(Koo’-shi-boo-gwak’) Say it fast, no, really fast. Meaning “River of the Long Tides”, it took us a week of trying to tell others where we were going next to get it right. Not only is it fun to say, but upon arrival we decided right away we were going to stay the night. Family-friendly bike paths form an active transportation network across the park. You can travel between all the parks activities by bicycle without riding on any roads and bike racks are found everywhere. The campground is beautiful and so is the long sandy beach. Those weren’t the main reason for our visit, though.
About four or five years ago the park was having serious problems with the Major Kollock trail. There was deep mud everywhere and the tread was widening terribly. Mountain bikes were using the trail quite heavily even though it was designated for hiking only. IMBA was contacted to help with a solution and the park decided to perform an experiment. They invited the other maritime national parks and everyone in the community to see what they were up to. After a trail building school it took
about two more years to revamp the trail from end to end. We were there simply to do a checkup and we’re pleased to say that everything looks fantastic.
Camilla Vautour with product development is now looking at improving the mountain bike offer in the park even further. She says that neighboring Fundy National Park has many kilometres of hiking trails, waterfalls, high tides and other things that Kouchibouguac is too small and too flat to provide. That’s why she wants the park to specialize in something different, not to compete, but to compliment the national parks experience in New Brunswick. We say, “Bravo!”