Fundy National Park of New Brunswick Canada

We crossed the border in Calais, Maine at the St. Stephen’s crossing into New Brunswick on 2 June 2024.  The border was not busy at all, so our camper got thoroughly searched.  We had to put out our slides out and stand in front of the truck while they spent about 10 minutes opening every compartment in our home.  They just stuffed things back in sometimes upside down from the way they were.  It was disheartening to see when we opened compartments as we needed things.  With all the searching of our camper, they didn’t look in the truck at all!

After the ransacking of our camper, we proceeded to Fundy National Park, New Brunswick.  We had reservations at Chignecto Campground in the park for five nights.  We were there early enough to drive over to Hopewell Rocks to get the tide times for Monday. It turned out that they don't post tides till the day of. We enjoyed the walk to one of the overlooks after being in the truck most of the day.

Steve had been communicating with friends of ours, Bill and Arlene, from Sherwood Maryland who were vacationing in the same area we arrived in.  Bill and Arlene got to Moncton the same day we got to our campground (Sunday).  We coordinated meeting on Monday at 9am at Hopewell Rocks which is located about halfway between Moncton and Alma (the town right outside the park) and has the 40ft tide changes.  On Monday, we arrived when the tide was in or high, but had begun to recede.  It was still about 37 feet high.  We walked to a couple of the overlooks and then decided to sit at the onsite restaurant for drinks and wait for the low tide when we could walk on the ocean floor.  On our way to the restaurant, we met up with a park worker who told us the tide would be far enough out around 12:30pm to walk out.  It was due to be completely out around 4:30pm that day.  The park worker told us that when the water begins to rise, it rises about 10 inches per 5 minutes, so in 25 minutes the water’s close to your chin.  They refer to it as the “toes to nose rising”.  She said some people think it’s fun to watch it rise and get wet, but they discourage this and have to go out and “sweep” people in.  She’s also a “sweeper”.  Bill, Arlene, Steve and Anita were fine with seeing everything from a safe distance.  Anita would have liked to kayak there if we had more time in the area.  After lunch at the restaurant, we went back out and walked on the ocean floor.  It was somewhat muddy in some areas, but one could walk on rocks and not get too muddy. We were amazed at all the cliffs and rocks that are usually underwater.  There is “Lovers Arch” that people kayak through and we met a couple from Massachusetts a couple of days later at Cape Enrage who had kayaked through the arch.  We also saw a lot of seaweed or kelp on rocks.  We had never seen the rooted oblong grape-looking things before.

New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Low tide at Hopewell Rocks 2 June 2024

Low tide at Hopewell Rocks 2 June 2024

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Almost high tide and Lovers Arch is almost covered (second rock from left)

Peregrine Falcon (perched middle side of cliff) Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Luna Moth on restaurant outer wall

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Stairs we had seen the almost high tide from a few hours earlier

Ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Seaweed with oblong "grapes" at Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Lovers Arch Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Bill exploring the ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Lovers Arch on ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

After we’d had our fill of the ocean floor, we headed to St. Martens, NB.  Bill and Arlene had heard that this was a good place to see Sea caves.  We made it there in time to see a cool underwater cave and drive through the little fishing village.  On our way back to our truck (the four of us road together in Bill and Arlene’s rental), we stopped in Alma at The Tides Restaurant for dinner.  We made it back to our truck around 9pm, so it was a full day and lots of fun!  It was great being with Bill and Arlene and catching up on what’s new at our old church and around Easton. Bill and Arlene had an early day on Tuesday to catch the ferry to Digby in Nova Scotia.  Anita and Steve will eventually be going to Digby too. 

A Stop on the way to St. Martens in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

Sea Cave (low tide) at St. Martens in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

St. Martens in New Brunswick 3 June 2024

On Tuesday the 4th, Anita and Steve slept in and hung around the campsite. We went for a walk around the campground in the morning. Later in the day we had a camp fire and our neighbor came over to say hi.  Our neighbors, Brent and Shannon, ended up joining us for the campfire and we talked for a couple of hours till it was 7:45pm and we all were hungry!  They’re a nice couple who are full time travelers like we are.  They sold their house in Georgia and put their stuff in storage and hit the road about 3 years ago.  They’re originally from Michigan, but Brent’s work transferred him to a few states and eventually to Georgia, where they sold their house.  Shannon is a teacher and teaches online, with Brent working full time online.  They have a huge Great Dane named Riggs.  It was a lot of fun comparing places we’ve all been and getting pointers on places to see and hikes to do.  We ended up going out to dinner with them on our last night.  Brent and Shannon are going to Alaska in 2025 when we’re going and they’ve already made campground reservations, so we gave them our contact info to let us know where they’ll be staying.  We don’t know if we’ll be at the same places at the same time, but their rig is bigger than ours and if they find the sites spacious, we certainly would too.

Trail at Chignecto Campground

Woodchuck we saw on our walk around the campground

oTENTik at Chignecto Campground in Fundy National Park

On 5 June 2024, we did the Dickson Falls hike and then drove to Cape Enrage.  There is a lighthouse at Cape Enrage and there were picnic tables, so we had our lunch there.  We walked up to the lighthouse. We couldn’t go inside, but there’s a beautiful view from there.  After lunch we drove to Moncton to the Walmart there for a few things to tide us over till we shop in Nova Scotia. While in Moncton, we checked out the Bore Tide. On our way back to the campground, we stopped in Alma (the town right outside the park and our campground) to read about Molly Kool, the first female sea captain in NB.  She is remembered for saying “call me Captain”.  Wikipedia says: Myrtle "Molly" Kool was a Canadian sea captain. She is recognized as being one of the first registered female sea captains or ship masters in North America. She was one of the first female Master Mariners in Canada.

We filled up the truck on our way home and got home in time to relax some before dinner. It was a great day with just the right amount of driving and hiking.

Dickson Falls hike in Fundy National Park New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Dickson Falls hike in Fundy National Park New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Dickson Falls hike in Fundy National Park New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Dickson Falls hike in Fundy National Park New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Dickson Falls hike in Fundy National Park New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Dickson Falls hike in Fundy National Park New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Dickson Falls hike in Fundy National Park New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Dickson Falls hike in Fundy National Park New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Dickson Falls hike in Fundy National Park New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Scenic pullout before the Cape Enrage lighthouse

Cape Enrage in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Cape Enrage in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Cape Enrage in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Cape Enrage in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Cape Enrage Lighthouse in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Cape Enrage in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Cape Enrage in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Moncton New Brunswick Bore Tide AKA Chocolate River schedule 5 June 2024

Moncton New Brunswick Bore Tide AKA Chocolate River 5 June 2024

Moncton New Brunswick Bore Tide AKA Chocolate River 5 June 2024

Moncton New Brunswick 5 June 2024

5 June 2024

Alma in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Alma in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Alma in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Alma (3 lobster boats leaving in distance) in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Alma in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Alma high tide in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Alma high tide in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Alma low tide the day we drove in (2 June 2024)

Alma in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

Alma in New Brunswick 5 June 2024

On our last day for site seeing, we hiked the Caribou Plain hike.  It was a 3.5km hike, and we had the place to ourselves.  Moose have been seen there, but we didn’t see any.   We saw a moose track on the trail (not the ice cream) and a few paths from the woods to the water where they would likely be.   We got back to the campground around 10:15am and just hung around all day.  We don’t like to do too much the day before we drive, although our drive will only be about 150 miles.

Caribou Plain in Fundy national Park hike 6 June 2024

Caribou Plain in Fundy national Park hike 6 June 2024

Caribou Plain in Fundy national Park hike 6 June 2024

Moose track

Caribou Plain in Fundy national Park hike 6 June 2024

Caribou Plain in Fundy national Park hike 6 June 2024

Riggs the Great Dane

6 June 2024

Riggs the Great Dane

6 June 2024

Riggs the Great Dane

6 June 2024

Us with Shannon and Brent after dinner 6 June 2024

We had no Internet at our Chignecto Campground. We had a good phone signal though, so we didn’t feel completely isolated. I tried to keep pictures organized and tried to write the blog text as we went so that I could just copy and paste when we have Internet. We got to Cape Breton yesterday and while our own Internet box still doesn't work, the campground's wifi works just fine! The signal is "fair", but obviously good enough for me to do what I want to do. I hope to be caught up before we leave here on the 19th.