Cape Split

Cape Split runs out into the Minas Channel, the narrows through which the Bay of Fundy tide enters the Minas Basin; roughly fourteen billion tonnes of water pass through with each tide, more than the combined flow of every freshwater river on earth, and the current running past the cape can be heard from the clifftop as a sustained roar. The hike is about thirteen kilometres return through hardwood forest to a grassy headland with sea stacks below and drops of over sixty metres on unfenced edges. Bald eagles and peregrines use the cliffs.

The landscape

• The tidal roar - the sound of the current audible from the headland.
• The grassy point - an open clifftop meadow at the end of the walk.
• The sea stacks - rock towers separated from the cape below.
• The Minas Channel - the narrows the whole Fundy tide passes through.

When to go

May to October; the trail is muddy in spring and icy in winter. Time the walk for a running tide rather than slack water to hear the current. Allow four to five hours.

Good to know

The thirteen-kilometre return walk is longer than many expect and the last section is rooted and rough. The clifftop is unfenced with drops of over sixty metres. Parking is limited.

Nearby

Wolfville lies south; Burntcoat Head is east across the basin.

Key facts