Central Grove Park trail hike - 20 May 07

Cinnamon ferns unfurl by a babbling forest stream.

one of my favorite art supply stores

Beautiful Cove, Freeport, lowest tide at the full moon.

Hiking at Kejimkujik

We drove to Kejimkujik National Park yesterday for a 7 km (5 mi.) hike. I love Keji - I camped there often as a child with my family, and spent weeks there every summer. I love canoeing to the wilderness camping sites on the islands, and I love hiking the extensive trail system.
My favorite hiking trail is the Hemlocks and Hardwoods trail, a loop through one of the few remaining pockets of old-growth forests in Nova Scotia. 350 year old hemlocks tower above to a thick, green canopy. Within the forest, it seems to be perpetually twilight. It is a totally magical and otherworly place. I would love to visit in the winter, but it would have been a 15 km. or so hike... so maybe some other time.

The trail we did yesterday was Peter's Point, a trail we just did in September. In the winter, the dirt road leading to the parking area for this trail is closed and groomed for cross country skiing, so that makes for a longer walk than in summer. There was 5 or 6 inches of snow in the forest. The trail follows a point of land out into Kejimikujik Lake. The tip of the point, at the trail's end, is just a short skip across water to a small island. The point shelters two sandy beaches, one facing north, and one south. It was beautiful to witness the blanketed hush. Beech and Pine

Frozen Lake


Towering Pine

Twilight brook

family hike to Balancing Rock

We took the kids for a hike to the island's best known landmark, Balancing Rock, in Tiverton. The day was beautiful, with temperatures hovering just above freezing. There was no wind, and the woods were hushed with the layer of snow. The sun was so bright and felt so warm at the shore, such a nice break from the cold, miserable weather we've had lately. As hubby said yesterday "If winter were like this more often, I wouldn't mind it nearly as much".

The path/stairs to Balancing Rock.

Balancing Rock, a 30 ft (?) Basalt column perched above the St. Mary's Bay.

Looking 'up' the shore from Balancing Rock, a view of the mainland at East Ferry.

Brrrr... snowed in today

I've been down with a virus this week, so haven't felt much like painting, and the art I have made is secret and I can't show you (yet) ;-) . I am involved in an Art Trading Card exchange. ATC's are miniature art works 2.5" x 3.5", or the standard size of sports trading cards. Twenty six people from all over the world are involved in this project. We each have six months to produce 25 cards, and mail each one to each of the other 25 on the list, aiming for a card a week. In return, we will each receive 25 cards. I have made two cards, but couldn't get to the post to mail them today. I don't want to show them here until they have been received by their recipients.

You can see from the photos I've added why I didn't go out today. The roads were bad, with whiteout conditions. And the -25* C windchill made it a c-c-cold day to be out of doors.

Smoke on the water

(The wind chill temperature is low enough that it causes vapor to rise from the water)

Sunday hike to the shore

Here are some photos I snapped on Sunday when I went for a hike by myself to clear my head of a lot of stuff that happened last week. It had been a rough week, lots of stuff going on, including the loss of my dad's sister Bonnie.

It was windy on the shore, but the walk through the woods was quiet and peaceful. I could feel the thunder of the surf pounding the rocks before I could see the water. As always, I find a stiff bracing wind and the rhythm of the waves cathartic. I just let the wind and water carry away my pain and stress. I always feel cleaner and purer after.

The path through the woods.

Waves rolling in.

Breakers pounding the rocks.