Exploring New Brunswick on the Trans Canada Trail: Our Walk, Stories, and Resources

New Brunswick on the Trans Canada Trail

From the Bay of Fundy to the St. John River

When we crossed the Confederation Bridge from Prince Edward Island into New Brunswick in September 2019, autumn was beginning to transform the landscapes of Atlantic Canada. Our #Hike4Birds had already taken us across Newfoundland, through Nova Scotia, and along the peaceful railway corridors of Prince Edward Island. Now, entering our fourth province, we were about to experience another very different side of the Trans Canada Trail.

New Brunswick would lead us from the wetlands and coastal communities near Cape Jourimain through the forests and villages of southeastern New Brunswick, along the rugged Dobson Trail and Fundy Footpath, and eventually northward beside the St. John River toward Québec. Along the way, we would encounter some of the most physically demanding footpaths of our early journey, discover remarkable communities and historic places, and experience the changing colours, temperatures, and weather of a Maritime autumn.

It was also a province of extraordinary contrasts. One day we might be watching shorebirds feeding along the Bay of Fundy's tidal flats, while another found us negotiating steep forested slopes, scrambling around eroded sections of trail, or following long stretches of roadway between communities. We explored Acadian history, visited covered bridges, encountered wonderful acts of generosity, and discovered how differently the national trail could be experienced from one region to another.

Throughout our crossing, we shared these experiences in daily journals, recording the birds and wildlife we encountered, the landscapes we explored, and the practical challenges of continuing westward on foot. Since completing our coast-to-coast-to-coast #Hike4Birds, we have expanded our New Brunswick collection to include walking itineraries, planning information, cycling assessments, and reflections on what we learned.

Whether you are interested in exploring the Fundy Footpath, planning a longer walk across New Brunswick, discovering the province's birds and natural environments, or simply following our journey across Canada, we invite you to explore these resources and Come Walk With Us.

Follow Our Walk Across New Brunswick

Our complete New Brunswick Trans Canada Trail journal brings together the daily entries, photographs, experiences, and observations from our journey across the province.

Beginning with our arrival at Cape Jourimain and walk toward Port Elgin, the journals follow us through Sackville, Dorchester, and Dieppe before entering the forests of the Dobson Trail. From there, we continued through Fundy National Park and onto the Fundy Footpath, a rugged coastal wilderness route whose steep climbs, descents, stream crossings, and changing conditions demanded considerably more effort than many of the pathways we had followed previously.

Our travel journals and posted blogs for the  Fundy Footpath record those demanding days as we made our way along the Bay of Fundy coastline toward St. Martins. They also describe the remarkable beauty of the forests, coastal cliffs, rivers, and tidal landscapes encountered along the way.

Beyond the Fundy coast, our journey carried us toward Saint John, Fredericton, and the communities of the St. John River valley. The character of our walk changed again as we followed a combination of trails, former railway corridors, rural roads, and highways northward through Woodstock, Hartland, Grand Falls, and Edmundston.

These entries preserve the realities of a journey in which spectacular natural environments were often followed by long days of less celebrated walking. They also record memorable encounters with local residents, the generosity of strangers, historic communities, and the increasing sense that winter was approaching.

Readers can explore the complete collection chronologically, return to our first day in New Brunswick, or follow our journey to the Québec border near Edmundston, where the next chapter of our cross-Canada adventure began.

Planning a Walk or Cycle Across New Brunswick

For those considering their own adventures on the Trans Canada Trail, we have assembled a collection of practical resources examining the possibilities and challenges of travelling across New Brunswick on foot or by bicycle.

Our New Brunswick planning and research guide explores the route, communities, available services, accommodation and camping considerations, and the logistical questions involved in preparing for an extended provincial crossing. Complementing this, our walking itinerary for the Trans Canada Trail in New Brunswick documents our stages and the time required to travel across the province, including the adjustments that became necessary along the way.

New Brunswick is particularly important for understanding why the Trans Canada Trail cannot be approached as a single, consistent type of pathway. The Dobson Trail and Fundy Footpath present challenges associated with wilderness hiking, whereas other portions of the provincial route follow developed trails, roads, and community connections. Travellers contemplating a longer journey must be prepared for those differences.

We have also examined whether the Trans Canada Trail in New Brunswick can be cycled. Although the province offers appealing cycling opportunities along certain rail trails, community pathways, and roadway connections, the water route and demanding footpaths of the Fundy coast require a very different approach. Understanding where the route changes character and what is possible in those sections is essential when considering a longer cycling journey.

For a broader introduction, our guide to understanding the Trans Canada Trail in New Brunswick examines the provincial route and the different experiences it offers walkers and cyclists.

These resources are intended to help future visitors understand the possibilities and limitations of the national pathway, rather than prescribe a particular adventure. Our crossing took place in 2019, and trail conditions, access arrangements, services, and accommodation options may have changed. Anyone planning to follow the route should consult current information before setting out.

Discovering New Brunswick's Birds and Wildlife

Birding and encouraging people to reconnect with nature remained central to our #Hike4Birds throughout New Brunswick. The province's coastal wetlands, Acadian forests, river valleys, and agricultural landscapes provided a remarkable variety of habitats to explore as autumn migration continued.

Our birds and nature account from the Trans Canada Trail in New Brunswick brings together observations from our crossing, beginning with the coastal wetlands around Cape Jourimain and Sackville. These environments offered opportunities to watch migrating shorebirds, waterfowl, and other species associated with the tidal landscapes of the Bay of Fundy.

Farther inland, the forests of the Dobson Trail, Fundy National Park, and the Fundy Footpath introduced a very different environment. Here, our attention shifted toward woodland birds, mammals, amphibians, and the changing seasonal character of the Acadian forest. The steep terrain and demanding conditions sometimes made birding more difficult, but our daily journals continued to document the wildlife we encountered.

As we travelled north along the St. John River, the landscapes changed once more. Rural communities, agricultural fields, forest edges, and river corridors provided new opportunities to observe birds and wildlife, even as shortening days and colder temperatures signalled the approach of winter.

Together with our daily journals, these observations preserve a record of the natural environments we encountered while walking across New Brunswick in the autumn of 2019.

Reflections from Our Fourth Province on the Trans Canada Trail

New Brunswick challenged our expectations about the Trans Canada Trail in ways that were very different from our experiences in the preceding provinces. The Fundy Footpath demanded physical endurance, careful attention to terrain, and a willingness to accept slow progress. Elsewhere, extended roadway connections and the practical challenges of linking communities reminded us that distance travelled was not necessarily the same as progress made.

Our reflection, The Difference Between Distance and Progress, explores an idea that became increasingly important as our journey continued across Canada. Walking farther did not always mean accomplishing more, and some of the most meaningful experiences of the trail occurred when we were moving slowly, changing our plans, or taking time to explore the places around us.

Our reflections on hiking the Trans Canada Trail in New Brunswick revisit the landscapes, challenges, and discoveries that shaped our crossing, while the original daily journals preserve the immediate experiences of travelling through the province.

Looking back after completing our journey across Canada, New Brunswick remains an important reminder that the national trail encompasses far more than a collection of scenic destinations. It includes difficult terrain, working landscapes, roads and small communities, changing weather, and the many people whose kindness and efforts make long-distance travel possible.

Come Walk With Us Across New Brunswick

Today, with our coast-to-coast-to-coast #Hike4Birds complete, we hope these collections offer something for anyone interested in exploring New Brunswick and the Trans Canada Trail. Some readers may be researching the Fundy Footpath or Dobson Trail, others may be considering a longer walk or cycling journey across the province, while still others may be interested in its birds, natural history, communities, and historic landscapes.

Our complete New Brunswick archive remains the best place to discover the full collection of daily journals, photographs, itineraries, planning resources, birding observations, and reflections. We invite you to begin wherever your interests lead you, whether among the tidal wetlands of Cape Jourimain, along the rugged Fundy coastline, in the historic streets of Fredericton, or beside the St. John River as it winds north toward Québec.

For us, New Brunswick was the fourth chapter of a journey that would eventually carry us across Canada and north to the Arctic Ocean. By the time we reached Edmundston, autumn was giving way to winter, and the next stage of our adventure would lead us into Québec, where on the Sentier Transcanadien the landscapes, language, culture, and challenges of the national trail would change once again.

Thank you for joining us, whether you followed our journey through New Brunswick in 2019 or are discovering #Hike4Birds for the first time.

See you on the trail!