Greenwich {part one} :: Exploring PEI

Greenwich is part of Prince Edward Island National Park, but it is a little further away from Charlottetown than the other parks. It is about a 45 minute drive through beautiful countryside. I have been wanting to visit this area since we moved here last year! We finally went this week. 


The dunes are what I came for, but there was so much more...

We stopped at the Greenwich Interpretation Centre first, but went quickly because rain was in the forecast and we wanted to try to walk the 3 trails. We will need to come back when we can spend more time to read all the information and watch the multi-media show. 

We started at the beginning of the trails and walked part of the Tlaqatik trail to see St. Peters Bay. 

The trails have several information boards and we stopped to read all of them. There were farms on this area of land as late as 1980s. We also learned about the small village across the bay and how it used to be a busy fishing centre. 

We decided to turn around after a short while and take the Greenwich Dunes trail. The sky was getting a little darker and it was very hot. We were worried that Celeste might get too hot and not want to walk any more. The Tlaqatik and the Greenwich Dunes trails are each 4.8 km round trips. We wanted to make sure we saw the dunes!

The Greenwich Dunes trail has a small forested part, great for a bit of shade. We noticed the start of the dunes and learned they are called "grey dunes". They are more inland and lichens can grow on these. 

Part of the trail is a long floating boardwalk over Bowley Pond. Celeste wasn't quite sure about this "wobbly" part, still she kept walking. The boardwalk and the area around it is spectacular. 

Looking back over the boardwalk, before climbing up the path on the dunes on the way to the beach. 

The Greenwich Dunes are very special. Here is a description from the Parks Canada website: 

"The site contains an extensive and fragile coastal dune system, wetlands and various natural habitats in which numerous rare plant species are found. Among the most spectacular natural characteristics to be protected at Greenwich are the unusually large and mobile parabolic dunes with their associated counter ridges or Gegenwälle . This phenomenon is very rare in North America."

If you go to Greenwich and take this trail, be sure to walk to the look out point. You get there by turning left on the beach and walking about 100 metres. There are signs pointing the way. You can see more of the parabolic dune system from this look out point.

On the way back to the beach, we stopped briefly. The sand is gorgeous here.

We were almost the only ones there. We did head back on the trail and made one more stop before heading home: Greenwich Beach. I took many photos on the way back of wildflowers and the beach, I will share those in a second Greenwich post.