Located on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore, about an hour and a half from Halifax, is Taylor Head Provincial Park. This beautiful peninsula has 18km of trails to explore, with an impressive variety of terrain: A white sand beach, mud, rock, dirt, boardwalks, and some well maintained facilities as well!
Courtesy: Friends of Taylor Head
This particular blog will focus on the Spry Bay and Headland Trail, which when combined is a ~10km loop, but don’t let that stop you from exploring the other parts of this amazing park as well.
Finding the Trail
From Marine Drive (Trunk 7), Turn onto Taylor Park Road and follow it until you reach the parking lot, about midway down the peninsula. Here you’ll find outhouses, changerooms, and trailmaps with all the information you’ll need for a great day of exploring. There’s even small paper maps you can take with you!
The Hike
We did the loops counterclockwise, mostly so that Taylor Head Beach would be our last stop before the car – a white sand beach with tropical coloured water that makes for a great final viewpoint.
If you do it the way we did, expect the first section to be wet, as the trail cuts across land to the other side of the peninsula. Once on the ocean though, you’ll have great stretches across rocky beaches and small cliffs with fantastic rugged ocean scenery.
After approximately 2km, you’ll reach the intersection of The Spry Bay and the Headland Trail. Continuing along the coast, there will be a short stretch of boardwalk and forest before you’re back on the coast enjoying more of the same Atlantic beauty.
Another 2km later, you’ll find yourself at the very tip of the peninsula looking directly out into the ocean.
Once around the tip, it’s another 3.5km along the other side of the peninsula until you’re at the beach, and your car soon after that. The biggest landmark on this side is Powers Pond, a large lagoon just before the beach. The main trail sticks to the inland part of the pond, but you can hike between the pond and the ocean as well!
If you’re after the coastal beauty, it’s hard to top this hike. From its soft, white sand beach to rugged rock formations, this park has it all!
