Part One: Halifax
This is my fifth time in Canada, and my first since starting my TCC territory count over as a 50+ year old solo traveler.
Halifax was totally new to me. My previous Canadian visits were to Vancouver, Toronto, and a couple other places just over the USA border.
This visit was between my trips to Prince Edward Island and Saint-Pierre & Miquelon. I drove through Canada from Maine to PEI, then drove from PEI to Halifax where I spent a couple days before flying to SP&M. Once finished with SP&M, I flew back to Halifax to spend more time in Nova Scotia before returning to Maine.
I enjoyed walking around the harbor and looking at the various street art. Included in the photos is Ned Kahn’s “Tidal Beacon,” a massive stainless steel and polycarbonate structure, a “reflection of the natural forces all around us” (zoom in on the appropriate photo to learn more).
Halifax sailors/clergy played a central role in retrieving and burying the remains of the Titanic victims. The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic has a floor about shipwrecks, and the Titanic is featured. Included in the displays are pieces of the Grand Staircase, a deck chair, and other odds and ends that were retrieved along with the bodies.
Re: Titanic – Four ships from Halifax recovered 328 bodies. 209 were brought back to Halifax, the rest were buried at sea. Of the 209, the ones thought to be Protestant were buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery.
Fairview Lawn Cemetery also holds unidentified remains from the Halifax Explosion. There is a display about the Explosion in Halifax’s Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.
On Dec 6, 1917, just five years after Halifax helped take care of the bodies from the Titanic, two ships, the French cargo ship SS Mont Blanc and the Norwegian SS Imo, collided in a narrow waterway within Halifax’s harbor. The French ship caught on fire and drifted toward a pier in Halifax. Unfortunately, that ship was loaded with the military explosives TNT, picric acid, guncotton, and the high-octane fuel benzole. When the ship reached the pier at Halifax, it exploded, resulting in the largest man-made blast in history until Hiroshima. The blast disintegrated part of Halifax, killing 2000 people and injuring 9000 others. 1600 houses were destroyed. The blast could be heard 150 miles out to sea and it could be felt as far away as Prince Edward Island.
This disaster seems ripe for a well-made movie telling. There has been only one 2003 TV-movie which did not receive good reviews (Shattered City:The Halifax Explosion) and a documentary. I have not seen the documentary, it doesn’t seem like many have viewed it. It is on YouTube and is appropriately called The Halifax Explosion – The Full Documentary.
The Halifax Citadel National Historic Site is another popular tourist attraction, but I only got photos from the outside since I elected not to go in.
Part Two: Dartmouth and Truro
Dartmouth and Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. June 12-18, 2024.
Soent a couple days exploring Dartmouth after getting back from Saint-Pierre & Miquelon. Dartmouth is right across the water from Halifax and is undergoing an economic boom. Luxury condo buildings are being built close to the historic downtown area. Two years from now places to stay will likely be twice as expensive.
There were several lakes within walking distance of my AirBnb, so between exploring those trails and ambling around downtown, I got my daily miles in. I had the best AirBnB host in Dartmouth! Suzanne is full of joy and has traveled extensively. Super kind woman, I loved speaking with her.
The photo with the bench and flag looking toward Halifax was taken from Dartmouth Common.
The ferry between Dartmouth and Halifax is the oldest saltwater ferry in North America.
Truro is the “hub of Nova Scotia” and has Victoria Park, which of course I explored. I played a game of going in without a map (gasp!) and wandering about spontaneously. Since the entire thing isn’t that big and is surrounded by residential roads, and since this is a park and not a massive wilderness area, and since I had my compass and knew which direction I had entered in the event I ever felt truly lost, I did not feel this was much of a risk. I had fun walking this way and that, and I eventually popped out on a road almost two miles from downtown. I walked the sidewalks back to my starting area, feeling like a daring adventurer hahaha.
Truro’s downtown has a lot more to it than Dartmouth’s, and I enjoyed window shopping and trying out one of the local coffee shops.
Part Three: Fundy National Park New Brunswick. June 18-22, 2024.
The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world due to the shape of the bay and tidal resonance. One good place to witness this phenomenon is Fundy National Park. I booked a yurt in Headquarters Campground overlooking the Bay near the small town of Alma.
My yurt – Yurt 1 – was the only one with a full view of the Bay, from both the outside seating area and the inside windows. Yurt 2 is close and has a partial view, but it’s not as good as 1. No other campsite has any sort of view. And though there was no air conditioning, the breeze from the Bay adequately cooled the indoor space when the windows and screen door were all open, even during the heat wave. There was no electricity, but I had come prepared with a battery charger. Needless to say, I was a happy camper.
I hope my photos give a sense of the tidal extremes. The Fundy NP website says that during low tide, one can walk nearly a kilometer from the high tide line on Alma Beach to the water’s edge, and at high tide, the water depth can reach over 50 feet. Alma is easy walking distance from HQ Campground, so I went into town one morning to explore while the tide was still low. I did not walk all the way to the water’s edge, however, since the sand became dense and mud-like, and scores of shelled critters were right at the surface ready for the next high tide to arrive. I did not want to injure anything.
I walked further into Alma and noted how all the boats had to be “anchored” during low tide. When I returned just a couple hours later, the water had come back. I was surprised at the speed of the change.
Coastal Trail and Upper Salmon River Trail. June 2024.
I hiked most of two trails while in Fundy NP. Both trailheads were walking distance from the HQ Campground.
Coastal Trail. I got an early start to beat the heat and humidity, but I forgot my second liter of water and my water filter. I therefore only did eight miles roundtrip instead of the total twelve-ish. The trail offered views of the water along various points, and it had some connecting trails to little beaches, but it mostly felt like a bunch of PUDs.
Last photos – I did most of the Upper Salmon River Trail on a different morning. This one felt a teeny bit like the lower portion of the Dry River Trail in the Whites. Maintainers have fastened ropes in sections to help with the water crossing and a few eroded side-steep sections. I did most of this trail, but stopped short of ascending the last bit since that part apparently led to another trail and not a viewpoint.
Both these trails are described as “difficult” with “rock scrambles” by the Park’s literature. By White Mountain standards, these trails are easy to moderate with typical White Mountain terrain. No scrambles. Just a bunch of rocks, roots, eroded bits (Salmon River), and a tiny rockslide or two.
I left Canada and returned to the States on June 22. Time to work on my domestic LifeQuest goals for a while. I anticipate another international trip near the end of this year.