When we were in Prince Edward Island, we were very into plopping down on various beaches. We were also very into moving our bodies around a bit before we hit we the beach. It mostly worked out really well, with the exception of the Bubbling Springs trail near Stanhope. It's labelled as "easy" but that fails to take into consideration the truly astonishing number of mosquitoes. We RAN, you guys. We do not go to these trails to run but run we did because that's how bad the mosquitoes were. Just thinking about it makes me itch.
A far more successful trail walk was the Greenwich Dune Trail at Greenwich Beach in the Prince Edward Island Provincial Park. We're big fans of Greenwich Beach but this was our first time trying out the trails there. This trail is simply spectacular.
First you start off walking through fields, that were once part of a working farm. You'll catch glimpses of the bay.
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Greenwich Dune Trail, PRince Edward Island
You'll walk by lots of naturally growing raspberry canes. And some pretty flowers.
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A field of pretty flowers at Greenwich
Then you'll wander into the woods.
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In the woods, Greenwich Dune Trail
They have information panels interspersed through the trail length. We'd seen these plants on other trails but didn't know what they were. Bunchberries! It was thanks to these boards we also discovered the HUGE dragonflies flitting around were blue darners. They were the biggest dragonflies I've ever seen!
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Bunchberries!
After you leave the woods you'll find yourself on a long floating boardwalk. It goes over a freshwater lake.
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Start of the boardwalk at Greenwich Dunes
While you are on the boardwalk, you'll get your first glimpse of the fabulous dunes at Greenwich.
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Back of the parabolic dune
I love walking on boardwalks, but I'll confess I was scared I would accidentally trip (totally possible, have you met me?) and drop my phone in the water. I had a death grip on it.
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Boardwalk at Greenwich Dunes
When you reach the end of the boardwalk you'll climb over a dune. It's fairly steep but they put down webbing over the sand and they have a rope that you can hold on to. Please, PLEASE, do not climb or play dunes unless it is clearly marked that you can. Dunes are fragile.
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Greenwich Beach
And we took a selfie because we are nothing if not predictable. Plus it's just way easier than asking other people to take a picture for you.
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A selfie. BEcause Obviously.
From the beach you can climb up a second dune. Again, it was pretty steep. From there you'll see the back of the dunes.
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Greenwich Beach dunes from back
But what people really come to see are the parabolic dunes.
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Parabolic Dunes, Greenwich Dune Trail, PRince Edward Island
The pictures do not do it justice. It's spectacular.
For the return trip you climb back down the dune and retrace your steps.
Lee and I both really, really loved this trail. I think we'll likely do this trail again.