RoadNotes: Finally Fundy

Fundy National Park, NB - August 6 to 10, 2012 Our Current Location

Monday morning in Moncton, NB. No sense in rushing as check-in at the Fundy National Park isn't until 2pm. It's only a little over 50 miles away, but we're learning that means it'll be a 2 hour drive because of the roads.

It's close to low tide on the Petitcodiac River when we leave Moncton. The route we are taking to Fundy follows this river almost to the Bay of Fundy. We marvel at how deep and empty the riverbed is and will be until the tide begins to return.

We're really excited about this part of the trip as it is the major destination for this summer's adventure. We're looking forward to seeing the forty foot tides and being able to "walk on the ocean floor" as the travel brochures say and check another one off the Bucket List.

Reservations have already been made at the Chignecto campground for about $34 a night (electric & water at the site). The big surprise comes at the entry to the park. We knew there would be an entry fee, but what we thought was the fee for the week is actually the fee per person per day of our stay. That adds $18 per day on top of the camping fee. Or we can buy an annual pass that give us access to all the National Parks and sites in Canada for $140 for a year. We're not yet seniors by Canadian standards, but we plead our case and they sell us an annual pass for ONLY $115. We hope we will get to use the pass at several places in Nova Scotia next. And it's good until next August in case we decide to head back to Alaska.

This is just one of the many things that point out how good we have it in the US. The USA senior National Park access pass is just a one time charge of $10 plus you can camp for 50% off. Everything is cheaper in the US by at least 50% often even more. Income tax runs about 42%, sales tax in NB is 13% and in NS is 15%. Yep, we're missing the good ole USA. Canada is a nice place to visit, just don’t know how folks can afford to live here.

The park is beautiful as you would expect. There's a little something for everyone. It has a salt water swimming pool that's solar heated, a golf course, a magnificent flower garden, marshes, hiking and biking trails and acres and acres of forest. Surprisingly there are not all that many places to actually get to the Bay.

After getting Big Guy parked and set up, we decide to go see the Bay. Point Wolfe is where you descend wooden stairs to the rock beach (at low tide). We test the water and conclude that it is in fact colder than Silver Glen Springs, which means it is much too cold for us to go for a swim. However one young couple braved the waves and the cold and took the plunge. Braver than we are. The beach is made up entirely of rocks from basketball size down to pebbles. It was fun, but all those steps back to the top are waiting.

We drove around the park to a few other vistas, but were ready to head back to BG for the evening. It is supposed to cool off so we hope to be able to sit outside and enjoy our site.

Tuesday, it's time for a hike. Consulting the park guide, the Coppermine Trail looks interesting. We pack water and snacks and head back to Point Wolfe where the trail begins. The trail is described as moderate which Frank says will be no problem because moderate trails in his experience are easy.

This trail just about kicked our butts. It had long uphills, deep ravines, muddy sections, streams to cross and steep downhills with an occasional walk on a soft forest floor thrown in to tease us and of course a waterfall for EJ.

We've read a lot about the Hopewell Rocks so on Wednesday we drive about 35 miles to see them. Low tide is at 11:31am and when we arrive there is a huge parking lot which is almost filled. We find a spot on the last row, furthest from the entrance and prepare to spend the day. Exploring the exposed surface at low tide is called "Walking on the Floor of the Ocean". It's quite dramatic as the low tide exposes up to 1km of the bay bottom.

There are people everywhere and it is hard to get a picture without bodies. It is awesome to walk around and see the rocks.

The floor is surprisingly hard packed and easy to walk on. Lots of rocks, but there are areas that get really muddy. Several folks tried it and looked pretty messy.

They have signs with the time that you must be off of the beach because of the rising tide. We were able to watch as it started coming in. It definitely comes in fast. They did have a raised emergency platform in case you got caught.

We stuck around to view the high tide (which is six hours later) to see how much of the big rocks are covered up before we head back to Fundy NP. The tides are much higher/lower a few days after a full moon, but it was still pretty amazing seeing the difference. On the set of stairs we went down at low tide there were four landings. At high tide there were only two.

On our way back, a sign for Cape Enrage entices us to detour and see what's there. As we arrive at the Cape we run into a wall of fog that completely obscures any thing there is to see. It's a pity because the Canadian Coast Guard has a station there which would have been neat to see. We turn around and race the fog back to Alma.

Thursday is chore day so there's nothing to report. "Why are you spending a day in a beautiful place like this doing work?" you ask. Well, it was an emergency. We ran out of clean underwear. Plus we did get in some relaxing time at our site.

Friday is our last full day at Fundy National Park. In the morning we wrap up the last of our chores and tentatively plan an afternoon hike after we go into Alma for lunch. This a little town just outside the entrance to the park. It used to be a major lumber port, but now the only industry is tourism, lobstering and scallop harvesting. There is a big motorcycle rally in Moncton, and a bunch of them came to Alma for lunch. We manage to slip into our chosen restaurant just ahead of a large group of bikers and order scallops and beer. We can see the fog forming over the bay, and the tide is low, but we both forgot our cameras.

Having satisfied our appetites, we go back to Big Guy to prepare for the hike, but end up taking naps instead. We wake up in time for high tide and race back into town (with cameras this time) to snap a few more pictures. The low tide picture was taken a few days ago. They go through this cycle every 6 + hours, pretty amazing to see boats in the mud then floating.