Forty Five River No.1

October, 2014 

The Forty Five River bridge is located on a gravel road on the north-eastern perimeter of Fundy National Park.  This bridge is in a  beautiful out-of-the-way spot and was a bit tricky to get to last summer (road closed by ongoing park construction work), so it was with great joy and a sense of achievement that on the third attempt, one of my trusty Hounds and I finally got to the 'other' park bridge on an October afternoon.  After all the years of visiting Fundy, I had not even realized that there was another bridge in the park until I began to research where all the remaining bridges were located.  

According to Mary Majka's book, Fundy National Park,  the river gets its name from the time it took for water held upstream by logging dams to reach the Alma River after being released, i.e. 45 minutes.

If you plan to visit this bridge, be aware that the road is quite rough, and using a vehicle with high ground clearance is recommended.  Note that it is also inaccessible in the winter, except by snowmobile, despite what GPS may say.  

[Later entry: Asking the people who work in the main information center at the park headquarters what the current condition of the road is also a good option.  They were helpful to me when I wanted to go back in May 2016 and saved me getting stuck in impassable mud].

*

After a seemingly endless drive through the woods, at last!  A sure sign that there will be a covered bridge around the next bend in the road: a steel frame height restriction barrier.

I didn't scramble down to the river to get profile pictures of the bridge, as I was by myself in the middle of nowhere, and a sprained/broken ankle would have been undesirable.  Next time, I will make sure that I bring other people with me.  

***

June 24th, 2016 

We finally braved a return to the bridge on a hot, dry day.  The road was very rough still, and it took us 15 minutes to drive the 6 km from the branch in the Forty Five Road where it turns from decent gravel road to a track (from the southern approach).  We still haven't tried coming in from the Shepody Rd. on the northern perimeter of the park.  That might be a better road.

The view down from the window on the bridge.

Petitcodiac River No.3 (Hasty)

We revisited the Hasty Bridge on a long weekend, but there was scattered evidence of spring repairs in progress all around.  It looks like it took a beating last winter.  This bridge is located at a popular fishing spot, with one gang of people leaving as we arrived, and another coming in soon after.  

Coverdale River No.7 (now at Magnetic Hill)

In 1982, the City of Moncton moved the former Coverdale River No.7 bridge from Parkindale, Albert County, to the newly redesigned and expanded Magnetic Hill tourist park area.  This bridge is not always included on the 'historic bridges' list, but since the bones of it are from the original Parkindale bridge, I am happy to consider it to be authentic.  My father's engineering company did the design for the infrastructure of the new bridge site, making sure it could withstand the stresses of heavy vehicular traffic, including the weight of motor coaches, so this adds a small personal connection.

***

May 11, 2016 
A visit to the zoo with young relations, and an opportunity to take a few pictures of the bridge from inside of the fence.

Bloomfield Creek

May 8th, 2016: Mother's Day

We had the first family outing and picnic for the season today, revisiting the Darlings Island bridge, and seeing the Bloomfield Creek bridge for the first time.  It was overcast and the lighting wasn't ideal when we got there, and there was non-stop traffic over the bridge, so all in all, no great photo opportunity was presented.   My mantra: there is always another time. 

Darlings Island

July 18, 2015

The first visit to this little gem not far from Saint John.  There is some competition for the covered bridge from the beautiful modern bridge on the Darlings Island Road built directly beside it .  This is another spot that attracts fishermen.  We met some people who'd moved here from Winnipeg recently and were seeing what they could catch - trout and salmon, I think. 

***

May 5th, 2016 - Mother's Day

We brought a very posh picnic on our drive out today, and stopped at the water's edge close to the bridge to have our lunch.  The river was still high and the buds on the trees had not yet opened, so it was a completely different view than that of the summer along here.