauricie National Park, northeast of Montreal and west of Quebec City. This park is located on the southern margins of the Canadian Shield within the Laurentian Mountains. It is a land of rolling hills and numerous lakes and streams. A scenic highway through the park is a cyclist’s dream with shoulder space to ride and lots of inclines and curves.

As for the lakes and streams, there are enough of them that a canoeist can spend days paddling and portaging through the park.  It is a water playground.

We applaud Canada for it national parks, it does a great job maintaining them and giving visitors a full experience with extra amenities thrown in. We find the park campgrounds to be exceptional and have since used Parks Canada as a standard to judge the cleanliness of a bathroom – is it Canada clean or not? But to be sure, we love our National Park Service as well and take great pride in our U.S. parks.

We stayed three nights in each of these parks and for us without bicycles or kayak/canoes, 2 nights would have been sufficient for our experience of each park. No regrets, we are happy to have been to three more Canadian national parks – each one a gem in it own right. 

Check out our previous blogs on the Canadian parks we have camped in so far:

Banff

Jasper

Fundy

Prince Edward Island

Cape Breton