Hopewell Rocks

We made a day trip to the Hopewell Rocks on Wednesday. I went there as a child, and of course, I’ve seen them uncountable times as part of New Brunswick’s tourism campaigns. The drive itself was an adventure, along the coastal back roads. An original roller coaster experience, the roads curved along with the terrain with magnificent views of mud flats, salt marshes, cattle, fields dotted with Swiss hay rolls, and cute houses. It wasn’t littered with tourism stops, it really is rural New Brunswick. As we got closer, there were fewer and fewer New Brunswick license plates, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It was surreal.We got there as the tide was coming in, walking the fifteen minute trail down to the staging area against a flow of tourists coming back. We went down to the beach of the Hopewell Rocks, also known as the Flowerpots, along with other latecomers. My urban friend Shayo from NYC wondered about the sign warning of mudflats- but they were already covered by the incoming tide.

We walked along and took cool shots of the rocks, seaweed, and took posed photos of other visiting tourists from around the world, including a honeymooning couple from Austria. They were surprised to hear I was from New Brunswick! It did seem like the rest of the world had suddenly turned up on the beach.

Although we had already explained the unique tidal features to Shayo, she really didn’t get it until we were standing beside the huge rock monoliths and said it again. Then she exclaimed loudly and incredulously. And I must admit, (despite growing up here and taking our high tides somewhat for granted) that standing there, I could kind of see why the idea of these huge rocks being reduced to islands might seem absurd.