Chignecto Prov. Park or Fundy Nat'l Park

[Jake123]

We are planning some camping/hiking/backcountry this summer in July and will probably do around 5 days/4 nights. I'm trying to decide between Fundy National Park in New Brunswick or Chignecto Provincial Park in Nova Scotia. We have also been thinking about the mountains in Baxter State Park in Maine but assuming it will be tourist packed in Maine. It is an 8 hour drive for us to Fundy and 10 hour drive to Chignecto. We will leave at 6 AM so no problem arriving in daylight.

I've read una_doggers threads about Chignecto and it sounds great. Couldn't find reviews of Fundy but thinking it is similar. Can anyone compare the two?

 

[MichaelJ]

Don't know about NB or NS, but Baxter isn't tourist-packed, a combination of the fact it's such a long way up there plus the restrictions on getting into the park. While it means some amount of red tape, they run a pretty strict reservation system for camping, as well as not letting in more cars than parking allows for day trips, to maintain a pretty high quality experience. If you want to go in August, the time to mail in a reservation request is now, as they use a rolling 4-months-in-advance system. Read more at their website.

 

[Jake123]

For Baxter, I was looking at the campgrounds just outside of the park and doing day hikes in the park. So I guess southern Maine and the coast are the more touristy areas?

 

[MichaelJ]

By far the coast (Acadia in particular) are much more touristy. While Millinocket is a recreational destination, in my opinion you're not going to find crowds there.

As long as you're willing to wake up really early to get in line to enter the park, staying outside is fine.

 

[Mike P.]

You don't really even have to wake up that early for BSP if you are not hiking Katahdin or from Roaring Brook. On summer weekends if you are planning on going from ROaring Brook then you need tobe there around 5:00, otherwise, you can be a bit later.

I recall going on a rainy day one weekday & getting there around 8:00, no issues. The hiking that day was awful but Millinocket is not really a town for sight seeing, IMO

 

[X-Linked]

Definitely sounds like a fun trip. Take a few pictures for some stoke on here you know.

 

[una_dogger]

I'm not here much but just saw this...

I haven't been to Fundy but I think Chignecto is very kid friendly in terms of distance, terrain, spatial arrangements of campsites. Its not crowded but you'll want to watch the weather that time of year and be sure to follow the tide tables during your hike if you go.

Happy Trails!