Hopewell Rocks & Cape Enrage

Our original plan was to spend the 2nd night in Canada at a casino in Moncton. Many casinos allow free overnight parking and they usually have reasonably priced buffets as well. Our plans changed when we looked at some tourist brochures from the local area and realized we were close to some interesting attractions.

Not far from our planned route there was Hopewell Rocks. Located on the Bay of Fundy, Hopewell Rocks offers the opportunity to walk out onto the ocean floor at low tide. Huge rock formations known as “flowerpots” are scattered along the ocean floor. Their unique shapes have been formed by years of high tide waves crashing against the cliffs and caves. The Bay of Fundy is known for its extreme high tides reaching over 39 feet in some places.

We had seen a youtube video by “The Motorhome Experiment” last year and they had stayed at a campground right beside the Hopewell Rocks. We went back to view that youtube episode to find the name of the campground they had stayed at. We located Ponderosa Pines’ contact info and called them- they had a space available for 2 nights! We reserved it and headed that way!

Ponderosa Pines campground is a quiet retreat right on the bay. It has 2 man made lakes and a swimming pool. There are no major chain grocery stores or restaurants nearby but it is literally a mile from Hopewell Rocks. We got there right about low tide time so we unhooked Old Glory then went to Hopewell Rocks to walk on the ocean floor.

The admission price of $10 is for 2 days so we could return to view high tide the next day. The trails to the viewing overlooks and the stairs that go down to the coastline require quite a bit of walking. They were no problem for us but we thought that anyone who is handicapped or elderly would definitely have a problem navigating them.

We spent a couple of hours walking around looking at the huge rock formations and caves uncovered at low tide. Then we walked back to the visitor center/gift shop browsed a bit before going back to the campground.

We enjoyed a quick hike around the lakes at the campground and looked for moose on our way. We had heard it is possible to see moose grazing by the ponds at dawn or dusk but we didn’t see any.

The next day we went back to see the high tide. It was amazing to see the areas where we had walked the previous day completely covered by several feet of water. The waves crashing into the shore line and rock formations made it clear how the rocks had been shaped over the years. And atop most of these “flower pot” rocks were trees growing and thriving regardless of all the turmoil beneath them.

We also walked farther down some hiking trails in the opposite direction towards a beach.

From the end of this beach we could look over and see our campground! It was a beautiful clear day and so we decided to take a little drive after we were done at Hopewell Rocks and check out a lighthouse at Cape Enrage.

We followed the signs for what seemed like a very long time and the final stretch was a very steep, narrow, curvy road. It was a little scary in our big truck but once we made it to the top it was worth it.

We passed a few cairns on the way up!

There was a little restaurant at the top as well as the Lighthouse, a gift shop, and for a fee you could zip line or go rappelling down the cliff.

A little fog rolled in.

It was low tide and we could walk down some stairs to the coastline.

Rappelling? ????

The zipline!

We headed back to the campground and began to get ready to pack up and head to New Glasgow, Nova Scotia’s Walmart Super Centre the next day.

It looks like we will make it to PEI by our anniversary! Next post will be Nova Scotia and catching the ferry to PEI.