Route 108 New Brunswick Canada

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Lynne

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Joined
Jun 18, 2012
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34
Location
Cape Coral, Florida
Hello, we are from Florida on approx 6700 mile trip which includes the Canadian Maritimes.  We will be at Kouchibouguac with our next stop Grand Falls.  The most direct route is route 108.  Wondering what this route is like?  We are traveling in a 40 ft motorhome towing a jeep.  As always we appreciate any feedback.  Thank you!
 
    We refer to that route as the Renous HWY, and it has been years since I have travelled on it.  Before they 4 laned the Trans canada, it was a shortcut to central Canada.  I assume that you are heading west, if so I would highly recommend that you tak HWY 11 to Campbellton, then either HWY 132 Ouest (french for west) via Amqui, or Est (East) via Perce and Gaspe.  Either are gorgeous drives.
    The Renous highway is basically a heavy truck route to bring pulp to the paper mills.  It is poorly maintained, with only 1 gas stop almost in the middle.  We broke down once in the middle and spent 2 days getting towed to the nearest town, and getting repaired. 
    An alternative would be HWY 8 to Fredericton where you can pick up the Trans Canada.  If you are going east, come down HWY 11 to Shediac, then 11/15 to the TCH, or 15 to PEI

Ed
 
Ed, thank you for your reply.  We will avoid 108, it doesn't sound like it will enhance our trip!  I am sorry I neglected to say we will be heading west to Quebec from KouchibouguacNP.  My mapping software shows Grand Falls as as a midpoint stop (via 108) so that was our plan.  I spoke with someone there at Falls and Gorge Campground, it sounded like a nice place!  However now I am thinking to cancel Grand Falls and take your recommendation route 11 to Campbelton then 132 /20 and follow it west along the St Lawrence to Quebec.  Any thoughts on this plan is appreciated! Lynne
 
    The upper Saint John river is very pretty, but it swings west at Grand Falls, so you don't get to see much of it from Grand Falls to Edmundston.  The most scenic drive is around the Gaspe Peninsula.  Perce Rock is a nice hike to see the birds, The drive along the coast is unlike anything you will find in Florida, or in fact anywhere on the US East Coast.  Mountains on one side, and the ocean on the other, and if you're lucky whales basking or eating just offshore.  However, because there is so much to see, you will need a few days to make it to Quebec City.
    Once you hit Riviere Du Loup, the drive will be along the St Lawrence, but it is farm country, St Jean Port Joli is a cute little town that has become a artist colony, so if you are into that, stop to look around.
    Enjoy your visit to Canada, where about in Florida do you call home.  As my signature line says, we winter in Pinellas Park.

Ed
 
Ed, thank you again!  We are going to rework our trip plan, see what we can squeeze in!  We are in Bay of Fundy NP now and plan to head over to Nova Scotia,  Halifax and Cape Bretton, PEI, then Kouchibouguac.  We will trek across Canada and re-enter the states in Michigans Upper Peninsula Our home is Cape Coral,  Florida,  however prior to moving there we lived in Pinellas County for 25 years!  It's a great place to spend winters!!  But crazy hot there now!  Thanks again for all your help and recommendations!
Lynne
 
    PM me when you set your dates for Halifax.  Unfortunately the next 3 weeks are heavily scheduled both here and in Ottawa keeping grandkids, but if we are around, we could get together for a coffee, or maybe a meal.

Ed
 
We just completed 5 weeks in Canada in the Maritimes. Our route:
Fundy NP
New Glasgow, PEI
Murray River, PEI
North Sydney, Cape Breton, NS
Halifax, NS
Fredericton, NB
Riviere du Loup, QE
Levis, QE
Montreal, QE
Kingston, ON

Then into the US via Alexandria Bay, NY

We live full time in Polk City, FL and are currently in the middle of a 5 month Grand Adventure. If you want any campground recommendations, please feel free to email us.

Have a great trip and safe travels!
 
Dream Chasers, thank you for sharing your itinerary.  We plan to visit many of the same places .  We are from Cape Coral Florida and are on about 6700 mile adventure over 4 months!  We plan to re enter the states at sault st Marie. We have all campsites reserved, 38 of them!  However we will be making some changes to avoid route 108 thru New Brunswick! 
 
We just used Route 108 to get to Kouchibouguac from the west on Highway 2.  It it truly a poor road but there weren't any mountainous segments or any particularly narrow sections.  According to Google Maps it was significantly shorter than the alternative routes.  We have a 40' MH and were towing a toad.  Did I enjoy it?  Of course not, but to have saved the time it was worth it IMO. And FWIW we did see one moose! 

As for Kouchibouguac, if you can take the canoe excursion to see the grey seals.  It's worth it!

Also, we drove from the Levis side of the Quebec City area to Kouchibouguac in one day.  We lost an hour due to the time zone change; you will gain an hour.  I can't imagine breaking that into a two-day trip. JMO
 
Sandi and Joel, thanks so much for this information!  We appreciate feedback on your recent experience with route and the canoe recommendation!  The moose sighting a bonus for you guys as we have been in search of this illusive creature!!  Thanks a bunch!
Lynne and Don
 
Sandy and Joel, regarding route 108 may I ask was it just one lane each way?  And was there much traffic?  Do you recall speed limits?  Any places to pull over?  Thanks again!
Lynne
 
I drove that way in a rental car on a business trip a long time ago...some time in the early 00's I think.  I had flown into Presque Isle and visiting a paper mill over in Miramachi.  My memory is too old and too faded to be of much use, but I remember the road surface was passable, it just wasn't flat.  Lots of Woop-Di-Doos.  Actually kinda fun to drive a car on it.
Not a whole lot of turn offs either as I recall, very little traffic, and as mentioned only the one pin prick of civilization.
As I recall it was only open for travel in the summer

Anyway, just based on my fuzzy memory, I'd probably do it even in the motorhome, since it saves so many miles.  It was kinda nice too in a way, to see the back country...and it's meant for log trucks so it can handle a large vehicle
 
    Lynn, don't worry about speed limits on the Renous HWY, it is so remote that the police don't patrol it.  ;) OTOH you don't want to meet a moose on the road at any time, let alone when you are out of cell range or if you are speeding, moose will do serious damage to your vehicle, and you are just as likely to see them along any road in NB or NS.

Ed
 
    So, you would save about 100 kms (60 miles)  doing HWY 108 versus Campbellton, Amqui, Mont Joli.  A choice between a logging road through dense clear cut forest versus a drive through the Matapedia Valley, along one of the best Salmon Fishing rivers in the world, then onto part of the Gaspe coast with all of it's beauty.
    If you are in a hurry, take the Renous HWY, but you will be missing a gorgeous ride.

Ed
 
I just wanted to clarify my question regarding speed limit was because if the road is not good we will want to take it slow and if there is traffic we don't like holding up others.
I appreciate everyone's feedback!
 
Lynne said:
Sandy and Joel, regarding route 108 may I ask was it just one lane each way?  And was there much traffic?  Do you recall speed limits?  Any places to pull over?  Thanks again!
Lynne
Click to expand...

Route 108 is definitely only one lane in each direction and there are many miles where the center line is virtually invisible.  But there is very little traffic; hardly any at all on the main "center" segment east of Plaster Rock that extends nearly to Miramichi. On the western end there are a few construction spots where the road goes to one lane alternating between directions, but those are short and are no worse than you encounter throughout the country.  As for the speed limit, most of it is 90 km/hr (54 mph) but there is so little traffic that you can pretty much go at your own pace.  I probably averaged 85 km/hr over most of it.

I've driven >65k miles in our MH.  I no longer get freaked out by bumpy narrow roads as long as I'm not on the edge of a cliff in the mountains.  Some people won't like route 108; I can't evaluate who they will be.  We were driving it on a rainy day and I had to pay attention to road conditions and the presence of moose.  I was tired by the time I finished, but I wasn't exhausted or "rattled" from the experience.  Other people may have other opinions about the trip.

Joel (AKA docj)
 
Hfx_Cdn said:
    So, you would save about 100 kms (60 miles)  doing HWY 108 versus Campbellton, Amqui, Mont Joli.  A choice between a logging road through dense clear cut forest versus a drive through the Matapedia Valley, along one of the best Salmon Fishing rivers in the world, then onto part of the Gaspe coast with all of it's beauty.
    If you are in a hurry, take the Renous HWY, but you will be missing a gorgeous ride.
Click to expand...

Had I known that that route would have had a much better road I might have taken it.  However, from where we started in Levi our journey to Kouchibouguac was going to take at least 6.5 hours using 108 and nearly  7.5 hours using your suggested alternative.  Given the loss of an hour due to time zone changes (we were going east). I was reluctant to opt for the longer path.  That's when not having personal experience with a route puts one at a disadvantage.  In retrosepct, it probably would have been better to break the trip into two days as the OP was thinking of doing.  My concern about doing that was that there was literally nowhere to stay on the 108 route but via Camblleton there are probably more options.

The bottom line was that we got to the park safely and were in our site before 5pm.  It wasn't the longest day we've ever spent driving in the MH, although we usually try to get off the road by 4pm after 6 hours of actual driving.
 
Joel. Thank you for your detailed description of the route!  You are right on in your comments regarding all of us are different as to our preferences in achieving this beyond wonderful way to travel.  At this point I am not sure what we will do, we have a little time to figure it out.  But at least we are informed thanks to all of you who responded to our question! 
 
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