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.

The fog has crept into town and there is a blanket of white contrasting with the sky and the distant hills.

Saturday we will leave Fundy Park and will have to go through Moncton once more to connect with the highway that will take us to Nova Scotia.

Lobster Capital

Dieppe, New Brunswick – August 4 & 5, 2012 Our Current Location

On our way to Shediac we want to check out a couple of campgrounds thinking we might spend one more night here.  The temperatures are warming up and we would like to be able to plug in and not have to run the generator.  The first campground we find has a confusing entrance so we park Big Guy on the side of the main road and walk to the office to ask if they have any availability.  They do, and the price is so-so but we just don't like the place. Camping where your slides and awnings almost touch your neighbors is not our idea of what the camping experience is all about.

So we drive on into Shediac and find a parking lot with enough room for Big Guy and park for the day. We do the touristy stuff and walk around town being tantalized by all the restaurants advertising lobster rolls . Our stroll takes us to the largest lobster statue we've ever seen. And once again it is claimed to be the World’s Largest . . . Lobster! Of course kids are crawling all over it while EJ waits patiently for an opening to take a picture.  She is much more patient than I am.

As we headed back to the RV we passed the restaurants again and by now we were quite famished.  But we couldn't find any place that we really wanted to go.  Not that there was anything wrong with the restaurants.  EJ nailed it when she said she was disappointed in the town because it wasn't on the waterfront.  Her perfect restaurant would have her sitting on a deck, with a cool breeze blowing through her hair, looking out over the water.

There was one area we hadn't explored that looked like it had promise.  But we would have to drive there as it was too far and too hot to walk. So we unhooked Ele’, turned on the AC and off we went.

Boy are we glad we made the effort.  This was exactly what we were looking for.  There was a marina, shops and restaurants overlooking the Northumberland Strait.  There were lots of neat cars to look at, boats were entering and leaving the harbor and lots of folks to entertain us.

We chose Captain Dan's as the place to eat as it seemed to be reasonably popular (always a good sign), it had a second floor deck with umbrellas for every table and a great view of the water.  Of course we ordered the lobster roll plate and cold beer. It was well worth the wait. Oh, and it had a cool breeze.  It met all our criteria and we were once again, Happy Campers.

Sardine style camping seems to be the norm in this area so we opt to drive back to Moncton and camp at one of the Walmarts there. These pictures don’t really do this justice, but you get the idea.

Wow!  It's Sunday already and we need to still explore Moncton.  We go off in search of the visitors center to get information about the area and learn where the older town area is as well as the bore tide.  The tides are pretty extreme here and the incoming tide actually, momentarily overcomes the Petitcodiac River causing an incoming wave. That is until the town built a causeway across the river.  The incoming wave used to be 8 to 10 feet high and something to see, now it's less than a foot, often only a mere ripple in the river.  It is now referred to as the boring tide. They call the waterway the Chocolate River because of all of the mud and silt, another side effect of the causeway.

We stop at a local McDonald’s to check e-mail and guess what we find on the menu??

We drive through the older part of town, nothing much going on there, before heading out to Magnetic Hill. Magnetic Hill is for tourists and kids as there are plenty of trinket shops, a zoo and a great water park.  There is also a road you can pay to drive your car on that gives you the illusion you're being pulled uphill when you are actually going downhill. Instead, we decide to invest our money in the Magnetic Hill Winery as we've already experienced the uphill/downhill effect in the Colorado mountains.

The winery, which is situated high up on the hill, overlooks the Magnetic Hill attractions and downtown Moncton.  Luckily, as we arrive a large tour bus is pulling out.  For a few moments we have the place all to ourselves.  We sample five wines and chose one that is made from local raspberries and rhubarb. They open the bottle for us and we sit on their patio with the view and the cool breezes.  Slowly, in pairs and small groups, the patio area fills up.

We met a nice young couple from St. Johns, NB and talked to them about living in Canada and how they like visiting the US because it is so cheap.  Alas, finally the wine bottle is empty and it's time to get back to feed the cats and fix supper for us.

It’s off to Fundy National Park tomorrow.

Getting Closer To Fundy

Cap-Pele’, NB – Aug 2 & 3, 2012 Our Current Location

Woke up full of vim and vigor, ready to go. EJ has plotted our route and we are off to find the Appalachian Trail, the French fry capital of the world and the worlds longest covered bridge.

Frank is interested in seeing the Canadian version of the AT. At Perth-Andover, NB we stop at the visitor center to ask directions to the trail. They try to give us directions to the Appalachian Route which is for cars. I explain I'm interested in the hiking trail and I get a blank look. Finally one of them says they think it goes through the town, but they don't have a clue as to where we should look for it. They have WiFi so EJ and I get on the Internet and find an IAT trail map and see where it runs through town. We hop back in Big Guy and take off in search of the trail.

We take a run into town and no luck. According to the trail map we've crossed over it several times, but find no sign of it. We turn around to come back and spot a paved path that may be what we're looking for. We walk on the path for a ways, but there are no markers of any kind indicating that it's part of the International Appalachian Trail.

We turn around to walk back to the RV and we pass a big sign that has some local trail information on it. In the upper right hand corner EJ spots the coveted letters, IAT. We found it! There must be a really good trail map available, because we never saw the first blaze marking the trail.

 

Now it's off to Florenceville, NB to find the French fry capital of the world. At the Potato Museum, we learn all about how potatoes are grown, how they really originated in Chile and Peru, and how the Irish Potato Famine brought the potato industry to New Brunswick. Now we know what all of the acres and acres of crops are that we have been seeing. And of course we have to try an order of fries, which is why we really came here, right?

Can’t pass up a chance to see the world’s longest covered bridge now can we? Off to Heartland, NB we go. No way BG is going to make it through the bridge, so we park at the top of the hill and head down.

We couldn’t really get a good full view from where we were, so we decided to walk across to the other side. Better views, but just as we head back, a bus load of Japanese tourists disembark and head for the bridge. And of course they all had to stop for pictures.  We finally got back across and up to BG to continue our journey.

Having missed the musical event of the 60's, EJ and I decided we really must go to Woodstock (NB that is). Since we were just looking for an over night stop we pulled into the closest Walmart. We were the only RV there which made us a little nervous, thinking maybe this particular Walmart doesn't allow overnight parking. We didn’t see any signs so we found a spot and settled in. Eventually 5 or 6 more RVs show up and our level of concern goes way down. It turned out to be a beautiful evening with an amazing full moon gracing the sky. What a great ending to the day.

Our thinking was that if we got closer to the coast, the temperature might be cooler because of the Atlantic waters. So on Friday we decided to get closer to Shediac, NB which is on the Northumberland Straight.

It was a long road day and when we got to Moncton, NB we took an exit to check out a Casino we saw advertised to see if they had an RV park. No overnight parking allowed, so we got back on the road.

We ended up going further than we wanted, but found a nice place to boondock in Cap-Pele’, NB overlooking a working marina on the straight. The marina is home to a fleet of lobster boats. Our luck, lobster season closed on Aug 1, so the traps and boats were sitting idle.

The wind is blowing out from land, so we don't feel the cooling effect of the water, but it's still nice enough to sit outside and enjoy the evening. Some time during the night, the wind shifts and begins blowing in from the water and the temperature drops nicely. We end up under all the covers before morning arrives.

On Saturday morning, we walk around the marina and check out the coast line and lobster boats before heading to Shediac for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

New Brunswick, Yay

Saint Leonard, NB – July 31 & Aug 1, 2012 Our Current Location

The tar like resistance of inertia has engulfed our tires again.  We are still in Riviere du Loup, Quebec which, although a small town, has a number of interesting attractions. It was going to take another day to discover some more of them.

We re-visited the Parc de Chutes, only this time we went to the lower portion of the park where Frank checked out the small hydro-electric plant.

 

While EJ viewed the falls from another angle. Then we discovered a series of trails.  One of them called out to us so we followed it as it wandered through the woods and up hills where it eventually deposited us onto the dam.

We also found this interesting structure at the park. How does someone come up with an idea like this? It was pretty neat.

Later in the day we returned to sunset park just in time to see the ferry leaving to cross the St. Lawrence River.  We walked on the wharf by the marina and could see all the boats sitting in the mud. There were also trails in the mud left by some of the boats that were really risking low tide getting back to their berths.

Back to Camp Walmart in Riviere du Loup. Tonight there are once again 45 RV’s taking refuge here.

Aug 1 and we were taking our time getting ready to leave, having a bit of breakfast and making reservations to stay at Fundy National Park.  We heard a noise that sounded like something hit the side of the RV, but we couldn't figure out what it was.

Later as I was attempting to brush my teeth I couldn't get any water out of the faucet. After checking switches and voltages I looked out the window only to find a stream of water running across the parking lot.  Our water.  The evil pump spirit had struck again and emptied our much needed water supply into the parking lot. Again. We were dry camping and had no way to get more water.

Having been through this once before we had the drill down pretty pat.  I emptied the compartment of it's soggy contents and EJ used a scraper to scoop as much water out as she could. It turns out all this mayhem was caused by a single 50 cent piece of hardware.  A "C" shaped clamp that is supposed to hold a fitting into the pump housing warped just enough to allow the fitting to come out of the discharge side letting the pump merrily empty the contents of our water tank.  I continue to be disappointed in the quality of products produced by the ShurFlo pump company. Zip-ties, spit and little cursing now hold it together until I can find a hose clamp to completely compress the faulty piece. At least we caught it before the pump was damaged.

After purchasing 5 gallons of water in Walmart to test the pump and having mostly dried out, we are ready to continue our trip. We made reservations at Fundy National Park for 5 nights starting Monday Aug 6. We have just five days before we are due in Fundy. I’m sure we can find places to spend our time.  Oh my a schedule! 

Our hopes that French would once again become a second  language when we left Quebec were confirmed. As soon as we cross into New Brunswick, the road signs were in English. The visitors center is at the first exit, so we stop for some info. English is no problem here, but we did find out that we had now crossed into the Atlantic Time Zone and lost an hour.

Being worn out by the days events, 60 miles of travel, and in need of fresh water and a dump station, we seek out a real campground.  We find one in St. Leonard, NB that is reasonably priced as the owner let's us know when we try to bargain with him.  They want $30 to spend the night with a 3-way hookup.  By Canadian standards, that is positively cheap and we accept before he changes his mind. This is the only Canadian campground we've found where the RVs weren't crammed in side by side. It turns out this was a former Provincial Park which is equivalent to our state parks. It is now under private ownership but is still nice and roomy. They even have a really cute roadside diner.

We settle in for what we hope is an uneventful night.