We spent two days and nights on the coast of the Bay of Fundy – camping in Fundy National Park and exploring Alma, the small town that is the gateway on the edge of the park.
It’s a natural wonder. You can read the description – “highest tides in the world” – but it’s hard to comprehend until you see it.
Along the bay, there is a 50-foot difference between high tide and low tide. That means that at low tide, you can walk on the bottom of the ocean and bays, and fishing boats tied at the dock are resting on the mud.
The same spots look completely different just hours later.
Our campsite at Chignecto was a great base for two days of working, running, hiking, exploring the shore and frying up some scallops.
Chignecto is large and clean and felt new – the bathhouses and dishwashing sinks were spacious and pristine, and bike paths wound through the large campground. We love seeing families making memories together – and kids enjoying their freedom.
We arrived at lunchtime, so we headed right to Alma. There are about six seafood restaurants in town – we picked the Alma Lobster Shop for clams and a lobster roll. Good, but not great. After inquiring in the attached fish shop, we learned that lobster and scallops were the two local catches; the rest came from elsewhere.
We dug into the Fundy National Park trail system – which has 31 maintained trails, each marked by level of difficulty (easy, moderate, difficult), likely a guide for mountain bikers.
We mainly picked coastal trails near Matthews Head and Point Wolfe Beach. It was cool and spongy amid pine trees and the views of the high cliffs and rocky shore were grand.
I found the lack of wildlife odd. There were very few shore birds or shells. But a park ranger told us deer and woodchucks were plentiful. We saw neither.
On our Point Wolfe hike, we ended at the “beach” – and it was low tide when we got there. We walked out hundreds of yards on rocky mud flats, unfolded our chairs and drank a Yip cider.
Looking later at the Strava map, we were seated in the middle of a bay.
Our first night meal was at the Tipsy Tails, a bit pricey but delicious – with a perfect view of the bay.
On the second night, we bought scallops and cooked them up at the campsite. They were small and sweet. A great call.
Before departing, we did a “BRIC” – got on our bikes, rode on some trails, and then a short trail run. It prepared us for the long drive ahead to Halifax.
