Cape Chignecto Provincial Park, Provincial park in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Cape Chignecto Provincial Park is a wilderness park on a headland between Chignecto Bay and the Minas Channel, covering 42 square kilometres with 30 kilometres of coastline. Its southern coast holds the highest cliffs in mainland Nova Scotia, 200 metres high, cut by the Cobequid fault and lined with raised beaches, caves and sea stacks.
Nova Scotia bought the land in 1989 and added it to the Crown reserve; it was redesignated a provincial park and opened in 1998. A local group, the Cumberland Regional Economic Development Association, created and ran the park until the Department of Natural Resources took over management in spring 2012. In 2020 it became part of the UNESCO Cliffs of Fundy Global Geopark.
The name comes from Cape Chignecto, the headland separating Chignecto Bay from the Minas Channel. Refugee Cove, a secluded ravine in the park, sheltered Mi'kmaq and fleeing Acadians during the Expulsion of the Acadians. Visitors pass the ghost towns of Eatonville and New Yarmouth and abandoned logging camps and sawmills.
The park is open from mid-June to mid-October and is reached from Route 209; the main trailhead with interpretation centre, picnic area, washrooms and gift shop is at Red Rocks near Advocate Harbour. Tides along the coast rise and fall 12 metres, causing rip currents and rapid flooding, and hikers have been cut off against the cliffs, including a couple and a dog rescued by helicopter from CFB Greenwood at Eatonville in July 2014. Over 50 km of trails serve day hikers and backpackers, with 51 backcountry and 28 walk-in campsites plus rentable cabins and bunkhouses.
The surrounding Bay of Fundy has the world's greatest tidal range, with water levels changing by up to 16 meters twice daily. This extreme tidal swing influences the landscape, wildlife, and the entire experience of exploring the coastline.
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