Hirtle's Beach: one of Nova Scotia's 'best'

Gaff Point. Or thereabouts.

My friend Katherine says Hirtle's Beach is the best hike in Nova Scotia she's found. And she gets out a fair bit. 

While I would classify it as more of a "walk" than a "hike" (hiking being adventures requiring first aid kits and having elevation gain greater than 100 metres, or something like that), I agree it's some of the nicest terrain I've seen in my limited time on the east coast.

But first, you have to find it. 

Of course Christine is happy! We found the beach!

Admittedly, my friend Christine and I don't have the best navigational skills  (we did at least two U-turns before leaving Halifax city limits), but I would still argue that Hirtle's Beach was a little bit difficult to find. Part of the confusion was due to the three hand-written "Hirtle's Beach" signs that pointed us in three different directions!

Maybe the locals don't want us to find it...

I'm hiking in December. That's crazy! Photo credit: C. Delahunty.

It was a beautiful sunny day when we ventured out last weekend, but no one was outside who we could stop and ask for directions. Finally I saw a couple walking on the road. I rolled down the the window and asked them how to get to the trail. 

"We're looking for it too!" They said.

Okay, so Christine and I aren't complete idiots. But that small victory aside, we weren't any closer to finding the beach/trailhead.

Christine thought it was funny that I was willing to go door to door to ask for directions. Back home we'd just go back home and say, 'that was a fun drive!' she laughed. It was surprisingly hard to find homes with cars parked out front. This is cottage country in December - no one is around!

Finally, we found a lovely woman wearing ear muffs who gave us directions. She said she walks there every day but today it was a bit cold.

Short story long, we found the beach.  

And it wasn't cold (relatively speaking - it is December).  It was beautiful. No wind and not too busy.

And a nice variety of forest, cliff, beach and rocks. I think it took us about too two hours, at a leisurely pace.

Yup, definitely the best walk in Nova Scotia so far.

In my limited experience...

Here's a hiking description we didn't used but might be useful.

Looking back on the start of the hike. It does a loop around Gaff Point and back along the beach. 

When Christine and I drove through Lunenberg on the way back to Halifax, the Xmas parade was about to start. So we got out of town hastily! But I was back the next day on another project and snapped this photo under grey skies. 

Trip number one to the south shore of Nova Scotia was a success! I see more beach walks like that in my future.