The Balancing Rock Trail - Long Island NS

The 1.0 Mile Balancing Rock Trail leads visitors from the parking lot, just off Highway 217 outside Tiverton, through woods and bog to the southern shore of Long Island. We decided that this would be another good tune up for our upcoming Acadia NP trip in Maine in a couple of weeks.

To get to the Balancing Rock location, you have to take a short ferry ride from Tiverton to Long Island.  The ferry is free for all vehicles and passengers. 

Once on the other side, it's a short drive to the Balancing Rock Trail entrance.  

A map of the trail. We did remember to bring water and insect repellent for this hike. 

We had a narrow wooden bridge to walk over for an 1/8 of a mile.  Not a lot of room for people to pass each other. 

Most of the trail was packed loose gravel. The path was in good shape and easy to follow.

No, it's not Big Foot, it's me walking down 250 steep wooden steps which provide access to a cliffside viewing platform.

At the end of the trail, you have a great view of St Mary's Bay and the rock formations. 

A brief explanation of how it was formed two hundred million years ago. 

The Balancing Rock is a force of nature standing proudly on the cliffs. We did read that fishermen tried to pull the rock loose with their boat, but it would not move.  

Another view of the cliffs. 

The platform was solidly built with metal handrails as you walk down the steps.

We did hike back up the 250 steps with a little rest along the way. We did see many people hiking the trail during our return. When exiting the trail, you see some encouraging words "May your steps from this point forward be as enlightening as the ones you have just taken".   We were very glad we did the hike. 
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