New Brunswick

Man oh man, the drive from Truro, NS to Saint John, NB was nice! A bit windy so I had to pay more attention to the helm but the scenery was (again!) gorgeous. Colors starting to turn in the hilly forests. Overall, a nice drive into Saint John. I quickly set up camp, decoupled the trailer and hustled into town to a Boston Pizza to catch the Cowboys vs. Seahwaks game. Other than the good Mediterranean salad, that was a waste of time! The Cowboys failed to show; I left a few minutes into the 3^rd quarter.

For my Saint John tourist day I started out at Reversing Falls. The water changes direction due to the tidal flow of the Bay of Fundy. My first visit to the observation point was at noon: high tide and the ocean was at its height. It took me a while to square this away in my brain, that the water flowing below me was running up river. I even checked the compass and google maps satellite view to confirm what I was seeing. Pretty impressive! The day before I’d rafted in the same phenomenon at the far upper end of the Bay and knew it to be true, but to observe it from an elevated position was a very cool experience.

I then kicked around downtown St John and visited the town’s local breweries. Big Tide Brewing, Picaroons General Store and Foghorn Brewing were cool and each had good beers; First City was not and I won’t even link to the dump. Ran a couple errands and then I returned to the Reversing Falls observation area to see what it was like at low tide. Oh my God (and I don’t say that lightly)! This deserves a nod to the Creator. The river was now flowing normally/out to sea—in a big way! The Saint John River pours a lot of water into the bay. For the tide to push the flow backwards is just amazing! Check the videos below. I’ve swapped the order in which I took them because my head reconciles it better this way. So the first set of videos are from later in the day, about 6pm, when the tide was low and the river was flowing normally out to sea. The second set of videos are from my first visit at noon, when the ocean tide was overriding and pushing the river uphill. Truly amazing!

Saint John River — Reversing Falls at Low Tide

Low Tide – River Running Out to Sea (1)
Low Tide – River Running Out to Sea (2)
Low Tide – River Running Out to Sea (3)

Saint John River — Reversing Falls at High Tide

High Tide – Bay of Fundy Flowing Upriver (1)
High Tide – Bay of Fundy Flowing Upriver (2)
High Tide – Bay of Fundy Flowing Upriver (3)

What a blessing to see this rare display of God’s creation!

And with that and a pretty morning drive through southern New Brunswick, my incredible trip through eastern Canada and its Maritime provinces came to an end. Not a cliche: it was a trip of a lifetime that I’ll always treasure. Thanks, God, for allowing me the pleasure!