Keji Welcoming Committee

I had been invited to attend a planning meeting regarding the Cofan Cabin (along the Shelburne River system) this month.  The meeting was being held in a hall near Kejimkujik Park, so I decided to take my tent trailer and combine the meeting with a few days of walking in the park.  Our odds on the weather were looking 50/50 so we decided to try our luck camping in April.  Besides, we’ve been having an unusually warm and eatly spring this year.

We arrived at the park on Friday and spent the night around the fire.  It was fairly warm but wet.  It rained Friday night and most of Saturday morning, however we spent that time at the Cofan meeting in a dry hall.  After the meeting we drove into Caledonia to pickup gas and supplies, then back to the campsite and walked a bit of the trail around Kijimkujik Lake.  Saturday night was a cool one, and we pretty much hugged the fire.

Farmlands Orchard Remnants

We awoke to sunny skies on Sunday morning and headed off to walk a few of the day use trails in the park.  I’ve been backpacking the longer backcountry trails in Keji for years, but have never really explored the frontcountry trails.  First stop was the Farmlands Trail… a short walk over a glacial drumlin that was once home to a farm.  Wandering off the main trail a bit, I found the remains of an old apple orchard.

Next stop was the Gold Mines trail, an interpretive walk through the diggings of old gold claims and mines.  This is now one of my favorite walks in the park.  I never realized that Keji was once the site of “gold fever”.

From here we drove down to Grafton Lake to see if the gate was open, as we planned to return to the park for a paddling trip in May.  The gate was indeed open, so we drove down to the Eel Weir (Mersey River) and found quite a few paddlers and fishermen taking advantage of the early spring weather.

High Water

On our way back to the campsite we stopped to visit the Rogers Brook trail… a short walk through a river flood plain.  The water level was high but we managed to keep our feet dry on the boardwalk.

Back to camp and another cool night around the fire.

I’m looking forward to returning for a paddle in May.  We plan to spend a night or two at Mason’s Cabin, then down the Shelburne River to Irving Lake for a night.

Happy Trails… Dino

Old Lighthouse Road

I haven’t been getting out rockhounding much at all this year… only one trip to Blomidon so far.  So I decided to head off to Parrsboro with my backpack over the Easter weekend, and camp near the Cape Sharp lighthouse.  The plan was to get up early on Easter morning and explore the cliffs around Cape Sharp.

It was 22 C when I left Halifax, but soon dropped to 15 C as I hit Truro area.  Fog was blowing up the Minas Basin and cooling things off.  As I neared Parrsboro, I noticed a thick fogbank hovering just over the Cape Sharp area.  Of course.  What the heck though… I parked my car near the old lighthouse access road and loaded up my pack for the climb over the hill to the lighthouse.  The old road was pretty washed out, but made for good walking.  The fog was fairly thick as I neared the lighthouse… and then the foghorn blast hit me.  Woah… so much for camping in the field next to the lighthouse.  Best laid plans and all that.

Home Sweet Home

I backtracked up the hill and found a nice grassy spot just off the old road, near what looked to be a game trail.  Too near as it turns out.  Around 11pm I awoke to the sound of thundering hooves heading towards my tent.  A few deer were running up the trail and got a surprise when they saw my tent.   Scared the crap out of me, but I finally managed to nod off again.

The next morning was bright and sunny.  Apparently the fog had blown off sometime during the night.  Still a bit cool but sunny.  I left the tent and headed down towards the lighthouse, then climbed down to the beach.  I spent the next couple of hours following the coastline around the Cape, to the beach on the other side.  There’s a nice seam of calcite that runs through the Cape, and I managed to grab a few big, honey-colored crystals.  I also found a few nice stilbite samples, and some dark amethyst.  I spotted a huge chunk of gypsum (satin spar variety) on the beach walk out… and couldn’t resist dragging it back to my car.

Cape Sharp Light

I circled back around the Cape to my car, dropped off the rocks, and stopped for some lunch.  After a short rest, I headed back up the hill and packed my tent out.  By then the fog had started to drift back in again, so it was a timely exit.

I hadn’t explored Cape Sharp for many years, and it was good to get back there for a visit.  Parrsboro has always been on top of my list of favorite places to visit in Nova Scotia.

Happy Trails… Dino

Day 1 (Oct 17th) – Got a late start at the Eel Weir (Mersey River) this morning.  Cool temperatures today but the skies were sunny with cloudy periods.  We paddled up the Mersey River and into Minards Bay we’re we started the long portage over the Hardwood Carry (about  2 kms) to Mountain Lake.  This meant 2 trips with the gear and canoe, and took us the better part of 2 hours.  After a pleasant paddle across Mountain Lake, and another carry, we dropped the canoe into Peskowesk Lake.  The bad news is that a strong westerly had blown up and we were paddling due west up this lake.  It was a tough slog in some nasty waves but we finally made it to the Beaverskin Lake carry.  After that it was am easier paddle up Beaverskin Lake, then a short carry over to Peskawa Lake… and then onto Mason’s cabin.  The portages and strong headwinds had slowed us down considerably, and we didn’t arrive at the cabin until just before dusk.  The cabin was definitely a welcome sight at that point :)

Day 2 (Oct 18th) – Very dark and overcast this morning.  Cold rain started at 9am and kept fairly steady for the entire day.  Hey, that wasn’t in the forecast! :)  We got another late start and pushed up the Pebbleloggitch Stillwater towards the Shelburne River.  It was a pleasant paddle until we reached the Granite Falls portage.  From here we made two trips over 1+ kms of rugged wilderness trail to the stillwater above the falls… not for the faint of heart, especially in a cold steady rain.  The sky had darkened and the cold rain had picked up some momentum… not producing the greatest photos ops, heh.  We paddled and portaged our way up the Shelburne River, having to drag or line the canoe in some areas.  Eventually we arrived at Sand Beach Lake, just before dusk, and were unable to locate the cabin in the fading light.  Fortunately the rain had stopped and we pitched our tents in an old camp area above a sandy beach on the Eastern shore of the lake.  It was a cold, damp evening but we managed to get a hot meal into us, and warm ourselves around a fire.

Day 3 (Oct 19th) – Clearing skies this morning.  We took a paddle around the lake before breakfast and looked for the cabin, but still no luck.  The good news is that the sun had revealed itself once more, and was warming up the day.  We had breakfast and looked over the maps again.  Obviously the cabin was not where I thought it was.  On a hunch we paddled to the shoreline ridge on the other side of the river outlet, and I finally found the cabin on a small ridge above the river (just before Sand Beach Lake, looking upstream).  What a welcome sight that was!  We stoked up the old stove and hung out our wet gear to dry.  I explored the ridgelines around the cabin (found plenty of fresh bear scat) and Geoff repaired a corner of the cabin with shingles.  It looked like a bear had tried to cut a new door into the wall, heh.  After reading the entries (since 1990) in the log book, and watching a beautiful sunset, it was a good sleep in a warm cabin this night.

Day 4 (Oct 20th) – Very cold this morning, with heavy frost and snow pellets on the ground.  Very happy to be in the cabin this morning, heh.  There is a heavy mist on the river.  We cleaned up the cabin and said our goodbyes to Cofan, then headed back down the river.  It was a beautiful sunny day with a light westerly at our backs (for once!).  We made great time on the trip back downstream and pretty much sailed across Beverley Lake with the wind at our backs. What a difference the weather can make!  We stopped at Granite Lake to explore some blue paint markings on the trees but didn’t have time to follow them far.  Just before the Granite Falls carry we ran a small riffle and hit a big submerged rock… almost dumping the canoe.  We managed to recover with a big nasty gouge on the canoe bottom as a reminder.  It could have been bad… we were lucky.  After the Granite Falls carry it was a very pleasant paddle back to Pebbleloggitch Lake and Mason’s cabin… with the warm sun setting behind us.

Day 5 (Oct 21st) – Very overcast this morning and the wind had shifted to strong south-easterly overnight… not a good sign.  We cleaned the cabin and pushed off into Peskawa Lake.  After hitting some strong wind and wave action on Beaverskin Lake, we were getting worried about the conditions on Peskowesk Lake.  However, it turned out to be a fairly decent paddle.  Mountain Lake was very choppy but we had the wind at our side.  It was a tough paddle back down the Mersey River from Keji Lake, but we finally made it back to where we started.  We had just landed the canoe at the Eel Weir when the skies opened up with thunder, lightning and heavy showers… talk about good timing!

It was a great trip, and we learned a few lessons for next time (such as bringing along a canoe caddy for the Keji portages).  I can’t wait to push even further up the Shelburne River, and we’ve already started planning for next year’s adventure.  I’d like to move the trip earlier in October next time and try to catch the brilliant fall colours along the Shelburne River.  We were a little late this time and a storm just before our trip had blown the leaves from the trees.  I’d probably look to extending the next trip to 7 days as well.

Happy trails… Dino

I arrived late at the Red Rocks trailhead around 11am Sunday morning and missed the low tide (I like to walk out to Mill Brook on the beach)… so I walked out as far as McGahey Brook on the beach and started the steady “climb from Hell” towards Mill Brook.  This is the one portion of the trail I don’t care for much, preferring the steep short climbs over the long steady ones.

After the long descent into Mill Brook I took a short lunch break before starting the climb towards Arch Gulch, then stopped for a short rest to catch the panoramic views at the Arch Gulch cabin.  Spring is a great time of year to see views you normally wouldn’t see because of the summer leaf cover.

The walk from Arch Gulch to Refugee Cove is one of my favorites on this trail… a nice stroll through expansive hardwood stands.  It was early May (after a long ugly winter) but the Trout Lilies were already beginning to bloom among the hardwoods.

I made good time to Refugee Cove but that’s when things started to go awry.  Because I was late getting started I pushed a little too hard and strained my left knee on the long descent into Refugee Cove.  After taking another short break to catch the views (and shoot a few photos) I started the steep climb out of Refugee Cove, towards the actual Cape of Chignecto.

At this point both knees were started to give me trouble (no wonder after rushing through three climbs and two steep descents).  I managed to hobble into Stoney Beach and pitched camp for the night in the small clearing overlooking the ocean (ya, I know it’s not an official campsite but I like to setup the camera overlooking the sunsets).

The next day brought another seasonal sunny day and the hike from Stoney Beach to Seal Cove was quite pleasant.  I stopped at Big Bald Rock for a check on the campsites and ran into a group of three folks hiking the trail in my direction… they were just sitting down to breakfast.   I also ran into a hiking buddy just before Keyhole Brook… he was walking around the loop counter-clockwise.  After a brief chat to check trail conditions I stopped at Keyhole Brook for lunch.  Keyhole is always a nice warm spot to take a break away from the coastal winds.  Last year we climbed down the rock-face near the brook and explored the keyhole rock formation along the shore.

After a short rest it was onward to Seal Cove.  I was a bit worried about the washout conditions at Carey Brook (nasty climb but short), but the trail was in good shape.  The trail crew has done a good job of improving this area of the trail.  There’s a nice little waterfall just upstream from the trail here.

Arriving in Seal Cove is always a treat.  It’s one of my favorite campsites, and the trail offers a great coastal view of the cove just before you get there.  I pitched in my usual spot, just above the beach (ya, I know, not an “official” site but…)  The sunset views from this cove are amazing and you can look across the Bay of Fundy towards the New Brunswick coastline.  Seals in (and around) this cove are very common and there’s a chance of a moose sighting in the woods up behind the campsites.  A few years ago I watched in amazement as three deer came down over the bank into the cove and wandered around the beach.  They were quite surprised to find me eating breakfast on a log.

Tuesday morning was a little overcast as I started my long trek back to Red Rocks.  The walk from Seal Cove to Eatonville is very pleasant.  I commonly see large numbers of seals lying around on the rocks just outside Seal Cove, and viewing the Three Sisters sea stacks across Eatonville Harbour is always amazing.  When I arrived in Eatonville the skies had cleared and the temperature shot up to a balmy 18 C… so I stopped for lunch in the field.

After Eatonville the trail winds up into the Cobequid Mountains and back towards Mill Brook.  At one point the trail descends to a brook with a large beaver dam and active beaver cuttings.  Near Mill Brook the trail begins a steep climb over the top of the mountain.  It was here that I ran into very warm temperatures of 20 C (with no wind) and actually got bit by two blackflies!

I was getting pretty tired at this point and the climb over the top towards Mill Brook was a bit of a slog.  At Mill Brook I joined the main trail again and headed left towards McGahey Brook.  Here I missed the low tide (yet again) and had to climb out of McGahey on the trail back to Red Rocks.

Needless to say, I was pretty tired when I arrived back at my vehicle around 7pm on Tuesday.  The hike from Seal Cove back around to Red Rocks is a long one and I dawdled a bit too much along the trail taking photos.

But it was a great way to start the new hiking season.  The Cape Chignecto trail is one of the best backcountry loops in Nova Scotia… (in my opinion).  I plan to return later this year for a nice 4-day walk around the trail loop during the fall colours.

Happy Trails… Dino