Last Hike in Canada - The Trans-Canada Trail in Rockwood Park

Wow, the season is going fast.  We just left Newfoundland, and now, being camped in St. John, New Brunswick, we'll be leaving Canada tomorrow.

We're camped in Rockwood Park, which is a gorgeous, huge municipal park in St. John, comparable to Pippy Park in St. John's or Bull Run Regional Park in Manassas, Virginia -- but much, much larger.  The park has many resources for day use activities.  It has a campground.  It also boasts 55 km of hiking and mountain bike trails.  The Trans-Canada Trail transits through Rockwood Park.  Our goal was to do about 6 miles, using the Trans-Canada Trail as the backbone for our hike:

The Trans-Canada Trail is the longest recreational trail in the world.  Its formation began in 1992 with the 125th anniversary of Canadian Confederation.  It is administered by the nonprofit Trans-Canada Trail Foundation.  Segments of it stretch across Canada.  Many sections are footpaths, but some sections still follow roads.  We have run into it in many places on our travels, including in Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Winnipeg, Ontario Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick.  In some places, it runs contiguously with the International Appalachian Trail, which is among our favorites.  Below is one of the best maps we've seen of the trail:

Rockwood Park in St. John, New Brunswick comprises 2,200 acres and embraces 10 lakes.  The park includes upland Acadian mixed forest, several hills and several caves, as well as freshwater lakes, with a trail network, and a golf course.  The park was designed by Calvert Vaux, one of the designers of New York City's Central Park, in the mid-19th century. The park was initially established around Lily Lake, which was one of the first sources of fresh water for Saint John.  Lily Lake has been the site of many winter activities and sports over the decades.  The speed skater Charles Gorman won the World Speed Skating Championship on Lily Lake. It was estimated that 25,000 people turned out in 1926 to watch him take the championship.

Lily Lake has been improved over the years, and is a gorgeous location for recreation year-round:

We started our hike at Lily Lake, and it wasn't long before we met one of the locals, who promptly asked whether we had anything to contribute to the cause:

Unfortunately, we did not.  We continued our walk around the lake, enjoying the crisp, clear, warm-sun Autumn weather:

We decided to hike an extended loop up the Trans-Canada Trail, past Fisher Lake, and on through a playground and alongside the riding stables.  One of the workers was out relaxing when we passed and gave us a wary eye.  Again, it was unfortunate that we had no carrots or apples to share.  Luckily one of the parents of children romping at the playground had some carrots and shared them with the children who, in turn, fed them to some of the horses.

This was our day for wildlife.  We hadn't continued even a quarter mile past the stables, and Kathy spotted this deer grazing along the path.  The deer eyed us warily before leaping off into the trees.

We heard a rush of wings and a distinct cry, and spotted this Northern Flicker, flicking about the branches ahead of us on the trail:

Given its size, Rockwood Park embraces a large variety of ecological zones.  Here is a wetland in a forest of fir and deciduous trees:

Our hike took us around four of the ten lakes in the park.  This one was more undeveloped than Lily Lake:

Eventually, after passing busloads of school students out for field trips in the park, we found our way back to Fisher Lake:

We decided to work our way down to and around Lily Lake and end with lunch at Lily's, a restaurant run by a charitable nonprofit that benefits disadvantaged youth in the St. John area.  As we started around Lily Lake, we could see the pavilion that has been renovated into the restaurant, sitting across the lake:

We learned during lunch that the pavilion is actually the third such pavilion that has stood on this foundation since the first one was built during the establishment of the park.  The current pavilion even boasts its own moose, and Kathy wasted no time getting to know it:

A sculpture outside Lily's is known as the April 28th Memorial to workers who have been killed or injured on the job in Canada.  It is a moving art-deco piece with larger-than-lifesize figures hoisting an elaborate metal beam:

We finished our hike by walking back to our campsite, proud that we had done an entire hike from our doorstep without having to drive the Jeep anywhere.

Now, on to the coast of Maine!