A Girls Trip to Fundy National Park

Last week my two sisters, my niece and I went on a fun day trip to Fundy National Park.  We are very fortunate to have this gorgeous national park a relatively short drive from where we all live.

My sisters and I are also very lucky that our sweet niece/daughter likes to spend time with her aunts and mom. She has acted as the driver on many, many, many fun road trips. We lovingly call her our “pack mule”, a phrase she coined on a trip we all took to visit relatives in Virginia. On that trip, when we went out, she insisted on carrying all of our heavy items in her backpack. Poor thing, we had her pretty weighed down on more than one occasion!

Early on the morning of our little road trip, we all met up at my niece’s home, where she proceeded to take care of her aunts and mom. She relieved us of our heavy items and proceeded to stow picnic bags, folding chairs, warm clothing, blankets and lord knows what else, in the back of her SUV.

Once we were settled in the vehicle and on the road, our first stop was about 3 minutes and 20 seconds later for coffee! I mean really, you cannot take a road trip without lots of coffee, right?

If you have never been to Fundy National Park, I strongly suggest you put it on your “to do” list. Even though I have visited the park countless times, I still find the scenery breathtaking.

During summers, we have camped there numerous times and have been on countless day trips. However, I always find the trips to the park in the autumn of the year, special.

It is always quiet and you often feel you are the only people in the entire park. You can hike a long trail and never once meet another human being; lots of wildlife, but no humans!

After paying our admission to the park, (only $19.60 in a national park for a group of up to seven people arriving in a single vehicle…we should have brought three more people) we stopped for a quick break at Wolfe Lake to use the facilities and map out our day.

Wolfe Lake

We decided our first stop would be the Dickson Falls Trail. …which really wasn’t our “first” stop because we stopped at a few places on the way to admire the beautiful scenery and snap a few photos.

I have wanted to stay in one of the Yurts located in the park, so we stopped for a peek at those too.

Two of several Yurts located in the Headquarters Campground.

This is the view from these Yurts. Pretty spectacular! The tide is quite far out and on the left side you get a little glimpse of the nearby village of Alma.

Our next stop was the Dickson Falls Trail. Although it is a short trail, only a 1.5 km loop, it is classified as a “moderate” hike. I think that is due to the many, many stairs located on the trail.

Dickson Falls is the most photographed waterfall in the park. Trust me, seeing this beautiful waterfall is well worth climbing up and down some stairs.

Me and my sisters at Dickson Falls. (Or is it my sisters and I? Honestly, I can never keep that straight in my head.)

After the falls, we went to Point Wolfe. It is about 10 kilometers from the east entrance of Fundy Park. Point Wolfe has a campground, trails, a covered bridge, Point Wolfe Beach, a picnic area, viewpoints and interpretive panels. (But, I chose to sit on a boulder in the middle of the water.)

Point Wolfe covered bridge.

The bridge was originally built in 1908 and because of damage, was rebuilt in 1992.  It is the only red bridge in province.

Within the park you can still see the remains of mill sites, driving dams, logging camps and lumbering tools.

Hueston Brook making its way to the Bay of Fundy. I took this photo from inside the Point Wolfe Covered Bridge

By the time we had finished exploring the beach, a short trail and the covered bridge we were all getting hungry and thirsty. It was time for a late lunch.

We went back the way we came and decided to have our lunch on the shore of beautiful Bennet Lake.

A couple of years ago, my daughter and I were kayaking on the lake and were suddenly accompanied by a pair of loons.

They are gorgeous, much larger than I expected and their haunting call is unmistakable. They swam in the water, following us as we kayaked around the lake. Several times they would dive under the water and then resurface not far from our kayaks. Unfortunately, I had left my camera on shore.

I had so much fun on our girls trip to Fundy. By the time we had settled back in the car for the drive home, my face and my sides were sore from laughing. It was a perfect day!

We were here.

Have you ever visited Fundy National Park or any of the other national parks in Canada?

What about the ocean and covered bridges? Have you seen either of those?