Mount Carleton Provincial Park

Mount Carleton Provincial Park is a wilderness area in north-central New Brunswick covering 174 square kilometers and containing the highest mountain peak in the Maritime provinces. The park includes four large freshwater lakes and is crossed by eleven marked hiking trails that lead to different summits and lakeshores.

Archaeological finds along Nictau Lake show that First Nations communities inhabited this region thousands of years before the park was established in 1970. These early settlements reveal that the landscape served as an important living area for indigenous peoples for a very long time.

The Nepisiguit Mi'gmaq Trail crosses through the park, following ancient routes between the Nepisiguit and Saint John River watersheds that indigenous communities once used. Visitors walking these paths today follow the same corridors that connected different regions for centuries.

The park has three camping areas, several heritage cabins, and hiking trails of varying difficulty levels. Visitors should check weather and trail conditions before arriving, as this is mountainous wilderness with no infrastructure between locations.

The park received Dark Sky Preserve status in 2009, allowing stargazing under some of Canada's darkest night skies. On clear nights, visitors can see the Milky Way and other sky phenomena that are hidden by light pollution almost everywhere else.