Bethie

Husband and I will be spending 2 nights,2 full days in Alma, New Brunswick. Plan to do Hopewell Rocks (have high and low tides charts) Also want to do Fundy Natl. Park. How much time should I allow at each place? We are not long hiker types but like walking some. Also, would appreciate any advice on ideas inside park or vicinity that we should include.
Thanks in advance for your help.. We are first timers.

BAK

gomoncton.com is the web site for Moncton, and it includes a picture of the rocks, so I guess it counts itself as the official city.

Not all that great a web site, but better than nothing.

BAK

ltt

i was in a bit of a rush during my trek through this area so people may say my times are off but...
high tide at hopewell - 1-2 hours
low tide at hopewell - 3+ hours
make sure you arrange your arrival time to give you the most time you can get at the bottom. i was leaving and there were people who were just arriving. i knew that by the time they got down to the bottom, they'd only have about 30 minutes to walk along the bottom. shame.
you pay admission once and it give you a 24 hour period for entry so you can see both tides. there is a fee for a shuttle service down to the rocks. i'd recommend walking down (several places to stop along the way) and using the shuttle on the way up (unless you enjoy uphill hikes - it's not to long or bruttle, but i was glad i took the shuttle up.)
i actually only had time to drive through fundy national park (stopped a couple of times for VERY short walks to lookouts, but, not enough) but on my next trip, i'd plan on an entire day. there was a golf course there that looked nice if golfing interests you.

NorthwestMale

I get a vibe that YOU did plenty of homework on your own before posting. I am impressed!

Low tide at Hopewell Cape makes for fun walking and photography and exploring, and after doing that, being there at high tide is secondary and mainly for contrast.

It is no easy task to time things for optimum low-tide experience AND then occupy your time to end up back there SIX hours later.

I do soooooooooooo wish that "Alma, NB" wasn't so remote to the Minas Basin even though it is only 35-40 miles from Cape Split (as the crow flies).

If inspired for a drive, I'd go to Moncton (and view the "Tidal Bore" there) and then on the Sackville-Amhurst-Springhill-Parrsboro-Truro-Amhurst LOOP.

I just checked and saw that Moncton-to-Truro is about 115 MILES. I LOVE the path from Parrsboro to Truro rain or shine.

Oh those natural boundaries and barriers (sigh).

When you're at Parrsboro, looking across at Cape Split (Scotts Bay on the map), it is amazing to know that as much water runs through that channel in an average day as runs through ALL of the rivers on earth put together. No wonder those tides are so awesome!

Hopefully you're not going to fall out of the sky into Alma, NB... so that means you got some of the scenery from one direction or the other. Maybe you are going farther east on your journey after all????

BAK

I used to be at Fundy a lot; three or four times a summer, but that was decades ago.

My memory is that there is a really great golf course in Fundy National Park, but I think I was around 10 years old when I played it.

My grandmother was born in Hopewell Cape, and her father built wharves and bridges in the area, 125 years ago. Same tides today as back then, and you can imagine the engineering needed to keep these structures in place.

BAK

bob_brown

Funday NP has a golf course. I don't know how crowded it is, but when I drove through the park it was definitely there.

When we went to Hopewell Rocks, we parked near the metal stairs and descended at low tide. We wandered around the ocean bottom until the tide started to return.

Then we walked back to the ladders rather quickly because the water was obviously rising.

We did to to places along the north shore of the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia. That, too, is interesting.

At Truro, we waited for the Tidal Bore, and that was exactly what it was: a bore. I thought we would see something. We did: A ripple of water coming up the creek.
Somehow I expected something more dramatic, particularly in view of the fact that the creek at that point is illuminated for night time viewing.

ltt

if possible, i'd see the high tide first and then the low tide.
bob_brown - i laughed when reading about your experience of the tidal bore. i felt the exact same way about the reversing falls in st john's. what a let down.

NorthwestMale

LOL - yeah, the "reversing falls" are advertised as being something well beyond what they are.

But the Tidal Bore, when viewed at MONCTON, is quite significant.

If you're going to sit by a bathtub and wait for rushing water, you're still going to be next to a bathtub regardless of whether the water rushes or not.

At Moncton the whole river very obviously turns around and rushes UPstream, at a set time, and it is certainly unique!

bob_brown

Our timing was out of phase for Moncton.
Too bad.

We did hear of one humorous event depending on one's point of view.

Along the north shore of the Minas Basin there are a series of automated light houses with fog horns. The horns are controlled by light beam reflection. If the fog gets too thick, the beams reflect the fact and the fog horn comes on.

One of the lighthouse sites is well above the water on a scenic promontory.
A wedding party gathered there shortly before we arrived. In the process, they crowded around the light beam sensor and activated the fog horn just as the ceremony started.

I bet no one present will forget that wedding!!