Fundy - Coastal Trail to Matthew's Head Loop

October 3, 2010 found us in Fundy National Park, taking in one of our favourite hikes from this beautiful area (Matthew's Head), prefaced by a new hike for us (the Coastal Trail).

We started at the Point Wolfe covered bridge, pictured below. You can find parking on the far side of the bridge, just to the right (see the sign in the pic).  This area of the park used to be a thriving small village, with a bustling mill located on one side of this bridge and a dam located on the other side. Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, this village contained boarding houses, a small general store and many hundreds of people who were loggers and millers. In 1948, however, the village was bought by the Park and several years later, most of the dam and all of the mill were removed so as to start the restoration of the river bed in this area.  The bridge pictured below was built in 1992 but is a replica of the 1910 bridge.

 On the far side of the bridge (left side if you're driving toward the parking spaces), there is a small lookoff that shows the remnants of the dam as well as some informative posters on the costs of cutting. In the spring, there would be so many logs in the river that people could literally stand on the river and walk right across it without any fear of sinking! These logs, as they traveled down the river to the mill, would scrap up the river bottom and destroy the natural habitats of many of its occupants, including the American eel and the Atlantic salmon. The other cost, of course, was the many trees who were processed each year at this mill. 

The picture below shows the remnants of the dam that was located on this side of the covered bridge. The picture below that shows what the original dam looked like.

After learning all about the fascinating history of Point Wolfe, we started off on our hike. We had to walk down the highway for about 3 km to meet up with the start of the trail. The trail is called "Coastal" and the entrance is clearly marked and visible from the road.  The trail is classified as "Difficult" (number 3 in a 4 point rating system, with number 4 being "Strenuous") by Fundy National Park. It starts out very steep. For about 10-15 minutes, you will walk straight up a small narrow, root-lined path through the woods. This picture does not do it justice, but it gives you some idea.

Although the trail is called "Coastal," you do not walk along the coast for much of it. However, you are walking through gorgeous, thick forest on a narrow but nicely beaten down trail. Some of the time, you will have to climb over fallen trees and navigate rooty walkways, but it is overall not a difficult hike for experienced hikers. After walking for about 1 hour or so, we joined the Matthew's Head trail and looped around. The Matthew's Head trail boasts some magnificent coastal views!

After stopping for a quick picnic and a little nap in the sun, we hiked back to our car and headed down to the village of Alma for some tasty homemade bread and chili. The entire hike, including the picnic, the sign reading and the relaxed nature of our pace, took about 3 1/2 hours. Definitely a winner for a casual but sometimes challenging hike in beautiful scenery.