Eastern Canada’s Shoreline Trail Showcases Local Color Perfectly

It may be too soon to rank Cape Chignecto with some of the world’s great coastal walking areas, such as the Na Pali Coast of Kauai, the Cornwall coast in England or the Lost Coast Trail in Northern California. But this Nova Scotia park with newly expanded footpaths has received rave reviews from the few (mostly Canadian) hikers who have discovered it.

I’m going out on a red-spruce limb to make a prediction: Once the good word gets out to European and American hikers, Cape Chignecto will become an international attraction, because hikers here find one of eastern Canada’s most compelling lengths of shoreline.

Cape Chignecto beckons hikers with stands of red spruce and yellow birch. The trees stand at the edge of 600-foot cliffs looking down at tides that rise as much as 70 feet--the world’s highest--in the Bay of Fundy. Peregrine falcons swoop overhead, and moose and white-tailed deer browse the lush vegetation of the bluff tops.

Cape Chignecto Provincial Park first welcomed hikers on this land in 1998. Open May through October, the park is a terrific place for leaf peepers looking for autumn color without the crowds. The headlands put on a magnificent show, usually from the last week in September through mid-October, when three varieties of maple and other hardwoods don their fall finery.

The 30-mile Cape Chignecto Coastal Trail is ideal for backpacking expeditions of at least three days.

Half a dozen hike-in camps with enticing names such as Stoney Beach, Big Bald Rock Brook and Seal Cove are half a day’s walk apart along the trail. Reservations and a fee of about $11.50 per site per night are required.

The park also rents two cabins on the southern part of the trail. The cabins provide a roof over your head and eliminate the need for a tent, but they lack any other accouterments, so you still have to pack in everything else.

On the cape’s south side, the trail runs through three steep, deep canyons. On the north side, along fractured bluffs, hikers are treated to views across the bay to Fundy National Park in the province of New Brunswick.

The hike starts at the Red Rocks Visitor Center and travels 30 miles to the dramatic rock formations known as Three Sisters. From here you have two choices for getting back to Red Rocks: Arrange to be picked up on rough Eatonville Road, which extends along the park’s eastern boundary; or spend a long day hiking about 15 miles on the new inland extension of the trail, which returns to the visitor center.

In a world where everything seems machine made, Cape Chignecto is a triumphant exception.

“Our coastal trail is completely handmade,” chief park attendant Mike Collins said as we hiked toward Refugee Cove. Collins, trail foreman during the path’s construction in 1996 and ‘97, said builders knew maintenance would be difficult because of the remote location.

Trail connoisseurs will appreciate the quality of construction. It’s not one of those ghastly, wide multiuse modern constructs. Instead it’s a narrow, carefully crafted path designed for foot traffic only--a trail that goes easy on the land.

“We wanted to maximize the wilderness experience for the hiker and keep the trail as close to the edge of the coastal bluffs as possible, but at the same time make it as safe as a remote trail can be,” Collins said.

For day hikers, Cape Chignecto has a range of walks for varying interests and abilities.

The visitor center has interpretive exhibits, maps and a knowledgeable staff.

The best family walk is Fundy Ridge Trail, a three-hour jaunt that climbs bluffs to an old-growth forest and offers great views. The path switchbacks down to the shore and travels on the beach on the way back to the trail head.

For a more challenging hike, follow the Coastal Trail from the visitor center to Mill Brook Canyon Trail Camp. The route is about 10 miles round trip.

Don’t make the same mistake I did driving to the park. I assumed Fundy Shore Scenic Drive would hug Nova Scotia’s north shore and deliver views of the Bay of Fundy. It does neither.

The best route is westbound Highways 2 and 209. From Truro (60 miles north of Halifax), drive about 80 miles west to the hamlet of Advocate Harbour and the Cape Chignecto park.

For more of John McKinney’s hiking tips, visit his Web site, www.thetrailmaster.com.