Upper and Lower Joslin Falls

I got the idea to start chasing waterfalls because I love hiking and adventures in the forest. I'm a nature/outdoors girl at heart.  But are you really surprised?  I am from the middle of nowhere-ville... I also stumbled across a wicked website containing a list of many of the main waterfalls in NB.  To view it, go HERE!  It gave me the idea to visit these waterfalls, blog about my adventure doing so, as well as try to post better directions to get to the falls. I haven't visited very many waterfalls yet, however, I would have to say this is one of our provinces hidden treasures.

 Saturday afternoon in Fredericton was calling for a beautiful sunny day, 15 degrees. (Thats a beautiful day for April in Canada!) I grabbed my two besties, Amy and Miray to join me on this hunt. We set off from Fredericton heading towards Nackawic on the Trans Canada Highway around 2pm. We were there in no time. I think the drive took around 30 minutes. The falls are located JUST off the TCH at the highway marker 250. Literally, park your car on the shoulder at highway marker 250.

Where to park to get to Upper and Lower Joslin falls

 Lower Joslin Falls (the more spectacular of the two) is located just to the right of the highway (if your heading in the direction towards Edmunston, from Fredericton). We walked down to the deer fence and through the deer gate. (That was my first time entering a deer gate!) Now, there are two ways you can approach the falls. The first is to your right. Be very careful, the falls is literally just around the corner and it is a huge dropoff. I recommend going this way to get your initial view of the falls because it is just out of this world. The sound of the water is so loud you forget that there is a highway literally just above you. My buds and I decided that it would be far to dangerous to try and scale the cliffside from that direction so we turned around and walked back up, past the deer gate and into the woods on what looked to be ... somewhat of a foot trail. This led us around the steep part of the cliff and then over to a small stream running down the hillside. The hillside is much much less steep over here and your able to carefully walk down and get a view of the falls from the bottom. I snapped a few photos and we hung out for a bit in the valley between the mossy cliffs.

 When we had our fill, we climbed back up the way we came (which is way more of a workout than you think for someone out of shape like me) and were on our way.I enjoyed visiting this waterfall so much, that I convinced my boyfriend to come with me to see it again the very next day. I'm pretty sure Sunday was even a nicer day than before. It must have hit at least 25 degrees. This time, I decided to take a different approach at the cliffside. Travis and I decided that since the water level was pretty high due to the recent rain and it being spring in Canada, we climbed up the rocks around the culvert under the highway and made it to the other side that way. We followed a foot trail that led around the rock ledges by the waterfall and carefully made our way down the cliff side.

Lower Joslin Falls

 It looks harder at first glance than it actually is. I thought being a shortie, I might get stuck and not be able to climb back up the mountain but this wasn't the case at all.  I enjoyed all the climbing and boulder hopping.  When we got to the bottom of the cliff, we were closer to the base of the waterfall and there was a conveniently placed pile of giant boulders to perch on. It was very refreshing to sit in this gully as the waterfall was spraying a light mist of water in our direction.

After Travis and I had our fill of Lower Joslin Falls, we set out across the highway to find the Upper Joslin Falls. It is literally straight on the otherside of the highway.  You can't miss it.  Granted, these aren't nearly as spectacular as the lower falls but since you are already there, definitely worth checking out.

Upper Joslin Falls