After the upheaval of our move we were downright antsy to resume our one day a week hiking routine.

Being totally new to the area (except for a few visits over the past couple years) we weren't sure where to start our Nova Scotia hiking adventures. So we started at Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site of Canada.

Kejim whatcha ma callit?

Lucky for us the locals and park staff just call it Keji. I can handle that. 

Keji is one of the two National Parks in Nova Scotia. The other is Cape Breton Highlands National Park. You can bet we are planning a backpacking trip to Cape Breton this summer, which may include the National Park.

Keji is only one hour from my parent's house. That's a bonus. But here's the thing - our family has cut our hiking teeth in the White Mountains of New England. We love a vista.

There is no vista at the flat, landlocked Keji National Park. There are however lots of amphibians and non-poisonous snakes.

To be sure, it is a beautiful natural place, especially if you can get on the water in a canoe or kayak. There are multiple backcountry camp sites only accessible with human powered water transportation. That's cool. But not so cool for a canoe-less family. 

The first weekend after arriving in Nova Scotia we went to Keji. We hiked 8 km (over 5 miles) and still had lots of energy to spare and a desire for more.

More view. More diverse terrain. More heart pumping climbing. But definitely not more bugs! Those we experienced plenty of.

We enjoyed the natural beauty and appreciated Keji National Park park for what it is - a place of cultural and historic significance best suited to exploring with a canoe. But we decided that inland southern Nova Scotia hiking is probably not our best bet for experiencing beautiful vistas. 

For that we need to head to the coast.

So that is what we did. The weekend after our inland Keji hike we brought the grandparents with us to explore the Keji Seaside Adjunct, as it's called. 

This time instead of marveling at all the toads, salamanders and snakes (the highlight of our inland Keji hike) we frolicked in the waves, viewed seals from the shore and feasted our senses on the almost-tropical feel of the Keji seaside beaches. 

Unfortunately a large portion of the designated trail has been closed for maintenance since October 2010. Much of the non-beach land is sensitive bog that requires visitors to use paths and boardwalks.

This closed trail really limited the amount we could explore at the park and so we walked the beach... until we got to the restricted area protecting Piping Plover nesting sites. It seems everywhere we turned there were restrictions of some sort. Oh well, welcome to hiking in a small eastern National Park. 

As beautiful as Keji Adjunct is we are anxious to put some miles on these legs and experience beautiful, rugged and remote nature. This poses a bit of a challenge for our summer in this eastern, mostly flat province. 

But there's adventures to be had here to be sure. And we're going to find them.

Sooner than later in fact. 

This week we are going for a four day backpacking trip (our longest ever) in Cape Chignecto Provincial Park. We'll be doing the Cape Chignecto Coastal Trail. According the website it's very challenging with breathtaking views. Sold!

We have determined that though we love the mountains, and to the mountains we'll return, we intend to enjoy the beauty of Nova Scotia's coast. It's not hard with views like this. 

Here's a video Damien produced of our day the Seaside Adjunct.

PS. You'll notice our kids running around in what appear to be tight black underwear. It is. We've written about the underwear our kids wear for hikes. It's a great system and if you do any hiking with kids near water (I sure hope you take your kids hiking near some kind of water) you'll want to read that post and consider your kid's underwear as being their swim layer also.