June 07 – Fundy Trail Parkway Day 1

Well, we are back on the road after 3 years of great summers hiding from the world at our cottage, We are doing a short, for us, one month trip to the East Coast to go back to some favourite places and catch of few of the places we missed.

We thought that going out east was a safe option, away from the crazy people down south and the crazy weather and fires out west but just two weeks before we left there was a large fire near Halifax that forced the evacuation of the campground we had booked. It is still 10 days until we get there and with the recent rain, hopefully, they will be back to normal. 

One administrative note. The Google service that I used to email out the new posts has of course been cancelled by Google.  I found a new service follow.it that I hope works just as well. If you were subscribed to the blog before, your email was imported to the new service to keep you subscribed.

It was a long 3 day, 2 Walmart drive from our cottage to our current campground at St. Martins in southern New Brunswick.

 

The first day was fine. The second day included Montreal with its narrow lanes, lots of construction and huge back up because of an accident on the bridge that we took, which Google maps still said was the fastest route. The third day had heavy rain and strong winds. I was very glad to finally get to the campground.

We are staying at the Century Farm campground in St. Martins. It is a beautiful location right on the coast. The campground is split into two parts. One for the seasonal people that leave their trailer here all year and the side with the best view for the people here short term.

The seasonal side is packed but I don’t think anyone is there right now.

Our side is empty. Last night there was one other site used and tonight there are 5 sites in use.

We are here to check out the Fundy Trail Parkway for 4 days. It is a section of the coast with dramatic cliffs and beaches that have been protected and has a very twisty 30 km road and hike/bike path that runs along the cliff edge.

After the rains of yesterday, today turned out pretty good. Cloudy and a bit cool (good hiking weather) in the morning and sunny in the afternoon.

Of course, our first stop had to be a waterfall. Fuller Falls are right next to the road but to get to the lookout you had to go down these very steep “stairs” which are really just a ladder of timbers connected by a cable hanging over the side of the hill.

Looking down towards the shore you can just barely see a bit of the beach we are going to hike down to next.

To get to Melvin Beach it is a short hike down from the multi-use trail but to get to that spot on the trail from the road you have several option. From one roadside lookout you can hike 1/2 km to the junction or from another you can take a separate trail that goes straight down from the road to the junction following another creek.

It’s about a 300 foot vertical drop and it really does go straight down with now switchbacks. This sign made us think that maybe this was not the best first serious hike of the year.

Down we go. The pictures don’t show the steepness but the need for cables to hold yourself upright is a hint.

Once we were down we had to jump across Fuller Creek and then climb this large embankment of stones.

We went over to look back up Fuller Creek to the Falls.

Out to the beach. We arrived just about an hour after low tide. Looking both ways.

And Jennie was off collecting treasures.

The cliffs had some caves to explore. Here is a photosphere when standing near the cliff.

We sat, had an early lunch and then headed back up. At the top we were tired but, surprisingly, not completely wiped out.

The next stop was the visitors center and a suspension bridge over the Salmon River.

It was very bouncy so Jennie declined walking out.

Since it had gotten sunny we decided not to waste the good weather and do one more short trail.

The path to Long Beach Brook Falls (of course another waterfall) is a 2 km loop. One half follows the brook and is fairly flat. The other half goes up and over a steep hill. We did what most others do and just did an out and back on the flat section.

It was a very pretty small waterfall.

And a photosphere.

We wondered about this rusted turbine.

Jennie made some rock sculptures.

Then we headed home.

On the way we picked up a lobster roll and some seafood chowder. First we were shocked at the price and then shocked at how small the portions were. At least the tasted good.

A pretty good first day.