To Hopewell CapeJul 19, 2006
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High & Dry at low tide
The route from Fredrickton to Hopewell Cape included numerous references to steep grades. Sounded kind of serious, however these were what East Coast folks consider challenging roads. Most were only a few hundred yards in length and at those distances 9-10% grades don't have enough time to be much of an issue like Rocky Mountain grades that go on for miles do. So far driving days have'nt been blessed with much scenery. Mostly the roads are lined by 10-15 foot high wooded areas and sparsely populated areas. Some of todays route looked much like "road Alaska": frequent vehicle wide paths from the road back through the trees. Couldn't tell what the trail led to-house, trailer, tent??
The descent through Fundy Park down to the water did live up to billing though. It was a true granny gear grade, plus careful use of brakes to keep speeds safe on the continuous curves. Even exhaust brakes on the diesel rigs also required the use of brakes. We made a lunch stop at the bottom to wait for low tide. Tides here are advertised as the highest tide changes in the world, averaging about 40 feet. The boats of the fishing fleet that were in port were sitting high and dry on their keels. It is a big thing if you have to live with them, but the rush of the huge volumes of water is much more impressive than static high or low conditions.
The RV park is located another 25 miles up the bay and just a mile or so from the most photographed attraction in the Province of New Brunswick, the Hopewell Rocks. They are the result of the ebb and flow of the water against the rocky hills along this part of the bay. We have a guided tour scheduled at low tide tomorrow afternoon, so decided to visit them at high tide at 8 pm this evening for comparison. No luck. The entrance closes at 8 pm, high tide or no high tide. If we want to go at high tide it will have to be early in the morning.
We had a great afternoon though, visiting with our tour companions and swatting the green-head flies that considered us lunch. They light - and bite. Have to swat them quickly. Adventure provided supper tonight. I expected the fire department to arrive at any moment as Fearless Leader cooked the hamburgers. Haven't seen a better smokescreen from a smoke-laying tank on army excercises
