Annapolis County: Trails, Wilderness and Coastal Landscapes

Discover Annapolis County through its varied trails and landscapes: loop trails at Delaps Cove Wilderness Trail sit alongside the approximately 115-kilometre Harvest Moon Trailway. Protected areas, paddling areas and museums round out the picture. For your trip planning, it’s worth first sorting out your priorities: Is your main focus hiking, longer multi-use routes, nature or culture? These interests can also help you focus your vacation rental search on the places you’d like to explore.

Hiking Trails and Multi-use Routes

The Delaps Cove Wilderness Trail system offers two loops of different lengths: the Bohaker Trail is 2.2 km long, with a walking time of about one hour. The Charlies Trail, also a loop, is 1.9 km long. The 2.7 km Shore Road Trail connects the two trails as a one-way route. This lets you consider the loops and connecting trail as different parts of the trail system.

At Bohaker Cove, a 43-foot-high waterfall is located along the Bohaker Trail. From an observation platform, you can see basalt lava rocks on the cliff. The trail passes through 130 acres of sheltered forest along the wind-shaped coast of the Bay of Fundy and offers opportunities for birdwatching and photography. In more remote sections, visitors can also see stone walls, foundations and lilac bushes. The waterfall, coastal forest and traces along the trail each offer a different point of interest on the walk.

The Harvest Moon Trailway offers a different scale: The route is about 115 km long, officially opened in 2017 and connects communities in the Annapolis Valley between Annapolis Royal in Annapolis County and Grand Pré in Kings County. Large sections are multi-use trails for hiking and cycling. Historically, the route was known as the Dominion Atlantic Railway (CP). While named loop trails and their walking times provide orientation at Delaps Cove Wilderness Trail, the Harvest Moon Trailway is a long route linking communities.

Upper Clements Trails is also a multi-use recreational trail system: It includes more than 16 km of singletrack and doubletrack trails for non-motorized activities. The different trail types in the county give you the opportunity to shape your plans around the kind of trail you’re looking for, rather than grouping all activities under a single route.

Wilderness Areas and Paddling Plans

Five wilderness areas are located in Annapolis County; Nova Scotia’s provincial wilderness areas are considered protected areas of significance to Nova Scotia. The 180-hectare McGill Lake Wilderness Area protects a wetland with diverse plant communities and scattered forest habitats within the South Mountain Rolling Plain natural landscape. Medway Wilderness Area protects many of the county’s paddling areas.

Two county guides with different areas of focus can help you plan activities. Available free in print and online, the cycling guide Bicycle Annapolis County – A Cyclist's Guide to Outdoor Adventure features 22 colour-coded routes ranging from easy to challenging. Canoe Annapolis County lists 27 paddling routes and covers topics including trip planning, safety, equipment and wilderness ethics. It also includes information on canoe and kayak services, as well as a photo album about paddling in earlier times. This lets you distinguish between cycling and paddling topics before planning a specific trip and gather relevant questions for the next steps in your planning.

Museums and Travel Interests

The named museums in the county include the Farm Museum at 570 Highway #1 Main Street in Lawrencetown and the James House Museum at 12 Queen Street in Bridgetown. In Middleton, you’ll find the Macdonald Museum at 21 School Street and the Middleton Railway Museum at 61 School Street. These locations give culture-minded visitors specific points to consider when planning their trip, without requiring you to limit your stay to a single area of interest.

When choosing a vacation rental, your planned interests can guide you in comparing specific locations—for example, loop hikes at Delaps Cove Wilderness Trail, longer sections of the Harvest Moon Trailway, paddling or museum visits. Check the listed location of the accommodation in relation to the places you’d like to visit. This way, you can base your search on your trip plans rather than assuming that the name of the county tells you where an individual property is located.

Places in Annapolis County

Places in Annapolis County include West Springhill, Deep Brook, Annapolis Royal, Bridgetown and Granville Ferry.

Discover more destinations: Cumberland County, Halifax County, Richmond County.

Return to the main travel overview: Nova Scotia.