Welcome to New Brunswick! Alas, we made it. We entered New Brunswick from near Calais, Maine and crossed the border in minutes. Suddenly, we went from terrible roads in Maine to a nice smooth 4 lane highway. It was heaven! We fueled up easily at one of the many petrol stations along the highway and we were off and running!!
After passing through Saint John and Sussex we took the exit for Fundy National Park. It was a bit of a bumpy road for quite awhile but we eventually made it into the park. Welcome to Fundy National Park along the Bay of Fundy, home to the greatest vertical tides in the world, over 25 waterfalls and lots of hiking trails.
There are a number of campgrounds in Fundy and we choose Headquarters to allow us to be within walking distance of the Bay of Fundy and the town of Alma. It was quite an easy walk to town where there are terrific views of the Bay of Fundy and Nova Scotia and also great views of the tides at Alma Beach.
Campground: Headquarters Campground
Location: Fundy National Park by Alma, New Brunswick
Site: 29 (pull thru)
Cost: $28.25 (CAD)
Services: FHU
Comments: A nice little campground with easy access to the Bay of Fundy, the visitors center, and the town of Alma (walking distance). They advertised WiFi but it never worked for the 4 days we were there. We did have a phone signal though. They campground does offer laundry facilities but our building only had 1 washing machine and 1 dryer. There were other laundry buildings in the campground.
The campground offers a number of pull thru sites that were level and the upper area had shorter sites and tent sites.
Red Chairs
The Canadian National Park system has a Red Chair program where there are Red Adirondack Chairs placed in many locations throughout Canada at their national parks. The park system encourages people to seek out the chairs, take photos, and post them on social media (using #sharethechair). It helps to get people outside and doing something!! It seems to work because we are always searching for the red chairs!!
Alma
Alma is a small village near the southern entrance of Fundy National Park The Upper Salmon River empties into the Fundy Bay and is a great location for viewing the tidal changes throughout the day. There is a nice boardwalk along Alma Beach for viewing the tides. The town also has a small market and several restaurants and a great bakery.
Covered Bridges
New Brunswick has a variety of covered bridges some of which are still operational. We just watched for signs that showed covered bridge and then tried to find them. #Explore New Brunswick
Hopewell Rocks
Hopewell Rocks is home to the largest vertical tides in the world. The beach can be walked at low tide among the rocks, known as flowerpots, and then a few hours later they will be an islands in the water. The tide is a few hundred meters wide and anywhere from 10 to 14 metres high (32 to 46 feet). You can walk the beach from about 3 hours before low tide to about 3 hours above high tide. There are interpretive staff on the beach to sweep the beach and get tourists out of the area as the tide rises. The tide can rise at 6-8 feet an hour so you need to clear the beach and get up the steps! It is an amazing place.
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