An Extraordinary Escape - Back Country Camping in Nova Scotia.jpg)
Sometimes, you just want to get away from it all. And there seem to be fewer and fewer places in the world where you can truly escape from the sound of a cellphone ringing or the ding of someone receiving email with their wi-fi enabled laptop. Cape Chignecto Provincial Park and Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site in Nova Scotia offer plenty of ways to run away from the rat race to the natural quiet of old growth forest, a beach framed against spectacular sea-stacks, or a length of lake where the only sound is your canoe paddle dipping through still waters.
Located on the Bay of Fundy where the world's highest tides rise and fall twice a day, Cape Chignecto Provincial Park is home to more than 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) of hiking trails including a 45 km (28 mile) wilderness loop with challenging terrain for the experienced adventurer. The rewards of hiking Chignecto are many. Red Rocks, for instance, offers a chance to see one the rarest red sandstone formations in the world - there are only three other examples of this kind of formation on Earth! The Raised Beach is another natural wonder. When the glaciers of the Ice Age began their retreat, they left this beach two hundred feet above sea level. And the famed Three Sisters sea-stacks are more than worth the price of admission (which, by the way, is an insignificant $3 access fee).
There are several walk-in camp sites, but no serviced campsites at Chignecto which means the 30 back country sites located primarily along the breathtaking coastal trail are usually populated by folks who take their wilderness camping seriously. There are three wilderness cabins that can be reserved and a wilderness bunk house that sleeps twelve for shared use.
Kejimkujik National Park and Historic Site is the only inland National Park in the Maritime Provinces. It is a huge reserve of natural and cultural heritage with more than a hundred kilometres of hiking and cycling trails and routes that can take you on anything from an afternoon trek to a six-day odyssey.
Keji, as the park is familiarly known, encompasses many of the traditional canoe trade routes of Nova Scotia's first people, the Mi'kmaq. Travelling the backcountry of this remarkable park takes hikers to places where more bobcats than people leave their footprints. The black bear population in the wilderness of the park is alive and well. The bears co-exist peaceably with the environmentally-conscious and experienced wilderness enthusiasts who come to visit their natural habitat and there has never been a single incident of a bear bothering a camper in Keji. Naturally, using good sense in packing and storing food at the camp site is what will keep this trend going for years to come.
Catering to backcountry hikers and campers is a Keji specialty. Canoes are available for rent at the park. There are 46 wilderness campsites stocked with firewood, gravelled tent pads, picnic tables and outhouse toilets. Campers who want to end their adventure at a different point in the park than they departed from can arrange for a pick-up from park staff.