And what a perfect day it was. We joined Finn and Spiritfury along with jai06, fergus pals and the kool 66 and hike4familyfun teams, 13 in all, for a 15 kilometer, 6 hour and 17 minute adventure!
Cape Split is a thin peninsula that juts out into the Bay of Fundy like a giant fishhook. It is about 7kms (4 miles) long and from a couple of kilometers (2 miles) to a couple of dozen meters (90 feet) in width. The headland ends abruptly in 100 meter (300 foot) cliffs that offers spectacular (here we go again! :)) views. Across the Bay of Fundy and to the Northwest you can see Cape D’ Or and to the Northeast, the town of Parrsboro.
The trail has been here for years and it was recently acquired by the Nova Scotia Government with plans on turning it into a provincial park. The hike in is on an uphill incline, starting at sea level and up to the headland. The main trail is a combination of gnarled tree roots, mud holes and slippery rocks (it’s been described as “like 15 kilometers on a ‘Stairmaster’ :)) that courses through an old growth forest of huge hardwood and softwood trees, opening to a small field at the headland.
It took us about two hours to reach the headland. We made pretty good time considering that we stopped to rest and to find several caches along the way (of course!). On several occasions we were having so much fun chatting that we walked right by them and had to backtrack! Here are a couple of photos of the end of the cape:
After resting for a while at the top and having a bite to eat we were ready for the return trip. It was decided that in order to pick up a couple of more caches it would be better to take a smaller trail on the West side of the cape, though this would involve a bit of bushwhacking, just a bit… :):
Mrs_go coined another new word while noting that this trail was not as ‘pathier’ as the main one. 🙂
EMC of Northridge, CA
Wow.. this goes on my to do list! 🙂
tonka_boy
What a great place to geocache. Look at all those caches on the map! Three Earth Caches that close together? Too cool!
When I envision geocaching in my mind, places like that come into view. Cliffs, caves, and waves crashing on the shore. Not corn fields and bean fields like we have around here.
And I think “pathier” is a great word!
Great post!
Hick
Pathier is a word. Isn’t it? I’m with the misses, pathier is an excellent choice. That place is [all of those words that we’ve been talking about.] Amazing views, and that beach is fantastic. Great post.
P.J.
Sounds like an awesome place to cache and your photos really bring it alive. Nice wrap up on the day. Looks like a place that I would end up trying to do more photography than geocaching!
fishing fanatic
Cape Split is one of my favorite hikes to do. Did this hike with some other geocachers just over a year ago to find my 2000th cache. The view at the end is amazing and makes every step along the way worth it.
Pod-cache
I am taking the family up to Blomidon this weekend. With the kids being only 4 and 2 years old we likely won’t do the whole trip this time, however we do travel prepared and thankfully my wife and I are both fit enough to enjoy carrying them in the backpacks as much as they enjoy to be carried.
Great article, can’t wait to take it all in with the family in person!