Walking on the ocean floor...without getting wet!

I am really loving these last few Sundays! We are taking the chance to go find some areas of Nova Scotia that we wouldn't normally visit. It's so much fun! We don't even plan ahead. We just go to church, come home and change to more casual clothes and start googling random places to see what we think looks interesting that day :)

Today's find was awesome!! About an hour and 30 minutes from home, on a long and windy back road, we found Burntcoat Head Provincial Park. It is like nothing I've ever seen before. We were literally walking on the ocean floor while the tide was out. And I don't mean like walking out on a beach. There is literally no beach here. If the tide came in you would be stuck wherever you were walking. They actually have a sign that says "for your safety, be back to the stairs by....." or you will be cut off from stairway!

So we started off how we usually do. Packed a few snacks, a change of clothes, rubber boots for the girls(should've brought ours too), GPS locked in, and we were off. 

It is honestly so much fun taking road trips with Madison and Ayla. They act like they were born to travel! We could drive for hours and we would barely hear a complaint from them until they needed a potty break. And I am serious! We drove across the upper states this past summer. We drove all the way from Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia to Nanaimo, BC. That's about the furthest you can drive straight across. We did it in 3.5 days. That means no overnight hotels, no real stopping at all besides some stretching breaks(which helped us find some of the coolest sights ever, like the "Badlands") and I can't recall them making one complaint! No lies! Our 16 and 19 year old....that's another story....Haha. Just bugging guys, I know it was cramped back there ;P
We basically switched driving times. Bill drove through the day, I drove through the night and Seth drove when we were both too tired. Then we stayed there for a week and did the drive all over again to get back home. That's a whole different blog post though...Haha

Back to today...Haha. I get a little sidetracked. My point was, the drives are fun. We spend the entire time finding things we hardly ever see, like horses or cows, or dilapidated old farm houses(Bill jokes to the girls that "this is our new home, isn't it beautiful?" and when they say "nooooooo", " he says "why do you think we drove all the way out here?"....funniest daddy ever), or singing along to the radio(or lack there of...be warned, not many radio stations come through out here), or playing road trip games. The best part though, is listening to the conversations in the backseat, especially when they don't know you are listening. They have some of the silliest conversations(and some of the most grown up sounding). It's extremely entertaining. 

After the long winding drive, we were almost there. Right after you turn off Burntcoat Rd, you will come to a long driveway. Sharing the entrance with the park is Shangri-la Cottages. These look like they would be an amazing place to stay if you wanted to be here for low and high tide(I know I wouldn't want to stay out here and watch the tides for like 12 hours and not have a bed to sleep in!) Also, we looked them up(maybe for a future trip) and they had great reviews! A few metres past the cottages will be the entrance to the parking lot of the park.

The parking lot and trails are all gravel. They are wheelchair accessible(meaning we saw someone in a wheelchair while we were there), but I don't think they are ideal for all wheelchair users. Once you get to the end though, the stairs are not wheelchair friendly at all. Even if you do go down them, the bottom ones are eroding away, and the "ocean floor" is uneven and really slippery to walk on. 

Starting at the parking lot, there is a gorgeous sign. It tells you all about the park and what you can expect to see. There are many signs around the park. They talk about all the history and records. This is the actual spot for the Guinness World Records, "Highest Tides in the World". And they are absolutely the coolest thing to watch. The "beach" could have no water for miles or be so close to shore and super deep. Keep an eye out for the signs on the trees. Apparently the park contains most of the tree species that are found in the Acadian forest. The Spruce Burls is the coolest tree. We forgot to take a picture :( If you go, see if you can find it :)

The washrooms are at the top of the path, so you can start your walk off right :) They were closed when we went, because it's the off-season, so we couldn't see what was inside the doors. Everything else in the park looks well maintained though, so I would assume they are too. And, they are flush toilets :) Yay!

As you walk down the winding gravel path, you can see beautiful ocean views from up high on the cliff(all fenced in, so don't worry). There is also a lighthouse on the way. During the peak season I believe it is open to explore, but we are that weird family who went before they opened...Haha. At the end of the trail, you can either turn right to go down to the beach area, or go left and find the lookout. Madison and I went to the lookout, and the view was amazing!! There is also a sign here that tells you what you are facing in terms of land across the water(that is too far to see), and how far away it is. 

If you turn right on the path, you come to the stairs that take you down to the shoreline. The stairs are pretty good at the top, but the further down you go, the more eroded they become. They are fine if you are fully able to steady yourself, but if not, make sure you have something or someone to hang on to. :) 

I have to say, even the walk down the stairs is gorgeous. You walk down into this picturesque little cove and on the opposite side of where you are, is this really tall, beautifully treed island, that you could never climb up. We were talking about how there must be so many things up there that have never been off that island, like it must have it's own little Eco-system. :) It is much taller than it looks in the picture below.

The beach was so much fun! The girls were loving it! There are caves to explore, tidal pools with sea creatures inside, small islands to climb, and there are these gorgeous green coloured rocks. I've never seen that colour on rocks before, it's almost like a teal. And, it is the colour of the rocks, not algae! We must have spent at least 2-3 hours exploring, it was amazing! 

Here is one of the caves. The girls were totally scared to go inside! You can't tell in this picture, but it was super dark inside. I basically had to crawl in and show them that it wasn't scary, just so they would go far enough in. Some of the caves were like this and some were wide open.

This is right above the cave the girls were in. From here it looks like a little mountain, but when you walk away it's actually a little island that would be fully underwater when the tide comes in. It's crazy how full this area gets when the tide is high. 

The beach was just so fun to explore. The girls were happy to have their rubber boots on. The sand was so soft, that our feet were sinking in. Bill and I were in runners and we tried to be super careful, but we both ended up sinking down at least 6 inches into the mud. Our washing machine did not love us today...Haha. The girls were running around screeching and pretending they were in quicksand. It was so cute. 

There were quite a few holes like this on the beach. I don't think this one had any creatures inside but a few of them did. Some had snails, hermit crabs, etc. The entire beach is just covered in shelled creatures. The girls were worried to go near them, because they didn't want to squish any of them. I think Madison would've been devastated if she stepped on any.

We went to go check out what looked like ice in the side of the cliff, and it was definitely ice. Nothing special, but the girls thought it was pretty cool. When we got there though, we found this neat little waterfall. It doesn't look like a lot of water coming down, but it was. We asked the girls if we could take a pic of them under it. What's funny is that the first pic was perfect, but Bill decided he was going to take like 10 more :) and then a video...Haha. Don't worry, they weren't getting soaked, just sprinkled on. They thought it was funny after :)

Now, we were all keeping a really close eye on the tide, because when it starts to come in, it doesn't take long to fill. Clearly we had tons of time though. It's only April and we had until October...Haha! They must have stopped updating the sign when the park closed for the season. 

We made our way back up the trail, so we could go have a snack and a drink before heading home. Beach-combing is a lot of work. Just trying not to slip was its own workout. On the way up we stopped to take a look at the beach from above.  It was a great view, but I bet it looks more amazing in the summer. We always get such awesome pics of the girls when they don't know we are taking them.

After we relaxed for a bit, we headed home. We decided that even though the bumpy nauseous drive there was so much fun, we would try going the other direction for the way back...Haha! On the way there, we got to see a ton of forested areas, and on the way back we got to see some really cool ocean views. It was a much smoother drive. When we go back again, we will definitely go that way. On that note though, we loved all the views on the way there. If you take this trip, definitely go both ways! At least once. 

It was a great day, with some great people!! I love my family! 
Best road trip ever......until the next one :)