A Magnetic Hill and a Tidal Bore. Spooky!

Tuesday, October 2
Today we headed over to Moncton, about an hour away. The nice thing about our campground near Sussex, NB is that within an hour in any direction there is a town or site to see and explore.

One of the tourist draws is Magnetic Hill. Actually it's an optical illusion as you can't really go uphill in a vehicle with no source of propulsion.....right? For $6 we needed to find out the answer to this burning science mystery.

Instructions on what to do to experience the 'magnetism'.

You drive to the white post on the left of the road. Place your transmission in neutral, take your foot off the brake, and coast up the hill you just drove down......backwards.

The view out out the rear-view mirror. It sure looks like we would be going 'up' the hill.

Here we are stopped beside the white starting post. The hill behind us seems to be up hill, but in reality it is down hill and when you place the transmission in neutral they truck moves backwards 'up' the hill.

So, although the hill seems to be uphill from this vantage point, it is actually downhill. Just an optical illusion, but it is certainly convincing.

So, it's still a mystery.....and we're six bucks lighter, but it is a pretty neat place. We tried the hill at least six times as we were the only fools on the Hill today!

Next stop was the Cedar Creek dealer. We love our Cedar Creek fifth wheel and as with any other model you can name there are issues with every brand. We have discovered some water leakage in the area of the bedroom slide floor. Turns out there are some areas that require some special attention to ensure water can't migrate in past some of the seals.

When we were in Campbellton we ran into a fellow that had a Cedar Creek and raved about the great service he received from the dealer in Moncton. I can tell you that he was right! The service Manager, Brian, spent at least twenty minutes going over some areas of our trailer we should pay attention to. He then went into the back and found some slide guides he recommended I place on the slides. He was extremely helpful and didn't charge us a cent. Then of course the sales rep took us through some of the new models. He was also a pleasure to talk to. no, we didn't buy a new one! So if you ever need RV work done if you are in New Brunswick I would certainly recommend Pine Acres RV in Moncton!


You have to see the Tidal Bore to believe it! The Tidal Bore is a wave that progresses up the river as the tide comes in. There are tidal bores on many rivers that run into the Bay of Fundy. Some bores are huge that have rafting trips that ride the wave or just enjoy the huge standing waves they generate. Other bores are much smaller of only a few inches high. The size of the bore is also proportional to the height of the tide that day and that of course is driven by the moon phases.

Park beside the river.

This is low tide on the Petitcodiac River in Moncton. The river exits into the Bay of Fundy. With the huge tide swings (up to 30 feet here) when the tide comes in it is fast and powerful. It actually pushes a wave of water up stream.

Downstream, right on time, the wave makes its appearance around the corner.

See the wave approaching?

Here it comes!

......and there it goes!

The tide continues to rise for another six hours before it heads out back down the river.

Time to head back to the campground. An interesting day in Moncton experiencing some natural science!

......and that was Our View From Here!