Little Lepreau River No. 1.5

After an appointment at the museum in Saint John this morning, we carried on to seek out the Little Lepreau covered bridge.  We discovered that this area along the Bay of Fundy coast is gorgeous - none of the four people on the outing had ever been around these particular roads, so it was a lovely surprise.  The bridge itself was easy to find; it's almost immediately to your right after crossing the Basin Rd. intersection on Little Lepreau Rd.  This is another bridge that could use some TLC with replacement of missing boards and generally keeping the surrounding flora under control.  In days gone by, there was a local person put in charge of general maintenance of the bridges, clearing the snow, etc.  It would be nice if someone could be recruited for each of the out of the way bridges to watch over them and perform small maintenance jobs as required, instead of waiting for the DOT to get around to them all.

After you visit the bridge, it is highly recommended that you drive the coastal roads to places like Maces Bay and Dipper Harbour.  There are some wonderful views of the bay and fishing villages.  You also have to go right by the entrance to the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant along the way, and we stopped at the visitors' gate to see if it was possible to go in for a tour, but were told that they haven't been doing public tours since 2011.  So, that little idea was squashed.  The power plant itself is hidden from view behind the surrounding forest.

On the other side of the road from the bridge, the river empties into the Little Lepreau Basin.

Kennebecasis River No.23 (Malone)

The Kennebecasis #23 is the closest to the source of the Kennebecasis River in the foothills of Albert County.  This is another out-of-the-way bridge that requires attention to directions and a vehicle that can negotiate some rough spots on the old logging roads in and out.  Travelling in from the west off the 114, the Goshen Road is the worst part of it.  We came in from the east on the 895 to the Upper Goshen Road, which was in much better shape, and continued through to the 114 and from there down to Fundy Park.  If we didn't have an SUV, it would have been dodgy in places past the bridge, as it was deeply rutted from previous rains.  

The barn on the land beside the bridge has a sign proudly proclaiming the Malone name and year of establishment of the homestead.  It is obviously from this family that the bridge got its name.

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July 4, 2016

A return trip after three or four years.  The roads aren't any better and the bridge seems to be in the process of being consumed by the wilds around it.