East Branch Trail/ Kinnie Brook Trail

We managed two nice hikes in Fundy NP today.

For the first we drove to the East Branch trailhead in the north-west corner of the park.  This trail is basically a level trail through a forest of beech, birch, spruce, and fir.  When doing the trail in a clockwise direction, the first half is for hikers only with the return a bike/hike trail. The return trail was originally a road used in the lumbering operations of the 19th century.  We saw no bikers.  Most of the trail is in good shape, though with a few downed trees and lots of tiny branches from the hurricane.  Once again David enjoyed taking pictures of the various tree barks.

On the way back to our campsite we drove into Alma for a stop at the Alma lobster shop to buy mussels and salmon.

Once parked at our campsite we walked over to the Kinnie Brook Trail.  That was a nice walk in the woods where we could see the effects of the hurricane.  A number of spruce trees had their tops blown off in the wind — probably because they were so heavily loaded with cones.  The trail was a bit rough, but pleasant until we reached the last part into the canyon.  Stairs have been built down into the canyon, but I find going down stairs somewhat difficult, so we bailed on the last part.  Another couple who had gone to the bottom commented that we hadn’t missed anything and, in fact, they were so underwhelmed they hadn’t even bothered to take a picture. 

We returned to the van.  For a mussel dinner with potato-broccoli salad.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)