{"id":3968,"date":"2026-09-16T19:22:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/?p=3968"},"modified":"2026-09-16T19:55:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:55:56","slug":"east-coast-2026-day-4-trailmaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/?p=3968","title":{"rendered":"East Coast 2026: Day 4, Trailmaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Not too long ago offspring #2 and I were at Costco. Our list included the big old bucket of M&M peanuts as there really is no better van life snack. Except for the part that it is amazingly easy to eat through 1.3 kg of M&Ms quickly whilst only grabbing 3 at a time. I digress. The M&Ms packaging had been replaced with a downgraded ziplock bag. Worse, the price was now $19.99 for the same amount. Sacrilege I say. But, in a moment of tremendous observational awareness, offspring #2 sees a few lonely containers of M&Ms in the old packaging marked down to $9.97. We got not one, not two, but three of those beauties. I did only bring one container on this van trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today started off a little late according to the clock. I seem to have a bifurcated sleep pattern these days. I hit one of the hiking trails with a goal to complete trail #10. On the first rooty uphill section I rolled my ankle. I then removed my progressive glasses and continued along. I strongly dislike those glasses for hiking. A few dozen metres later, and right behind our campsite, I made the wrong turn onto trail #7. Another opportunity to reinforce how bad I am at following trails. Trail 7 is fine but it\u2019s pretty much straight up. This was my morning walk, it\u2019s supposed to be easier. Eventually I connected with trail 10 again and walked back to the trailhead along a much more gradual slope. And far less rooty to boot (or to shoe). I got back to the van after about 30 minutes and had my usual breakfast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We had thought about going to Miguasha National Parc (a Quebec Parc, not a Canadian National Park) to explore the beach for fossils. But, Amy isn\u2019t allowed on the beach and it was a 40 minute drive. We abandoned that intent and decided to do a trail hike. The hike was going fine until Amy got a little tired so we decided to head back. I veered off to attend the comfort station whilst handing the keys to Mrs Milddogs so she and Amy could continue back to the van. A few wrong turns later, I found myself back at the van wondering how I passed the comfort station. Back I went. did I mention how terrible I am at navigating trails?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After a light lunch we headed out to a little park like thing Mrs Milddogs found on the satellite image apps. It was next to a few baseball diamonds but right on the water. We had planned a rest day with no travel. We properly rationalized that we can sit amongst trees anytime we want back home. Sitting next to a tidal bay is a special thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an interesting spot. A collection of garbage here and there, some graffiti on the buildings (the best one being \u201cpiss here\u201d with an arrow pointing to the base of the building). We had a fellow pull up behind us (we were at the end of the road) park, grab a bucket out of his truck and head off somewhere. We assume he was collecting something along the water\u2019s edge. Never saw him again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mrs Milddogs did slide \/ clamor her way down to water\u2019s edge to do some beach combing. But we didn\u2019t need a used tire so she slipped and climbed her way back up the embankment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another couple showed up in a uHaul and parked near a minivan that was up the road a bit. We assumed it was some nefarious activity but it turns out their minivan was broken and they drove the uHaul there to meet the tow truck. Later, we saw them in the Canadian Tire parking lot. After a lovely time at water\u2019s edge we headed back to fuel up the van and to do some provisioning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back at our campsite we pulled out the grill to cook some salmon and scallops. We all enjoyed our favourite parts. Amy loves salmon! Our red squirrel friends did complain about not getting their share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Much cleanup later, Amy and I escorted Mrs Milddogs to the showers. Normally Mrs Milddogs prefers the shower in the van, but our tanks that need to be empty are almost full and the one that needs to be full is almost empty. Amy would not leave the front of the building without her mom. I ended up carrying her back about half way, but every time I put her down she would not budge. I gave up, we walked back to the comfort station and waited for Mrs Milddogs. Then we all walked back together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that was today. We have no clue where we are going tomorrow (seriously) but it will be somewhere along the New Brunswick coast. The journey will begin with a stop at the dump station. According to my analytics, you dear readers can\u2019t wait to see if this is the time I get covered if faeces. I hope not dear readers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I figured it out! Pulp and paper mills smell like fireworks (after they have exploded). Took me a bit, but that\u2019s the smell. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not too long ago offspring #2 and I were at Costco. Our list included the big old bucket of M&M peanuts as there really is no better van life snack. Except for the part that it is amazingly easy to eat through 1.3 kg of M&Ms quickly whilst only grabbing 3 at a time. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32,44,13],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-3968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-32","category-ec2026","category-vanlife","tag-vanlife"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Eskg-120","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/milddogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/img_9963.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3968"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3971,"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968\/revisions\/3971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milddogs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}