Learn to Camp for newcomers at Fundy National Park, New Brunswick

Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays in the wilderness among other wildlife species and nature away from home in a shelter like tents, or a recreational vehicle. There are even some fun activities an individual can enjoy such as Kayaking, Climbing mountains, walking along with nature on beautiful trails, and many more. It can be fun with a group and is termed group camping. There are lots of other things apart from the above-mentioned activities one can do.

We organized a program last month called “Learn to Camp” for all the newcomers and first-time campers. The location we chose was Fundy National Park, New Brunswick. We were shocked with the response we got, there were a total of 30 individuals with us on that trip and it was amazing. The trip was from June 19th till June 21st where people were allowed to stay one and two nights. The first-time campers were also enjoying the trip. It was their first time in the wilderness camping. The first task was to look for a perfect pitch to set up a tent which was quite interesting for them. Then the next step was to make sure the tent was pitched perfectly. All of them were tired though but still were happy at the end. The first day was more focused on setting up the camping gear on the camping sites and just getting aware of the surroundings.

The beautiful Village of Alma

Alma is a village in the parish of Alma, Albert Country, New Brunswick located about 1 hr drive from Moncton. This village is centered on the small delta of the Upper Salmon River and Cleveland Brook, where they empty into Salisbury Bay. The headquarters of Fundy National Park is in Alma West, making tourism a major part of the local economy. Fishing, of lobster and scallops, is another primary economic activity. This beautiful village of Alma also offers awesome beaches and beautiful waterfalls.

Activities to do:

Hiking

Hiking is one of the most popular activities in Fundy National Park and with over 100 kilometres trails your favorite beach, river valley, or waterfall is just waiting to be discovered! Fundy’s trails range from an easy half-kilometer loop to a demanding 50 kilometre circuit around the park.

• The Fundy Circuit connects 48 kilometres of Fundy National Park’s hiking trails to showcase the very best of our river valleys, lakes, coastal forests and beaches.
• The Fundy Challenge is brought to you by the Fundy Guild and tests your determination to hike 100 km in Canada’s National Parks. It imposes no time limit for reaching this goal, so day-hikers can participate as easily as avid backpackers. You only have to walk ten kilometres in Fundy; the rest can be completed in any national park.
• The Dobson Trail is a continuous footpath through upland wilderness stretching 58 km from the northern boundary of Fundy National Park to Riverview NB (near Moncton).
• The Fundy Footpath is a continuous footpath that follows the Fundy coastline for 41 km from Goose River in Fundy National Park to the Big Salmon River near St. Martins, NB.

Biking

Fundy’s landscape offers trails that appeal to bicyclists of every level, from flat and forested trails for family outings to exciting ravines where you can challenge your friends. Trails that are used for cycling are shared with hikers so please yield to pedestrians when travelling these trails. Don’t forget your helmet.

Golf

A game of golf on the Fundy National Park golf course, is a wonderful way to spend a day or a week. This beautiful 9-hole, par 70 course was designed by renowned golf course architect Stanley Thompson.

Explore the ocean floor

Put on your rubber boots or aqua socks and take a mystical stroll along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. When the Bay of Fundy’s massive tides recede, they leave behind a vast intertidal zone – endless mudflats where a wide variety of sea creatures make their home. Pick your way through fields of mud, sand and seaweed to discover barnacles, rock crabs, dog whelk sea snails, limpets, periwinkles and other crustaceans. The zone also serves as a buffet for flocks of tiny semi-palmated sandpipers and other shorebirds that stop to feast on the sea animals that the tides leave behind.

Paddling

You’ve walked the seafloor at low tide and admired the craggy sea cliffs, riddled with caves and crawling with crustaceans. Now paddle around the tops of those same cliffs at high tide in an ocean kayak. Kayak tours in the nearby fishing village of Alma enable visitors to experience the thrill of paddling Fundy’s record-setting tides. Kayak independently or on a guided tour as the Bay of Fundy – a massive 250-kilometre-long bathtub – quickly fills with water from the Atlantic Ocean. Watch as intertidal mud flats are submerged by lapping waves and the rising water lifts your kayak higher and higher.

Our Experience

The first day begins with setting up the gear and deciding the menu for that today, yes food is crucial!! especially when you went out camping. It was a rainy day so there was not much to be done and hence we met at one common campsite and were figuring out the things to do for the rest of the day. However, the weather was not in our favor and so we decided to makeshift the adventure day to the next day. After figuring out everything we went on a trip to nearby areas as The rain was slowing down. We reached Alma and had some food and a photoshoot, on our way back we also stopped at the nearest field and had some fun. After enjoying the day we came back to our campsites and had a rest a couple of times. It was time to prepare some food, and so we went to the log cabin to buy some logs. Again, it was exciting for the first-time campers to cook food at a campfire and they really enjoyed it. By the time it was bedtime and so that was the end of the first day and the beautiful morning of the next day was waiting for us to rise and shine!

Starting the second day, the first thing we did was we all gathered at a common campsite and decided to plan the day to make sure we enjoy this day and the surroundings the Fundy campground and the beautiful city of Alma have to offer. After planning the first thing on everyone’s to-do list was “Kayaking”. It was a new experience for all of them. They really enjoyed it, at first, some issues were controlling the paddles but eventually, they were in control of their kayaks and their directions. The Kayaking activity was really fun and tiresome but still, all of them were full of energy. This was the statement of an individual after experiencing Kayaking for the first time:

“My first kayak experience was pretty remarkable. I like the environment and it was pretty fun. I thought at some point I would drown but I didn’t because of a life jacket. We clicked too many pictures and splashed water on each other and it was an awesome experience, I would love to enjoy this activity next time”

– Anand

After the Kayak, we were headed to Crooked creek falls. At first, when we arrived there it was really hard to find the falls as we were visiting it for the first time, after lots of effort and asking for directions from the locals we found the trail which led to the falls. The trail was quite steep and tiresome but it wouldn’t be fun if there is no adventure while camping. Finally, we reached the falls and went swimming. The main issue after enjoying swimming was climbing back up from the same trail as there was no other way, We were exhausted but made it back. that was the call for the day, so we headed back to the campsite even though our bodies could barely move, people were filled with enough energy to play a full match of Volleyball for 2 hours. At the end of the day again we prepared a meal and it was finally the time to say goodbye to this beautiful place. We started packing our bags and tents and headed home.

“It was a beautiful and awesome experience for all of us and we are really glad that we got this opportunity to enjoy this trip, we are definitely ready for the second trip”

– Rahul

Here is the look of how to pitch a tent on your campsite:

https://youtu.be/Bj_VBAV2bjE

Fees

Our Sponsors

We would also like to whole heartedly thank Royale tissue for helping us with some financial and tissue donations for the whole program. We are glad to work with them and hope to have this relationship in future as well. We would also like to thank Halo Donuts and Volkwagen Moncton for all the donations in the form of food. We are glad that we are getting support from the community and we appreciate the help of the community and last but not the least we would also like to thank the sweet couple who also gave us the donations and financial form. We are so grateful to be a part of such great community.