Tag: camping

Cape Chignecto: A Fall Adventure in Nova Scotia’s Wilderness

Cape Chignecto Provincial Park in Nova Scotia offers stunning coastal scenery and a challenging hiking experience. The author shares their solo journey in October, contending with steep ascents, unpredictable weather, and water supply challenges due to a drought. Despite difficulties, the experience fosters appreciation for nature and proper preparation.

Cape Chignecto is a provincial park in West Advocate, Nova Scotia, about three hours’ drive from Halifax airport and a three-and-a-half-hour drive from my home in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

The journey to and from is lovely in and of itself, pastoral farmland is quickly replaced by rugged coastline and the bay of Fundy with its dramatic tidal basins make the ocean look endless with the tide in or as if it is a giant beach when the tide is out. I went during the first week of October, when the entire province seems to be a riot of fall colour and foliage. this also presents some challenges with the weather being generally unpredictable in the fall. Luckily, the weather was great, except for the torrential rain I got caught in on the last day.

My start from the visitor centre was great, the check in process very easy and many of the warnings that are visible on the website are repeated by the staff with great care. This past year in NS, there was a historic drought, so the park had set up water stations and marked them on the updated map. One thing that is important to note, is that even though this is a provincial park and a relatively closed loop and everything is well marked, this is still a “wilderness zone” as such, it is important to bring a compass or GPS system, and some emergency items in case you get lost. One of these items should be a map. If you are like me, you probably hate that at every turn in the Hiking industry there is someone telling you to spend more money for everything, including but not limited to adequate mapping. I am here to tell you spend do not need to spend a tin of money on maps, depending where you are going. In this case, you can download topo maps, and trail maps from the website, in a handy PDF format. Once I had them all downloaded, I printed and laminated them at the library, so all my maps for this trip cost about three dollars. The laminating was a great call, this ensured they would stay dry if I dropped them in the water, or got rained on. This experience ensured I will never take the library for granted again.

My pack weight was 45lbs. not too heavy but not exactly light. Also, do remember dear reader, I am alone, no one to help carry the weight, so keep that in mind when we start ascending 500m up the Fundy cliffs.

Once I had set off from the visitor centre, I was able to walk the first kilometer on the beach, something that is only possible at low tide, this is the only part of the journey that requires tide time knowledge, which seems deceptive considering it’s a coastal trail. But after the rocky beach walk, that when the real fun began. The first 5km, like the entire first day, is uphill and very steep. To say I was unprepared for what lay ahead would only be a small understatement, it was how steep the climb was that took me aback, as it does not look this steep on a topo map.

And yet at the first view spot I was completely out of breath. This is when it was great to be alone, so no one could see me sweat. I made the decision to pull out my neck gator and take my sweater off, and that kept the sweat off my neck as the daytime temp never went above 10C and I didn’t want to catch a cold.

Sadly, the last good view on the day was at KM marker 4 as the path diverges into the forest, the path also leveled out quite a bit and then I was able to catch my breath and start making some progress on the day. A quick lesson I leaned that morning, progress only feels good when you return to your normal speed. I literally at times and figuratively crawled to this point and believed that I would never make it to the end, but of course, I did. As I hiked off into the woods, I felt great, and focused on the birds, the trees and my own breath.

The last 15km of the first day were by comparison, noneventful. The trail was a little awkwardly marked as I approached a marshy area as I came close to the Eatonville bunk house, but AllTrails helped me navigate that bit. Unfortunately, the only water on the map was at the Eatonville bunk house, and as I passed it, I decided not to stop for water, preferring to find my campsite for the night and have a nap. I got to the campsite at around 2pm, at a giant field that could have slept 100 people, but it was only me. In hindsight, I should have stayed at site #7, hidden away from the field, by a little brook which had very little strength given the drought that had been going on and was not a good water source. Which meant hat I had to hike 2km each way to fill up my water, so I set up my camp, repacked my bag and headed off for the cabin. It was closed for the season, but for anyone not interested in sleeping outside, they look nice, and sleep about 8 people.

All in all, it was a long day, the hottest of the three, and the least interesting from a lookout perspective. I got to sleep around 930pm, ready to wake up at 6am to start the next day which proved the most arduous.

What Is a Quillow? Your New Backpacking Essential

Hands up, who typically uses their backup clothes as a backpacking pillow? There is a TON of opinions on this in the backpacking sphere, so I thought I would add my voice to the mix.

On that note, I give you the quillow. My wife has been making them since she was small as it’s a very basic pattern that she leaned from her grandmother. The rudimentary design is as simple as it sounds, it’s a blanket that can fold into a pillow. Its stitched so that it’s a box blanket with a pocket on the end. And it folds and rolls in a very similar manner to a sleeping bag. You can make it out of any material that is suitable for a sewing machine. My quillow is made from partially recycled fiber Polar Fleece. I also treated the fabric with Grangers repel plus to add some water repellency to it.

Another plus, is that I don’t have to blow it up, or bring a mini pump to do so, thus eliminating an extra component to bring with.  

PROSCONS
Extremely soft, comfortable and warmTakes up space or requires a separate dry bag
Doubles as a robe/dressing gown 
Can be used as an extra blanket layer in sleeping bag 
Made with love and reminds me of home on longer trips 

All in all, it’s the perfect luxury to bring on short backpacking trips where you can make space for it, and great for car camping to save some space. A pillow on any trip beats smelly spare clothes and the hard ground any day!

Your Guide to Hiking Cape Chignecto: Maps & Accommodations

When we last left off, I had determined that I would need three days to hike the Coastal loop, but would budget four just in case. So now I’ve started to consider the route. First things first, I need a map.

https://parks.novascotia.ca/park/cape-chignecto

If you go on the Parks Nova Scotia website and click on Cape Chignecto, you will find a wealth of information such as, entrance fees, booking availability and camping fees. Also, you can download a map of the park. The map contains a trail map, detailed maps of the various campgrounds and a topographic map of the park and surrounding area, all for FREE. Since I plan on going myself, I will be printing the downloaded map and getting it laminated at Staples, that way I can bring it with and it can stay weather resistant.

I have AllTrails plus, so I can also print out supplementary maps with satellite photos of the terrain and weather. I’ll use those print outs to mark out my path since I’ll be leaving my travel plan with my wife and dog.

Currently, in order to maximize my time, I am leaning towards hiking the trail in a counter clockwise direction, meaning from the entrance I’ll be headed north towards Eatonville and that campground rather than west towards Mill Brook. This means that distance traveled on day one will be about 12-15km.

The reason for this is that the starting route is mostly wooded forest area, not much for dramatic ocean views or particularly great pictures.

I personally don’t thing that it matters which way I decide to take the trail, since it’s a short trip, my pack weight will remain relatively consistent since the only thing I’ll be losing is a few grams every day in dried food, so I’d like to be in the home stretch at the ocean where I can take photos and perhaps stop more to take in the view.

Another advantage to going this way is that there are more campgrounds on the west side of the park, if the weather turns nasty there will be more opportunity to find shelter and refill my water canteen.

For the next day I will have to make a decision at booking time, whether to go from Eatonville to Little Bald rock (LBR), or to push on Refugee cove (RC). LBL looks to be about 8-10km from Eatonville with RC being another 4km past that. At LBR there are only 4 campsites whereas RC has 11, so it will be a booking day decision to see which fills up faster or if I’d rather be in a less populated space for the night, which is usually my preference.

This also changes the last hiking day from either a 3ish km journey to almost 8km journey. Either of these are doable considering I’ll only have emergency food provisions and enough water for the day, so not much to slow me down with weight in the bag.

Of course, these are all relative distances based on an estimation looking at the park map, when I print it out ill be able to make more detailed predictions about distances and travel times, and I’ll be able to supplement those estimations with trail reviews and AllTrails data.

The last question that I want to think about today is where my wife and dog will sleep, I may have mentioned before that they DO NOT want to come with, Toto would but my wife wants him to keep her company. So, I’m looking at Pet Friendly accommodations near the park entrance in West Advocate.

Home – Fox Point Inn

Fox Point Inn looks like a perfect place to keep my family, its pet friendly and only about 20 min away from the entrance, it’s also under $200 a night. The rooms look comfy and they look like they come with all the modern amenities, if I wasn’t headed out backpacking this would be a great place for us all to stay as its near Cape Chignecto, Five Islands and Cape D’or, all with hiking trails to explore. Its 20 min to Parrsboro, so close enough if Britt needs to run out for anything.

Next time I’ll start to focus on the gear I’ll need for the few days and creating a pack list, as well as figuring out booking day. See you then!

Solo Backpacking Prep: Cape Chignecto Guide

Come prep with me to hike Cape Chignecto, a series

I think that as the fall starts to wind down, the temperatures drop and winter starts to set in, backpackers start to think about what trails to take on next year. I am no different, but I live in Nova Scotia, so while it gets cold, I won’t be dealing with snow until January so I still have some more outside time to enjoy. This winter will be different because ill be planning my first solo backpacking trip and I’ve chosen the Cape Chignecto Coastal Loop in West Advocate, NS.

I choose this hike from reading various blogs and articles after googling “beginner backpacking hikes in Nova Scotia”. And the main reason I settled on Cape Chignecto is because the consensus on trail reviews was that the trail is well marked, and is a loop, so the chances of getting lost are lower, obviously not zero, but there should be limited navigation work all things being equal. That said, I hate being unprepared, and since I’ve never been here before, I’ve made this the first of a series on how I’m personally preparing for this adventure.

The first thing that I did was figure out the total distance and the total time it might take. Finding the distance was easy as it’s listed on Alltrails and the cape Chignecto website (+/-52km if anyone is wondering). At this point, you might be thinking, all you do is divide the total distance by days you have available, and then you can manipulate those numbers until you have a reasonable pace. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work so well in the real world, to do this hike in say 3 days is 17.5km per day, but remember, you are also carrying three days’ worth of supplies, so 17km might be too much in one day.

What I did instead was to start to look for itineraries from other people, that would give me insight on campgrounds also. This is a provincial park and its illegal to camp without a permit and outside of designated zones. So, reading about other people’s trips is helping me to plan my days and route.

So, I’ve now determined that ill need 4 days to be safe, but am going to plan to hike it in three days. Taking time off work in the warm moths can get tricky for me in my profession, so that might be all the time I get.

So, you may remember I said this trip would be solo, but I wouldn’t want to dis-include my wife or dog since they enjoy the outdoors but aren’t interested in a trip like this necessarily. With that in in, I’ve been trying to find dog friendly hotels or inns in West Advocate for my wife and dog to stay in while I do this hike. That way, they can also be near in case something goes wrong, but also to greet me when I get back because the best part of my day is seeing them. The two of them can have a little mini holiday while I thru hike a shortish trail, win win.

The next thing to do was figure out my daily distances and where to stop. Given my somewhat constrained timings, my first day would have to be fairly short. While I’m in planning mode, all my checklists tend to run simultaneously through my mind. So even just the thought of having a short day one brings a little relief to mind since I know that my pack will be the fullest at this point with food, fuel and gear, and that I’ll already be tired and cramped from driving to the trail, since its about a three-hour drive, not to mention ill be getting a late start since ill have to check my wife and dog into their accommodation.

I’ve elected to take the trail clockwise, and that means the coastal side first. But also, my first campground could be either 7.5km or 13.5km from the start, for me and my fitness level, I’m open to either of these options right now. Ostensibly I’m leaning to having the 13.5km option on the first day. There are a couple reasons for this, one, it will shorten day two so I won’t have to get up at dawn and pack up and start going again, and two, I’ll have more tie for taking pictures since ill be going through the scenic coastal portion of the trail. I personally hate feeling like I don’t have tine to look around at trees and birds and whatever else is out there, because that the whole point of being in nature.

Well, that’s as far as I’ve gotten for now, lots more to come with day planning and campsite planning and gear, I’ve only just gotten started so keep getting ready with me!

About me

“Not all who wander are lost”

J.R.R Tolkein
3–5 minutes

My name is Bryce and I’m 36 years old, and I like to go adventuring alone, or with my wife and dog. I was born and raised in Mississauga ON and moved to Nova Scotia about 4 years ago. I think I have a unique perspective because I was raised in the city but spent my summers camping, hiking and fishing in a little community called Port Loring ON. I wanted to start this blog to inspire more people to get out into nature, and to show how easy it can be to get outside and have a nice time. My wife is more “outsidey” than outdoorsy, so that forces me to tailor our plans to different skill levels which I think will be helpful as this blog goes forward. I’m hoping to write insightful reviews of campgrounds, trails and hikes, and gear that I use. Our dog is a little Dachshund, Jack Russel Chihuahua, and he loves being outside more than anything, but he has a limited battery so I think ill be able to write many insightful things about dogs in general but specifically small dogs.

I live in western Nova Scotia, so I’ll be writing a lot about the area and a lot about day trips to go on. Ill be sharing my experience of the day plus what I brought with me and with the rest of my little family. I’d like to focus on the Maritimes and Canada mainly, but, so many Canadians live within shouting distance of the US border that I wouldn’t want to ignore places like Maine, Vermont, or New Hampshire. My wife and I also used to live in the UK, so in the future we would love to go back to Scotland and Wales and Ireland for some adventuring to compare to North America, especially from a logistical standpoint.

As I go forward I’ll be trying to take on more strenuous, possibly multi day solo adventures, especially around Nova Scotia. I was just in Newfoundland for a week and maybe ill start with that one.

I would describe my outdoor skills as moderate, my hiking level as moderate plus. I used to play rugby growing up so I have a strong competitive spirit, and that why I love apps like All trails, because it saves the “stats” from the day so I can go back to the same places and try and go faster to improve my overall fitness level. I also like the idea of competing against nature, making the big climbs etc. My long-term goal is to hike the ATC in one consecutive run, of course that feels like a HUGE cliché, but I think without goals its hard to find the motivation to get out to do anything.

My wife and I are both avid readers, she even has two literature degrees. So, books and reading are a huge part of our life and also fun to do at camp or anywhere outside, so ill probably include reading list or book recommendations as part of the blog. As far as music goes, we are all team Nature Sounds, so no music on the trials, no boombox at camp, BUT I might include road trip playlists since we have to drive pretty much everywhere.

Water is such a huge part of the experience on the east coast, so ill be writing about beaches, swimming, paddling and surfing. My wife is getting into Stand Up Paddleboarding, so ill be documenting her journey, and I recently got into kayaking and plan to take some sea kayak classes to start to take on more technical waterways, so that will be an entertaining read also!

Finally, I wouldn’t be able to talk about doing any of this without talking about food. My entire adult life has been spent cooking professionally in restaurant kitchens, so food has been a huge part of my life, but backpacking meals are seemingly universally terrible, so I’ll try to include a menu of what I brought and maybe recipes if people want. What we eat is super important, especially since I have to coax my wife into some of my crazier ideas, the meal at the end of it is a huge reward, so it better be good, and I strive to bring restaurant quality meals out to camp.

That’s all for now, see you on the trail!

Leave a comment