Trout Point Lodge of Nova Scotiaa boutique hotel in the Canadian wilderness
|
Trout Point Lodge of Nova Scotia a boutique hotel in the Canadian wilderness |
|
|
relax in the wood-fired hot tub, and, yes, wait for lunch to be served."
Darlene King, Harrowsmith Country Life
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
check the weather in East Kemptville
From the
pristine Acadian Forest, Trout Point offers serenity & comfort without pretension, yet lies close enough to
various coastal areas and beaches to fill
days with glorious exploration. Stillness and the enjoyment of nature are the essence of the Trout Point Lodge guest experience. The Great Lodge and
surrounding grounds offer plenty of space to sit, converse with others, listen to the rushing water, curl up with a book, or simply take in the beauty of
nature. After parking your car upon arrival, you will find no other motorized vehicles on land or water at Trout Point or in the adjoining Tobeatic
Wilderness Area, which is Atlantic Canada's largest protected area at over 104,000 hectares!
Each day will be as active or still as you desire. Hear the Tusket River rapids from your room
as you recline in hand-made Acadian log & twig furniture. Outdoor recreation beckons, including
river & lake swimming, canoeing, kayaking, mountain bikes, & catch-and-release fishing.
Hike the woodland trails of our 100 acre estate & the adjoining protected area, which has rugged,
wilderness-standard trails for either guided hikes or venturing on your own. At the convergence of the Tusket & Napier Rivers, the
Lodge borders the last pristine
nature area in Nova Scotia. You may see black bear, turtles, flying squirels, grouse, deer, beaver,
owls, loons, eagles, and if you're in luck, moose (5 sightings in the 2012 season). Relax, stroll a
nature path, soak in the riverside cedar hot tub, enjoy the adjacent sauna, or simply read a book on the porch.
Take a combination Jeep Rubicon/Mountain Bike safari into the heart of the Tobeatic Wilderness Area. Drive from
Trout Point ("A") along the border of the Tobeatic to the old Indian Fields airstrip, to the northwest of
Clamshell Lake, and from there inland ("B"). Learn about the dramatic landscape left by the last Ice Age, see rare plants,
lichens, upland bogs, creeks, and the chance for sightings of moose, bald eagles, and black bear.
Wilderness Paradise: The Tobeatic
Spanning parts of 5 counties, the Tobeatic Wilderness Area remains the largest wild area in the Maritimes. Unique barren and semi-barren landscapes with outstanding undisturbed glacial landforms characterize the area, including esker fields, moraines, kettles and outwash plains. It protects remote and undisturbed wildlife habitat, protects expansive wetlands, pockets of old-growth pine and hemlock forest, and the headwaters of 9 major river systems flowing to both the Atlantic and Fundy coasts.
Taken together with the neighboring Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site the Tobeatic Wilderness Area forms the central core of an expansive protected landscape within interior southwestern Nova Scotia. The Tobeatic Wilderness Area contributes significantly biodiversity protection in Nova Scotia. An historic refuge for wildlife, today the Tobeatic Wilderness Area protects native biodiversity, with undisturbed wildlife habitat for many species, including a small but provincially significant remnant native Nova Scotia moose population, healthy and abundant black bear, and a re-introduced population of American marten.
"Trout Point Lodge is a place to nestle."
Millie Ball, travel editor, New Orleans Times-Picayune
"Into the Tobeatic" Guide
Tobeatic Map
The Tobeatic is a storied region of the province known best for its moose herd, trout streams,
and rugged canoe routes through rocky lakes and wild rivers. These routes, first traveled by Mi'kmaq, supported a world-class "sportman's"
guiding tradition through the late 19th and early 20th century.
A Brief History of the Tobeatic by Andy Smith
In the late 1930s, Chief Sanctuary Warden, Chester Gray of Kemptville, Yarmouth Co., led Burton Spiller, a writer for the American magazine Field & Stream, on a 10-day fishing trip into the newly created Tobeatic Game Sanctuary. In his account of the trip, Spiller described portaging his canoe in the area of Siskech Lake:
"I was struggling along . . . when I suddenly heard a great organ playing. The sound came from somewhere before me and I went on eagerly, for organ music has a strange power to stir my soul. Presently I found myself in a great cathedral. Towering hemlock trunks rose all around me, stretching upward of fifty - sixty - seventy feet to where the lofty and interwoven branches barred the sunlight. Among these branches the winds stirred, and the effect was one of celestial music. Soft, resonant, deep, it sang of a time when God walked in the cool of the forest. Then as the wind played upon muted pipes, the chorus rose, full, swelling, triumphant, a mighty diapason of sound that held me breathless." [Burton L. Spiller, Fishin' Around, New York: Winchester Press, 1974, p. 53.]
What Spiller described was a remnant of what the Mi'kmaq called "Tupsie'katik," or "place of the alder, known today as "the Tobeatic."
Canoe, Kayak, Fish, Bike, & Hike the Tusket & Napier Rivers
Daily canoe and kayak outfitting and guided tours with one of our on-staff naturalists can be arranged. Just ask.
The
Tusket River system is the most significant watershed in the area, flowing through boreal, Acadian forest, eskers, multitudinous lakes, barrens, & bogs. The area forms a veritable playground for paddling and swimming, celebrated in books like The Tent Dwellers and Paddling the Tobeatic. 
Trout Point is an ecologically minded guest lodge where our guests can enjoy this incredible ecosystem without disturbing it. Relax in an outdoor wood-fired hot tub or cedar barrel sauna as the Tusket River rushes near by. Forage for wild mushrooms and then cook them up in our teaching kitchen. Or take a leisurely nature walk, a strenuous hike, canoe towards the Atlantic ocean, or perch on a granite boulder to read a book.
"Then away to the heart of the deep unknown, where the trout and the wild moose are. Where the fire burns bright, and the tents gleam white, under the northern star" (Albert Bigelow Paine, The Tent Dwellers, 1908). I had long dreamed of staying in a log cabin in the backwoods of North America, Jack London-style, idling my days away flicking out a fly in search of brook trout. The Tusket River lies in the Tobeatic wilderness: deep, deep forest and home to black bear as well as moose. Take a guide - you do not want to get lost here. Accommodation is modelled on the great hunting lodges of the turn of the century - huge spruce logs and chiselled granite. Andy Pietrasik, travel editor of the London Guardian
At Left: The Southern Nova Scotia Biosphere Reserve
Trout Point offers guests the following activities and services:
Guided hiking and kayak trips
Night time outings with the staff astronomer for star gazing
Escorted fishing excursions
On-site catch-and-release fishing
Canoes and kayaks
Mountain bikes for short journeys on nearby country roads
In-room Massage, Hot Tub, Sauna
Nature trails and hiking trails in the Tobeatic Wilderness
Lake & river swimming, including a defined Tusket River lap "pool" and floating dock
Tobeatic Wilderness Safari excursions on Indian Fields Road by Jeep Rubicon and Mountain Bikes
