Fundy National Park, NB – After the initial miss of Cavendish Campground, the National Park campgrounds in Canada are batting 1000. Combine a serene wooded setting with direct access (i.e., no car needed) to hiking trails with a well equipped village a short walk away on a bay that features the some of the largest bore tides in the world? Sign me up. The camping part of the campground wasn’t bad either, with sites considerably longer than our 33’ RV and fully functioning utilities. The sites are all 30 amps, but this was not an issue in the early September. Fundy NP also has several mountain biking trails and the Coastal and Goose River Trails are part of the 29.5 mile Fundy Footpath.

Fundy camp

Our site had plenty of room for our 33′ RV

Fundy campsite

Another view of our site

Fundy camp

Bath house at Headquarters Campground

Fundy camp

The internal roads were paved

 

To reach the impressive steep set of stairs that descend toward Alma just walk towards the east loop of the campground and get as close to the precipitous drop-off as possible, and a set of stairs will appear. Nicely done Parks Canada. There a number of restaurants in town that feature typical rural Canadian fare: fried food. I’m not actually sure they serve anything that isn’t fried. But don’t worry! You have lots of stairs to climb back up to your RV. In fact, before leaving town, stop at Kelly’s Bake Shop and pick up some of their “World Famous” sticky buns to accelerate your now declining health.

sticky buns

Try Kelly’s world famous sticky buns or other baked goods

Alma boats

Check out the Alma harbor at low tide

Alma boats

And at high tide

 

We hiked the following trails: Coastal, Matthew’s Head, Coppermine, East Branch, Caribou Plain, Third Vault Falls, and Point Wolfe Beach. Our favorite trails here included: Dickson Falls and a loop made with Moosehorn and Laverty Falls Trails. Dickson Falls reminded us of Watkins Glen in New York. Moosehorn is a difficult trail with steep descending sections, minor rock scrambling, and had high water crossings when we hiked it. Kudos to the trail crews that were working hard to clear trails following Hurricane Dorian that hit here two days before we arrived. There were many trees down and blocking numerous trails.

From here we also visited Hopewell Rocks, about a 40km drive north of the campground. This is a fascinating location to experience the extreme oscillation of bore tides first hand. During low tide you walk along the ocean floor. But don’t dawdle, for when the high tide returns in a few hours the ground you’re standing on will be covered with up to 20 feet of sea water.

Rating: rating 5

Campground website: Headquarters Campground Fundy National Park

Date of Stay: September 9-16, 2019

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