Nova Scotia Trip Itinerary

07/15/13 - Leave Houston and fly to Boston, drive to Bar Harbor near Acadia NP

07/16/13 - Tour Acadia NP in the morning and drive to Moncton, NS

07/17/13 - Tour Hopewell Rock and Fundy NP

07/18/13 - Tour Fundy NP, drive to New Glasgow, NS; and visit Melmerby Beach Provincial Park

07/19/13 - Tour Pictou, drive to Pleasant Bay, NS; and tour Cape Breton Highlands NP

07/20/13 - Tour Cape Breton Highlands NP and whale watching in Pleasant Bay

07/21/13 - Tour Cape Breton Highlands NP

07/22/13 - Tour Cape Breton Highlands NP and drive to Truro, NS and visit Victoria Park

07/23/13 - Tour Truro and drive to Halifax, NS and tour Halifax

07/24/13 - Tour Halifax

07/25/13 - Drive to Peggy’s Cove, NS and tour Peggy’s Cove

07/26/13 - Drive to St John, NB and tour St John

07/27/13 - Tour St John and drive to Augusta, ME

07/28/13 - Tour Kennebunkport, ME and drive to Boston; then fly back to Houston

Trip Map Shown in Google Map

A - Boston, MA

B - Acadia NP; Bar Harbor, ME

C - Moncton, NB

D - Fundy NP in NB

E - New Glasgow, NS

F - Cape Breton Highlands NP; Pleasant Bay, NS 

G - Cape Breton Highlands NP; Ingonish, NS

H - Truro, NS

I - Halifax, NS

J - Peggy's Cove, NS

K - St John, NB

L - Augusta, ME 

07/15/13 - Boston and Bar Harbor

We left Houston in the morning and arrived Boston around 1PM, then we drove to Bar Harbor near Acadia National Park in Maine.  Due to the location of Acadia NP, we have to drive on state highway 1 to get there.  We arrived at Bar Harbor around 7PM. The state highway 1 is along the Atlantic coast and the scenery is very nice.  On the way there, we stopped by enjoying the Penobscot Narrows Observatory and Fort Knox State Historic Site. It has a beautiful bridge and an observatory tower.

Bar Harbor is just outside of the Acadia NP.  It was our first night in Maine and we could not resist the temptation of having a nice lobster dinner.  We went to Stewman’s Lobster Pound in Bar Harbor.  We asked for the outdoor table on the 2nd floor.  We enjoyed our lobster dinner while overlooking the harbor with breeze coming from the ocean, it definitely was a very enjoyable evening.

07/16/13 - Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park is the oldest national park east of Mississippi and it consists of more than 47,000 acres, almost half of Mount desert Island. In Acadia NP, one can find soaring granite cliffs butting up against sand, cobblestone beaches and the ocean makes its presence felt whether by sight, sound and smell.  Acadia’s scenic trails are hiker’s dream. 

Due to time constraint, we focused our tour around the Park Loop Road which covers around 1/4 of the whole NP. However, along the Park Loop Road, we were able to visit majority of the attractions. It includes Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Otter Cliffs, Jordan Pond, and Bubble Pond.  We also hiked up to see the Bubble Rock.

We left Acadia NP around 2PM and entered Canada around 5PM, and arrived to Moncton, NB around 7PM.

07/17/13 - Fundy National Park in New Brunswich, Canada

Fundy National Park is on the west side of 'Bay of Fundy' and it locates pretty remote from any city.  The closest town is Alma, NB and Alma has very limited lodging facility.  Therefore we had to stay in Moncton, NB.  It takes about 1 hour drive from Moncton to Fundy NP.  Fundy NP showcases a rugged coastline which rises up to the Acadian Highlands, the highest tides in the world, and more than 25 waterfalls.  One of the main attractions we really want to visit is the Hopewell Rock. After checking with Fundy NP Visitor Center, we found out that Hopewell Rocks is actually located outside of the NP.  It is about 40 minutes drive east to the park along NB 114.  Due to our desire of visiting it at low tide, we had to be there around 2PM in the afternoon.  When we drove around Fundy NP in the morning we hardly see any other tourists.  However, when we got to Hopewell Rocks, we saw lots of tourists.  Hopewell Rocks has rock formations caused by tidal erosion in The Hopewell Rocks Ocean Tidal Exploration Site .  These rocks stand between 40-70 feet tall.  The base of these formations is covered in water twice a day during the high tide, and it is walkable twice a day during the low tide. One can walk on the ground level to visit the formations about 3 hours before and 3 hours after the low tide. They are amazing formations with many wonderful shapes.  It is photographer’s dream moment to capture these natural wonders.  

 

On our way back to the Fundy NP, we took the scenic route of NB 915 and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We even visited the Cape Enrage Lighthouse.  We found out the Cape Enrage Lighthouse is a tourist trap.  After the long drive, we had to pay expensive entrance fee to see a very small lighthouse.  They even built a zap line next to the lighthouse for tourists.  It definitely ruins the natural beauty of the ocean coast.  I will not recommend anyone to visit the Cape Enrage Lighthouse. 

After we got back to Fundy NP, we visited the famous covered bridge in the park and hiked the Shiphaven Trail to Point Wolfe Beach.  It is an easy trail with lots of decks built for hiking.

07/18/13 - Fundy National Park and Drive to New Glasgow, NS

Our plan calls for spending the whole morning in Fundy National Park and then drive to Nova Scotia (NS) in the afternoon.  During breakfast in our hotel in Magnetic Hill, Moncton, one of the guests told us a story about the reason of this location being called Magnetic Hill.  It is because there is a magnetic hill where you can witness your car going backward uphill like it is attracted by magnet.  He highly recommended us to visit this place.  We did.  It was amazing that our rental car went backward uphill when we put it in natural gear.  However, after the ride we did ask one of the staff about the detail of magnetic force, and she told us that there is no magnetic force and it is just an illustration.

In the morning, we hiked Matthews Head and Coastal West trails.  Matthews Head and Coastal West trails are along the Bay of Fundy and we hiked on the edge of cliffs most of the time.  With forest on the right and the ocean on the left, the scenery is breathtaking.  

We also hiked on Dickson Falls trail which is a short trail with beautiful forest and brook.  A nice falls in the middle is the highlight of this trail. 

The original plan was called for traveling to Prince Edward Island (PEI) to visit Prince Edward Island National Park.  After we found out that we would need to drive a long time along with a ferry ride crossing the ocean from PEI to NS (we did not pre-book the ferry ticket), we decided to change plan and just to drive to the midpoint between Moncton, NB and Pleasant Bay, NS.  We identified New Glasgow as the stopping point.  After we arrived New Glasgow, we went to visit Melmerby Beach Provincial Park.  It is very exclusive with one way in and one way out and it is situated at the end of a peninsular.  We met some locals there and they were telling us how blessing they are to live near Melmerby Beach.

07/19/13 - Pictou and Drive to Cape Breton Highlands National Park, NS

Pictou is about 20 minutes west of New Glasgow and it is the landing point of PEI-NS Ferry.  Since we were there in the early morning, we only witness the peaceful harbor and waterfront boardwalk.  We did not stay long and we started our journey to Cape Breton Highlands NP.

Our lodging arrangement is a B&B in Pleasant Bay which is on Cape Breton Cabot Trail north of Cheticamp, NS.  We entered Cape Breton Highlands NP just north of Cheticammp.  Before we entered the NP, we stopped by the La Boulangerie Aucoin bakery for the famous fresh croissants (according to recommendation from Tripadvisor). On the way to Pleasant Bay, we visited Skyline Trail.  It was highly recommended by quite a few tourists.  However, the weather was not helping on that particular afternoon.  The trail leads from the trail head to the coastline via a pretty easy trail.  The scenery is good, but it is not enjoyable with rain coming down on you.  At the end of the trail, there is a multi-level deck taking you all the way down closer to the ocean.  However, it was too windy and rainy to walk all the way down.  We only ventured down halfway and rushed back to the trail head in the rain.  On the way back we did spot a couple of mooses hiding under trees to get away from the rain.  That was the only time we spotted large animals in the NP.

The Gulf Breeze B&B is the first B&B we stayed on this trip.  Unfortunately, it was not a typical B&B.  It is just a room with limited accommodations and we have to go to their associated restaurant to have breakfast.  It was not a good experience for our first B&B lodging.