22-23 September: We leave Elliston and drive to Corner Brook on the 22nd. On the 23 we are up early to reach the ferry for our 11:45 departure from Newfoundland.

24 September 2019, Tuesday: We drive to Parrsboro, Nova Scotia from which it is an additional 40 minute drive to Cape Chignecto Provincial Park. I have cancelled our backcountry hiking reservations there as my ankle is not quite up to carrying a heavy backpack down steep slopes. We make alternate arrangements at a campground very near to the cape. 

25 September 2019, Wednesday: After a good night’s sleep and a breakfast of blueberry pancakes with real Nova Scotia maple syrup at the Sunshine Inn, we drive over to the Fundy Geological Museum. Here we learn about the geology and the incredible fossil records found in the area. In the Parrsboro area there are fossils of creatures that survived a mass extinction approximately 200 million years ago. The museum has exhibits of some of the oldest dinosaur bones in Canada. There are also displays of many different minerals, and explanations of where they can be found.

After our tour of the museum we proceed to Cape Chignecto Provincial Park. The warden at the Visitor Centre suggests a 5 km walk that follows the beginning of the backpack trail we had planned to hike, and then loops back to the Visitor Centre after descending lots of steps from the ridge above the Minas Basin (one of the arms of the Bay of Fundy) back to the beach. Our timing is excellent. It is low tide so the return portion of the loop is along a wide beach. Had it been high tide we would have been underwater walking our present path along the water, although there is still a safe way back if one hugs the base of the cliffs.

O and I return to the Visitor Centre to sign out. The wardens here are pretty conscientious about making sure hikers time the tides correctly. While we are there, the warden suggests other day hikes we might do if we have time over the next few days.

Now we return to the ADDA (Advocate District Development Association) Campground and sign in for the next four nights. We choose a site up on a hilltop with plenty of trees for a tarp hang. After the tent is up and the tarp hung, we cook dinner and then take care of a 10 day accumulation of laundry at the campground laundromat before retiring for the night. It’s good to be back in Wglwof after eight days of B&B’s and hotels.