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You can do this as a loop - go to Albert Mines, to
the underground lake, and then continue on along the
Albert Mines road to come back out on the main highway
NB 114. Here, if you turn left, that is, back toward
Moncton, the drive will take you to the celebrated Hopewell
Rocks just a short distance ahead. Or, if you turn right
on NB 114, you'll eventually come to Fundy Park.
So here we go - first of all to the "underground
lake." From downtown Moncton, head toward Riverview
on the South side of the Petitcodiac, immediately on
the Riverview side of the bridge, set your km counter
to zero. Turn left, and drive 26 km on Route 114, which
leads to Fundy Park. Turn right at the "Albert
Mines" road sign. At about 3.5 km down this road,
you'll go down a steep hill. Look for the old church
on the right. Turning right here will take you to the
remnants (of which there are not many) of the celebrated
albertite mine, the object of a famous geological lawsuit
in 1852. Albertite, a shiny, black, natural bitumen
discovered by Maritime geologist Dr. Abraham Gesner,
was the first raw material in the manufacture of kerosene,
before the advent of oil wells in 1859. Hence it occupies
an important place in early petroleum history. But that's
another story. Getting there entails driving along a
dirt road which is all but impassable when the frost
comes out of the ground in the spring, but otherwise
is quite do-able in the family car, albeit sometimes
with caution, and slowly. The overgrown mine dumps lie
at a fork in the dirt road, and 2.7 km from the corner
at the white church.
But on to the underground lake, instead of turning
right at the white church stay on the Albert Mines Road.
Go through the village. At around 5 km from where you
turned off 114 (or 31.5 km from Moncton), note the piles
of gypsum. It was extensively quarried here, in the
past, and still is on a small scale. Some of this is
sculptural grade alabaster. Indeed, Randy Simon, the
MicMac carver of Big Cove in Kent County, carved a nativity
scene in Albert County alabaster which now graces the
Canadian Embassy in France. Note the quarry on the right
at 5.7 km, the one with a chain running across the access.
At the next telephone pole on your right just past this
quarry, turn right onto the narrow dirt road. Go 1 km.
Just past the downhill "S" curve in the road,
turn left off the road and park in the small glade.
Now the fun begins.
You'll have to cross the brook. Most often there's
a tree felled across it, but not always. Follow the
path that runs uphill on the other side of the brook.
In about 10 minutes, you'll come to an imposing vertical
cliff face on the right side of the path. The cavern
lies at the bottom of the steep slope facing this cliff.
You'll need to scramble down to get there. This is a
gypsum cave, and since gypsum dissolves rapidly in rainwater
(which is how such caverns form) but disintegrates in
large blocks, you won't see any stalactites or stalagmites.
Note how cold it is inside. Snow can last here until
well into July.
Having visited the lake, continue on the Albert Mines
road 4.5 km then turn left. This takes you back out
onto the main highway, route 114. Turning right here
will take to the famous "rocks" at Hopewell
which lie just ahead.
In contrast to the underground lake, which is one
of those almost secret little places in the woods which
people know about but which no-one has ever done anything
with, "the Rocks" is (or are) very distinctly
a developed destination, with walkways, restaurants,
shops and bus tours. Here, you'll see the classic geological
formation known as sea stacks. The conglomerate rock
here is carved away at the bottom by the tides and winter
ice of the Bay of Fundy, leaving standing pinnacles,
which narrow toward the bottom. You can walk along the
shore here at low tide, exploring in between the pinnacles
- but be careful. The Fundy tide rises rapidly, and
dramatically, and if you don't keep a close eye on what
the tide is doing, your way back might be cut off.
From the Rocks, the road south (NB 114) leads to Fundy
Park. If you head that way, you should make a point
of checking out the Crooked Creek Look Off in the village
of Riverside Albert, a spectacular hilltop view along
the Crooked Creek Gorge below.
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