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Travel to Atlantic Canada |
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Source:
Highlights of
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National Parks of Atlantic Canada
This magnificent park is a bit out of the way but well
worth the effort to get to. The park encompasses a cross section of the Fundy
environments and landforms: highlands,
For all its wilderness, though, Fundy National Park has a surprising number of civilized comforts, including housekeeping chalets, a motel, a restaurant, and a golf course.
Back to top New Brunswick's Northumberland Strait coast ends in the west at Kouchibouguac National Park, a gem of a park that takes its name from the Mi'kmaq word for "river of the long tides," a reference to the waterway that meanders through the mid-section of the low-lying park. Some pronounce it "KOOSH-e-buh-gwack," others say Kee-gee-boo-QUACK," Parks Canada says it's "Koo-she-boo-gwack," and you'll hear many other versions. Slender barrier islands and white beaches and dunes, laced with marram grass and false heather, face the gulf along a 25-km (16-mile) front. A gray seal colony occupies one of the offshore islands. In the park's interior, boardwalks ribbon the mudflats, freshwater marshes, and bogs, and nature trails probe the woodlands.
Gros
Morne National Park The Gros Morne preserve fronts the Gulf of St. Lawrence on a coastal plain rimmed with 72 km of coast edging sandy and cobblestoned beaches, seastacks, caves, forests, peat bogs, and breathtaking saltwater and freshwater fjords. The flattened Long Range Mountains, part of the ancient Appalachian Mountains, rise as an alpine plateau cloaked with black and white spruce, balsam fir, white birch, and stunted tuckamore thickets. Bare patches of peridotite, toxic to most plants, speckle the peaks, and at the highest elevations the vegetation gives way to lichen, moss, and dwarf willow and birch on the arctic tundra.
Innumerable
moose, arctic hare, fox, weasel, lynx, and a few bears roam the park. Two
large herds of woodland caribou inhabit the mountains and migrate to the
coastal plain during winter. Bald eagles, ospreys, common and arctic
terns, great black-backed gulls, and songbirds nest along the coast, while
rock ptarmigans inhabit the mountain peaks. You might see willow
ptarmigans on the lower slopes or, especially during the June to early
July capelin run, a few pilot, minke, or humpback whales offshore.
Terra
Nova National Park Above Port Blandford, the TransCanada Hwy. runs along Terra Nova National Park’s western edge. Moose, black bear, beaver, rare pine martens, lynx, and bald eagles inhabit the hilly, inland boreal forest and wetlands of the 404-square-km preserve. Ocean currents push icebergs up to the rugged shoreline in summer, and from mid-May to mid-Aug., whales roam the deep-water fjords. Water temperatures vary: the sea can be as warm as 20° C in the sheltered bays from late summer to early autumn, but temperatures never rise above a chilly -2° C in the fjord's depths. More than a dozen trails thread through the park, providing some 60 km (37 miles) of hiking. Most are uncomplicated loop routes that meander easily for an hour's walk beneath tree canopies. Fishing is good in the park's many lakes and streams, and Terra Nova Golf Resort is rated one of the best in Canada.
Cape Breton Highlands National Park It is impossible not to fall in love with this spectacular national park that stretches across the top of Cape Breton Island. Sea cliffs and rocky coves dominate the east side and long sandy beaches run down the east side, with a vast plateau of wilderness in between. The Cabot Trail, one of Canada’s most scenic drives, loops through the park and weaves along both coasts, ensuring you miss nothing. Wildlife viewing is excellent, with most visitors spotting moose, whales and bald eagles, often without even leaving their vehicles. The name Cabot Trail refers to a 300-kilometer (186-mile) route that takes in not just Cape Breton Highlands National Park, but also the coastal drive south from the park to St. Anns and on to Baddeck then through the Margaree Valley to Chéticamp. Parts of the trail outside the park are covered earlier in this chapter, leaving the most spectacular 110-kilometer (68-mile) section to be detailed here under the national park heading.
Deep in the interior of southwestern Nova
Scotia, Kejimkujik (pronounced kedgi-muh- Wildlife enthusiasts visit the park for bird-watching (including barred owls, pileated woodpeckers, scarlet tanagers, great crested flycatchers, loons, and other waterfowl) and may also spot black bears, white-tailed deer, bobcats, porcupines, and beavers. The many lakes and connecting rivers attract canoeists and swimmers in warm weather, as well as anglers. Hikers can choose from a network of trails, some leading to backcountry campgrounds. In winter, cross-country skiers take over the hiking trails.
Prince Edward Island National Park Prince Edward Island National Park’s sandy beaches, dunes, sandstone cliffs, marshes, and forestlands represent Prince Edward Island as it once was, unspoiled by the crush of 20th-century development.
Sunrise and sunset here are cast in glowing colors. All along the gulf at sunrise, the beaches have a sense of primeval peacefulness, their sands textured like herringbone by the overnight sea breezes.
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deeply
cut valleys, swampy lowlands, dense forests of red and sugar maple, yellow
birch, beech, red spruce, and balsam fir, and a shoreline of dizzying cliffs and
sand and shingle beaches.
KOO-jick,
or Keji for short) lies off Highway 8, about midway between Liverpool and
Annapolis Royal. Encompasing drumlins (rounded glacial hills),
island-dotted lakes, and hardwood and conifer forests, the park and
adjacent Tobeatic Game Sanctuary are an important refuge for native
wildlife and town weary Nova Scotians.
The
park protects a slender, 40-km (25-mile) coastal slice of natural
perfection extending almost the full length of Prince Edward Island's
north shore. The park extends inland at Cavendish to include Green Gales
House and Green Gables Golf Course (both detailed below under Cavendish).
The main body of the park is bookended by two large bays. At the eastern
end, Tracadie Bay spreads out like an oversize pond with shimmering
waters. Forty km to the west, New London Bay forms almost a mirror image
of the eastern end. In between, long barrier islands define Rustico and
Covehead bays, and sand dunes webbed with marram grass, rushes, fragrant
bayberry, and wild roses front the coastline.