UP the Hill not over it

Take a minute and think about your last few vacations. What was your favorite thing? If it was room service and 5 star restaurants then maybe this blog is not really for you. However, if you remember wanting quiet, fresh air and spectacular scenery then keep reading.

Last year I was reading a newsletter from Keystone Trail Association ( I will get into that in another blog) and I saw that they had a fundraising trip to the west coast of Newfoundland. What! That was right up my alley but I had no desire to go with a bunch of people I did not know. So I did what I always do,I said we are doing that trip but on steroids.

We have spent a lot of time in British Columbia when we lived in Seattle but we have not spent anytime in the Atlantic Provinces so we decided to drive! When my husband looked at that map and calculated the mileage his comment was “you know we are driving halfway to Greenland”. Here I thought he was joking.

We left from Central Pa in late July. It took 2 days of driving to get to our first big stop, Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Canada. Canada has 48 National Parks, and we got to experience three on our trip.

Fundy National Park is known for the world’s largest tides but it also has great hiking, camping and its cliffs and forests are just beautiful. We camped for two nights at Pointe Wolfe Campground. It was a short walk down to the beach and we walked where the tide had gone out. It is hard to describe but the tide difference averages around 52 feet but when you see the horizontal difference on the beach it is incredible.

The hiking in Fundy NP was amazing. Our favorite hike was Moosehorn Trail to Laverty Falls Loop. We hiked down to the Broad River and then along it for a few miles. There were beautiful falls, water chutes and pools all along this portion of the hike. We stopped to dip our feet into the crystal clear ,very cold water. People were swimming in some of the deeper pools. The biggest fall was Laverty Falls and you could swim beneath it or hike to the top of it.

Parks Canada has placed over 400 red Adirondack chairs in peaceful and scenic locations all over Canada. In 2011,  Gros Morne National Park came up with the idea to place sets of Adirondack chairs in lesser-known, stunning locations around the park, inviting visitors to enjoy and share on social media. It was an effort to get people outside and enjoying the park while marketing through social media. It works as we had a lot of fun trying to find the red chairs!

I would go back to Fundy National Park again. There were many hikes that we did not get to do and it is just a beautiful place to spend some time.

Must Do’s in Fundy National Park:

1. Watch the tide go out or come in.
2. Walk on the Herring Cove Beach at low tide
3. Find the red chairs in the park, they are on the park map but you have to hike to find them.
4. Hike Moosehorm Trail and swim in the pools
5. Hike Bennett Lake
6. Find one of the many other hikes in the park

Remember it only takes two feet and a heartbeat!

Up the Hill Not Over It