Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick

After convincing a family of mice that Adam’s engine bay was not a suitable nesting place (they took a lot of convincing!), we traveled onward to our next stop- Bay of Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, Canada. The Bay of Fundy is known for having the highest tides in the world- a change of up to 53 feet between high and low tides. The park is nestled amongst coastal cliffs with great views out over the bay. We baked in the sun for a while waiting to cross the border, but when we finally got to the border guard, he barely even blinked an eye at our incredibly full car. “What else do you have in there, besides the bikes?” was all he asked, and seemed placated with the answer of “Well, all our camping stuff, and climbing stuff, and biking stuff, and clothes…”. He also seemed nonplussed when he asked if we had any weapons in the car (guns, knives, etc) and I responded with “A machete….”. All in all, much less of an inquisition than I was expecting. And thank goodness we weren’t searched, it’s a bit of a process trying to pack and unpack the car.

Driving through Canada, we were struck that one part suddenly looked SO distinctly different. It was a feeling of “We’re definitely in Canada now!”. I couldn’t even identify what it was exactly- maybe the domination of pine trees, the steady climb in elevation, or the pink glow surrounding everything from the fading sunset. But then we drove into a section that could have just as easily been upstate NY as Canada. But we just kept climbing, and climbing, and climbing, even though we were less than 20 miles from the coast, until we finally dropped suddenly just as we got into the park. It was just dusk when we pulled into the park, and we stopped at a lookout point to see the most beautiful dusk view of the bay we could have imagined.

We continued in to the campground to find it one of the nicest campgrounds we’ve stayed at yet- I was especially pleased with the (not coin-operated!) hot showers and the existence of SOAP in the bathroom. However, the BUGS continued to be overwhelming, so we set up camp as quickly as possible and fell straight asleep. We woke once to what sounded like a raccoon rummaging through our campsite (brave fellow, it was a packed campground!), but all of our belongings were safely in the car.

The next day, still exhausted from our tangle with Katahdin, we took an easy day exploring the beaches along the bay. We started with Point Wolfe beach, which was a nice secluded area away from the more crowded parts of the park. As we lay there (well, I lay there- Adam is too fidgety to lie on a beach), Adam realized that we should be paying better attention to the tide- the peninsula we were lying on was quickly growing smaller. We walked to the edge of it to see a veritable river running across what once was a completely dry section of land. The tides really ARE incredible here!

High Tide

Tide Still Going Out!

 We continued on to the beach in Alma, the surprisingly small town just outside of the park. What struck me the most at this beach were the colors of the rocks! Never have I seen so many different colors at one beach.

After another night at camp (no raccoons this time), we finished up our visit to Fundy with a hike to Dickson Falls in the rain. They were very pretty falls, with surprisingly mossy rocks considering how fast the water was flowing. It was deserted because of the rain, which meant that our attempt to get both of us in a picture was difficult, especially given that we couldn’t find the camera and were using Adam’s phone, but I think in the end we succeeded. Our verdict: Bay of Fundy National Park is definitely our favorite on the trip so far, and probably my favorite ever.