Kejimkujik Seaside – a delight

Beaches, beaches and more beaches.  This past weekend I had the pleasure of walking on three different Nova Scotian beaches.  The last beach was at the Kejimkujik Seaside, a part of Kejimkujik  National Park.  There we walked from the parking lot across about 2 km of barrens to the shore where we took to “shorter” path along the shore in a northerly (left) direction.  This map shows the alternate paths.  The walking for the first couple kilometers is not difficult, but the beach walking includes cobbles and rocks where some climbing is necessary to get to the great views and to best see the seals.

There are always great things to photograph at the beach.  Small streams of water create fascinating patterns in the sand that this photographer could not resist.

The longer walk around Port Jolie Head is also a great walk.

Kejimkujik Seaside

Friday, we set off in brilliant sunshine for the Kejimkujik Seaside.  Two hours later (from Annapolis Royal) we arrived under cloudy skys; but excellent weather for following the trail(s) at Keji Seaside.  The rain held off and we had a grand time discovering the trial – so much easier than our previous attempt, over 10 year ago, before the trail and with small children!  On that long ago trip we mainly found alders, pricklies (blackberries, roses) and bog.  This time, we saw seals – two kinds, sea birds, carnivorous plants, porcupine and barely open blossoms on the willows.  And the beach, marvelous:  ocean, sand, rocks, and huge cobble stones.

All kinds of photos are out there and a few are here and here.

The total walk is about 3 hours or so, depending on how many stops/photos and snacks you need.  It covers barrens, beach, boardwalk over bog and some scruffy spruce woods. The shorter (one hour) walk to the beach is flat and easy.  The longer walk which skirts the cape, Port Joli Head, is longer and rougher, you’ll need really good walking shoes or light hiking boots for the cobble beach portion. The Friends of Keji have a map of the seaside with trails.  To get there from Annapolis Royal, take route 8, to highway 103 and continue west to the exit for Port Joli.  Check out this map for further directions.

Hemlocks and Hardwoods

This afternoon we set off for Kejimkujik NP (map). With just the afternoon before us, we chose the Hemlocks and Hardwood trail.  It is a great trail for a fall walk – a 6 km loop with no climbs and a long stretch of board walk through the old hemlocks. The day was brisk, just 6C, so mitts were a must for me.  The sun was intermittent, but the sounds of swooshing in the trees and the smells of wet fall leaves and forest were welcome.

One of my aims for this blog is a bit of photo sharing…and improving my photos…alas, few of quality to share today…all (or almost all) are blury (and now shared with the ether).  Just one of mine below and a link to flickr and Panoramio where there are many wonderful photos of Kejimkujik.  Clearly another trip to this trail is on the to do list.

One of the few that survived the blurs

And acually I can’t resist sharing this evidence of others on the trail…

Were they beetles?