Cape Split Provincial Park Reserve

A Basalt Headland At The End Of The North Mountain Reaching Into The Minas Channel; The 13 Kilometre Return Hike Ends On Cliffs About 60 Metres Above A Tidal Rip Through Which More Water Passes Than All The World'S Rivers Combined · Scots Bay, Nova Scotia

Cape Split is the thin end of the North Mountain, a basalt ridge that runs the length of the Annapolis Valley and finally narrows to a headland reaching out into the MINAS CHANNEL. The hike is about thirteen kilometres return through hardwood forest, and it ends on a grassy clifftop roughly sixty metres above the water with the sea stacks of the Split standing off the end. WHAT MAKES IT EXTRAORDINARY IS THE SOUND. Twice a day the Bay of Fundy tide pushes through the Minas Channel into the Minas Basin - MORE WATER THAN THE COMBINED FLOW OF EVERY RIVER ON EARTH - and it funnels past this headland as a visible, audible rip. On a running tide you can hear it from the cliff. Nova Scotians have walked this trail for generations; it was privately held for most of that time and became a provincial park reserve in 2019. THE CLIFF EDGE IS UNFENCED AND IT UNDERCUTS.

Cape Split Road, Scots Bay, Kings County, Scots Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada

OPEN YEAR-ROUND, FREE, WITH NO GATE - Cape Split is a provincial park reserve and there is no admission and no closing time, though THE CAR PARK AT SCOTS BAY FILLS COMPLETELY on fine weekends and holiday Mondays, and roadside parking is restricted and enforced. GO EARLY. THE HIKE IS ABOUT 13 KILOMETRES RETURN and takes most people four to six hours; there is a composting toilet at the trailhead and NOTHING AT ALL ON THE TRAIL - no water, no shelter and no facilities. THE TRAIL IS OPEN IN WINTER and is walked, but it is muddy in spring, icy in the cold months and unmaintained beyond basic marking. CHECK THE TIDE TABLE IF YOU WANT THE RIP AT ITS MOST DRAMATIC - a running tide is what makes the clifftop worth the walk. There is no cell coverage on much of the trail.

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