Today we drove up the Fundy Coastline to a town called Hopewell. To call it a town would imply there was a streetlight! It was so small but they again many of these coastal towns are in the middle of nowhere. The closest real grocery store to the campground is about 45 min to an hour away. There is a single pump gas station in town. There IS a grocery but it is tiny and sells mostly non perishable goods. Anyway, this is Hopewell Rocks. The coastline is made of sandstone and conglomerate from when these was riverbed or flat land. The rocks have eroded over time and left some amazing towers from the huge tidal flux. Â This is near high tide. We came back later to see it at low tide.
We were able to get on a very small sliver of beach at high tide.
See how the base of the access starts is under water, check out the following photos.
Another shot at high tide.
We hiked a few trails and then ate lunch in the car to avoid yet another band of rain. We headed back in near beach access time (3 hours from official low tide).
This is what we were treated with. The towers were huge! The ground was rocky and really muddy in spots.
The tower is out of the water now.
We hiked quite a ways down the beach checking out the rocks.
Some form really neat arches.
People say that they see things in the rocks like ET, a mother-in-law, a baby elephant and a few more things. I tried to figure it out but they all just looked like giant Easter Island heads!
The water is called chocolate! It is red brown from the mud/clay that is packed with iron. As the tide goes out it churns up the mud and the water remains this turkey brown. If you scoop a handful of it you can only see specks of mud and it looks mostly clear.
We found a few crabs and a lot of snails.
Heading back up at half low tide. Quite a different view.
The next day we came back with Dad and walked the other direction on the beach in addition to the first way we went. This is the Mother-in-law. They said to picture an old lady with a sunken eye wearing a fancy hat. It is cool that trees grow on top of the rocks.
My feet go muddy and Emmerson told me there was a good puddle to rinse them off out past the mud. I played along laughing the entire time and got stuck in the mud up to my calfs. my shoes came off and I had to walk bare foot. I was FILTHY! Mom got me and my shoes cleaned up at the fancy foot watching stations. Apparently a lot of people get muddy shoes and feet.
On the way home we drove out to Cape Enrage to see where the Chingecto Bay and the Bay of Fundy join. The water looks much clearer in the Bay of Fundy. On the way down the steps to the lookout I missed a step and tumbled down the stairs. I am out, a bit banged up, but okay.
There is a tiny lighthouse on the point with a GIANT fog horn!
I would NOT want to be by that when it sounds!
We had an amazing time in Fundy and would love to come back here some day and hike more of the trails. We played at the playground a bit more and attended a BioBlitz program on bees and other pollinators before bed the last night. We head towards Halifax Nova Scotia tomorrow.