Black Hole Brook Falls

As promised, a short note about the water fall we visited on Sunday – after hiking around Bomidon.

It was mid to late afternoon and the discussion revolved around how much day light remained and would we have time to reach the falls (and for me – to come back out!). About half the crew was keen, and so it was agreed to go. A short drive away set us at the start of the walk.  The walk in was indeed short, but in some ways just as challenging as the earlier 10 k walk.  There is no established trail, just a path worn by people on their way to the falls; and there was the brook to cross too. The water was too deep for handy stepping stones.  One lucky soul had worn rubber boots.  The rest of us balanced on a downed tree trunk and leapt to shoreline boulders.  After a short walk we scrambled down the ravine to see the falls at their best.

These falls are well worth the visit.  They are located on one of the many brooks emptying into the Bay of Fundy; in this case, not too far from Baxters Harbour.  I’ve marked them on my map and hope to go back to take a gps settings.

Winter views from Smiths Cove

This past weekend we walked the shoreline at Smiths Cove.  This lovely, mostly coble beach on the Annapolis Basin stretches for kilometers.  The water views are open and directly opposite Digby Gut leading out to the Bay of Fundy.   Saturday the temperatures were warm (above 0º) and there was virtually no wind – something that is not alway the case here on the open water.

This shoreline is tidal – as we were reminded on our way back.  We ended up walking over large, sharply edged rocks – likely tumbled down the bank to protect the shoreline.  This uneven and tricky scramble calls for sturdy shoes.

This is not the easiest beach to get to, but exit 24 or 25 off highway 101 will take you in the right direction.  We generally look for an accessible public parking space along highway 1 and walk down to the shore.

After our beach walk we hiked (okay a short steep walk) to the Smiths Cove look-off over Digby Gut.  (Check the map for more precise location.) Its a great view and gives a wonderful contrast to the view from the beach.  The island in this view (Bear Island) appears as shoreline below the north shore to the right of the beach image.

Walking at Joggins fossil cliffs

Several days ago we were lucky enough to walk the beach at Joggins fossil cliffs in Nova Scotia on the Bay of Fundy.  UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wow.  Imagine looking at fossil plants that are over 300 million years old. {older than dinosaurs by 100 million years}  We took the two hour tour, a beach walk with a guide.  Without the guide, I would never have seen all the things he showed us.  Fossils in the cliffs – easy to see once they are pointed out, indicate where ancient forests grew.  We saw at least two separate locations where the cliffs have broken away to reveal petrified tree trunks.

And from one of these forests the tree trunk below will be excavated/removed for study soon – maybe even before the end of the summer.  It seems that these particular tree trunks hold inside them the fossil remains of small animal life (insects for example) from past times.  There are some fossils found here that are found no where else.  The discovery of these fossils formed an important part of  our understanding of time frames in the carboniferous age.  The staff and the exhibits do a great job explaining all about the role of fossils found here in the development of ideas about geological and evolutionary processes.

Fossils are in the cliffs and all over the beaches.  And then there were the coal seams, breaking up to form a beach littered with hard coal pieces.

Joggins fossil cliffs are about an hour off the main highway in Nova Scotia.  They are well worth the visit, but do time your visit with the tides to arrive near low tide.  Joggins is on the Bay of Fundy with its famous high tides. If you arrive just before or after high tide you will not be able to see much, nor walk very far on the beach.  The petrified tree trunks from ancient forests, a highlight for me, are far enough up the beach that low tide is a must for a good visit.

Tiverton Balancing Rock

Natal Day Monday is a holiday in Nova Scotia, so – we went to Tiverton to see the balancing rock.  (We also went whale watching – but that was in the Zodiac and not walking!)  The balancing rock is pretty amazing.  A tall column of basalt seems to balance almost on tiptoes on a ledge of more rock.  It is nine metres tall.  The  trail leading to the shore and the  rock covers some boggy ground, great habitat for tamarck (Larix laricina). You can see trees up close along the trail.  Tamarack are the only conifer trees in the area that loose their needles in the winter.

After the rock the most spectacular part of the trail is the stairs, all 337 steps of the stairs, on the trail, down the shoreline cliff to the rock.  That is a lot of steps, and the kids in our group counted them, just to make sure the signs were accurate.

This is a trail for the fit, or for those who wish to go at a relaxed pace.  The balancing rock is a popular destination for tourists and locals and other images and information are avaible.

Waterfalls galore at Victoria Beach

This is definitely the summer to see waterfalls in Nova Scotia.   Last Saturday we pushed through the alders and brush to make our way to the beach on the promise of waterfalls.  We had seen this shore last year from Point Prim and so after all this rain set out to see the waterfalls up close.  We weren’t disappointed.  They were great, even spectacular.

The shore is actually a bit past Victoria Beach and below what may be more properly called Shag Cliffs.  There is no beach below the cliffs at high tide.  We arrived just as the tide had turned and was beginning to fall and so got wet walking out to the falls.  These cliffs are really something – not too many places in Nova Scotia to see them from below like this.

Access to this shore is difficult:  the climb to the shore was steep; walking on the cobble beach was uneven and walking farther down the shore to the more distant waterfalls was treacherous – once the tide went out.  (At high tide when we arrived you can’t walk to the falls.)  The rock fall from the cliffs was jagged and sharp.  It had not been worn by the waves at all.  We speculated that these rocks had fallen just this past winter.

For more pictures visit flickr.

Cobbles on the Bay of Fundy

Yessterday, early evening I went for a walk on the beach at Hampton.  It’s a great work out for the calf muscles, but that isn’t why I went.  I went to listen to the waves and hear the cobbles rolling in the surf.  We often think of the Bay of Fundy as mud flats and it is, just not everywhere.  The drive to Hampton, with its working wharf, lighthouse and small cottage enclave is well worth it.

As waves rush out the cobbles roll around creating a light clacking sound.

For further exploration: pictures and sounds of waves on cobbles .

Waterfalls on the Bay of Fundy

Yesterday we had a delightful surprise – Waterfalls!  Like rainbows they come after the rain…lots of rain.  We found ourselves along the Bay of Fundy coast just a couple kilometres west of Port George and Cottage Cove.  The beach here is of cobbles and larger rocks.  As always on a beach you can go for a long time or a short time.  Sunday though, once we landed on the beach it was impossible to resist a walk – the waterfalls glimmered in the distance.  Okay maybe they didn’t glimmer, but they did look tantalizing – white ribbons against the cliffs; they just had to be water rushing down the cliff faces.  There were lots of trickles coming down the cliffs and the two real waterfalls – the one above and this one:

And a beach that is usually deserted had other people – clearly the word had spread and people had turned out to see these waterfalls created by swollen creeks.

This beach is a bit of a challenge to find, but well worth the visit (even without the spectacular waterfalls).  Check out the map for directions and check out flickr for more pictures.

Shore to Shore

Last Sunday was a fabulous day.  I joined the group  doing the Shore to Shore walk in Annapolis Royal’s Walkfest.  It was excellent.  We walked from Annapolis Royal to the North Mountain, over North Mountain and all the way to the Bay of Fundy.  It took us over three hours using mostly old and older logging roads.  Some of the hike was very wet, some was over washed out logging roads and so very uneven terrain.  But what a great feeling of accomplishsment!

There is no marked trail, although other locations in the Annapolis Valley do offer lookoffs into the valley.  We had our best veiw of the valley looking back, over an old quary.

For a large part of the trail we followed a stream down North Mountain.

We crossed a stand of the most robust Equisetum sp. I have ever seen – wow!

And after light spring showers we arrived at Parkers Cove on the Bay of Fundy.

What a grand day !

Belliveaus Cove Nova Scotia

In celebration of spring (just a few days late) we drove to Belliveaus Cove on Sunday.  This fabulous cobble beach on the Bay of Fundy in the area of Baie Sainte Marie or Saint Mary’s Bay, forms part of the largest gravel beach deposit on the Bay of Fundy. Wind off the Bay of Fundy keeps the temperature cool even on balmy days like Sunday when the ambient temperature was around 5C. The path called sentier Piau begins here at Belliveaus Cove.  There are few places along the Bay of Fundy where an easy level path follows the shore, but this is one.

This wide loop trail is flat, with the cobbles removed for most of the 4.5 km making for easy walking. It skirts a lagoon on the inland side and the beach on the other.

Icicles at Point Prim

The wind off the water was cold, freezing cold, so freezing cold that the water froze at it dripped off the basalt rock.   Swifter water, running to shore from every little stream and creek, didn’t freeze and there was a lot of water from all the recent rain.  Dripping, trickling water sounds combined with the sound of waves on shore, one or the other catching our attendion depending on where we stood, where we faced.

The water sounds were wonderful but all that water made the walking treacherous.  We picked our way over dry, grey basalt patches avoiding the slippery green algae under the fresh water and the little green seaweed lower in the tidal zone. And about a third of the way on this hopscotch walk we came across a verticle rock face where the water ran and dripped; only the drips were starting to freeze creating tiny little icicles.  These little icicles  perfectly expressed the cold.

Point Prim in December is a rugged place.   A summer visit is on my to do list now.  These folks did visit in June and they took some great photos.  We checked out the light house and then walked down to the shore and spent about an hour exploring.   This is one of the most uneven basalt shores we have explored.  I would recommend good solid walking shoes or hiking boots.  Finding Point Prim is not difficult, check out the map.