The Hopewell Rocks, also called the Flowerpots Rocks or simply The Rocks, are rock formations caused by tidal erosion in The Hopewell Rocks Ocean Tidal Exploration Site in New Brunswick. They stand 40–70 feet tall. They are located on the shores of the upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy at Hopewell Cape near the end of a series of Fundy coastal tourism hubs including Fundy National Park and the Fundy Trail. Due to the extreme tidal range of the Bay of Fundy, the base of the formations are covered in water twice a day. However, it is possible to view the formations from ground level at low tide. The formations consist of dark sedimentary conglomerate and sandstone rock. The large volume of water flowing in to and out of the Bay of Fundy modifies the landscape surrounding it. After the retreat of the glaciers in the region following the last ice age, surface water filtering through cracks in the cliff has eroded and separated the formations from the rest of the cliff face. Meanwhile, advancing and retreating tides and the associated waves have eroded the base of the rocks at a faster rate than the tops, resulting in their unusual shapes.
Sometimes when bad things happen you can turn them into experiences of a lifetime. I was relatively young when the plant I was working at as Quality Supervisor shut its doors after over 100 years of operation. I took my severance package and seeing that I was not tied down to returning at a given time I packed up the van and headed to Alaska from my home in New England. I took my elderly parents with me since they had both recently retired paying them back for all of the family trips they took us kids on when we were young. We headed north up through Vermont passing over the border to Montreal. You can click the links for more in depth posts on each attraction. In Quebec we picked up the Trans Canada Highway and headed west averaging 600 miles per day.
Into Alaska and the end of the Alaska Highway at Delta Junction and then on our way to Tok where a meal of caribou sausage and salmon chowder in a bread bowl was our welcome to the state.
Instead of repeating the route south along the Alaska Highway we took the Cassiar Highway south. We passed by Bear Glacier and made our way to the charming communities of Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder Alaska.
Badlands National Park was next on the agenda. This again was one of my mother’s favorite parks as it was a setting of many of her historical fiction novels she liked to read.
A visit to my aunt and uncle in Cohoes, New York and then home. It was good to see New England and home after many months on the road but the memories of the trip will last a life time. My parents would both pass in a few years and I was glad I could give them this trip in their final years.
I have always felt that the journey is as important as the destination, with this in mind I decided that I would drive to Alaska from my home in New England via the Trans Canada and Alaska Highway. The Alaska Highway begins with mile 0 in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.
Summit Lake (Stone Mountain) Provincial Campground was a pleasant change from the mosquitos at lower elevation. It was very cold I made good use of the caribou skin I purchased at the Trappers Den. I had the campground all to myself.
Banff National Park is Canada’s oldest national park, established in 1885. Located in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains Banff encompasses 2,564 sq miles of mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes. The Icefields Parkway extends from Lake Louise, Alberta to Jasper National Park in the north. The parks together along with the surrounding area form the Canadian Rocky Mountain UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Over the past few million years, glaciers have at times covered most of the park, but today are found only on the mountain slopes. The Columbia Icefield is the largest uninterrupted glacial mass in the Rockies. You can walk out onto the glacier but be sure to bring sunglasses. I neglected to bring a pair and the resulting snow blindness gave me the worst headache I ever had in my life.
The walk up to what is now the foot of the glacier gives you a real sense of the effects of Global Warming as the markers indicate how far the glacier has receded in the last few decades.
Jasper National Park is a national park in Alberta, Canada. It is the largest national park within Alberta’s Rocky Mountains spanning 11,000 4,200 sq mi. Its location is north of Banff National Park and west of Edmonton. The park contains the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, springs, lakes, waterfalls and mountains and is a part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Icefields Parkway is a highway 140 mi in length from Lake Louise, Alberta in Banff National Park, to Jasper, Alberta. The highway parallels the continental divide, providing motor access to the mountains.
