Fundy National Park is described by the New Brunswick Tourist Board as a small park with a very fragile eco-system. But to a visitor, the area is lush and vibrant. The epic tides of up to 48 feet make for vast beaches, and create significant coastal sculpture as the erosive effect of all that water surging and ebbing. We camped several nights at the edge of the park near the harbor town of Alma. At low tide the fishing boats sit in the mud, propped up by special stands that their crew insert as the tide goes out. To the east are the famous rock formations called the “flower pots.” During our visit, we encountered a dance troupe on the beach among the tourists using fabric wings to represent the forces of wind, water, sky, rock, sun, and ice in the constant changing of the Bay and its shore.

The Park area encompasses the Wolfe, Lower Salmon, and Upper Salmon Rivers, which flow into the Bay. All of them were home to significant logging and milling operations in the late 19th century as the red spruce stands along the Fundy coast were harvested. Docks at the mouths of the rivers allowed ships to be loaded (at high tide) for transport south. We came across one former site developed by the Pejepscot Lumber Company that shipped logs to its sawmills in Maine. It is hard to imagine that Maine logging one hundred years ago had to be supplemented by trees felled elsewhere, but here is yet another connection between our home state and New Brunswick.