Away!

A lone pine tree in the bog.

I’ve always wanted to visit a bog, I was in plenty of swamps when I was a kid but never a bog that has layers of peat that accumulates over thousands of years. The kind of bog where sphagnum moss comes from and carnivorous plants grow. A bog that is a setting for many Irish and English stories – Bring in the peat to warm the cottage or get out the hounds out because little Seamus is lost in the fen. A place where fairies lure you in with little lights and you disappear in the quagmire.   

Imagine my delight when I found out that there is a bog trail at Kouchibouguac National Park. It is the first trail Maya and I hike.

The word bog brings to mind a place that is misty, gray, foggy  and full of foreboding and mystery. Well the evening we hiked was sunny and breezy so scratch the first part of that description. It was full of mystery and surprises and a little foreboding would have helped me watch Maya more carefully – but more about her mishap later.

I’ve never seen lichen this large!

At the beginning of the trail were these trees covered in the largest lichen I had ever seen. It looked like veiny greenish gray hands trying to strangle the trunk. I’m still searching to see what kind it is. We entered a swampy forest filled with fern and a black stream. The park service had built  a boardwalk the entire trail to avoid slogging through the mud and worse. Soon the forest began to thin out. Many trees were dying because the ground was so wet and finally the woods opened up to the sky. We were met with brilliant color and waves of flowers, I didn’t expect that! Once in a while there would be a lone feathery pine tree but not any real shade here.

Orchids

There were clusters of feathery white orchids everywhere. Tall purple flowers and bright yellow ones. The ground cover was a beautiful earthy red with bright leaves of green (blueberry or cranberry bushes) and a whitish lacy growth. Now; where were those carnivorous plants?

This is one type of pitcher plant.

I saw one likely suspect: it had a tall single stem and what looked like a large red/green flower with six petals. They always seemed to face the ground, not the sun. On closer inspection it had a pouch underneath with a lot of insects coming and going. Later on I found out it is a type of pitcher plant. On the trail back I found another type of pitcher plant – this one emerges from the ground in groups, it holds a pool of water (and digestive juices) between it’s leaves for insects to fall in. Because the soil is so nitrogen-poor these plants have evolved another way to get nourishment.

While I was admiring all of the flowers I wasn’t watching Maya very well – behind me I heard a sloshing sucking sound. Wheeling around I saw at the end of my leash just a pair of eyes and a little nose sticking up. She had a “What now, Ma?” look in her eyes and was trying to dog paddle her front legs. I hauled her out of the bog by the scruff of her neck, she wasn’t phased in the least, just shook really hard, covering me with this gooey brown stuff. When I looked back to where she had gone in, the ground looked solid enough but now both of us knew the truth. By the time I drove back to camp most of that gooey brown stuff had dried and guess what it was? Peat Moss, another mystery solved.

One of the ponds.

A close up of what the mossy ground looks like.

These pitcher plants are just poking through the peat, you can see the little pools of water in them.

I love the colors of these plants!

The lighthouse that greets you when you enter Battery Provincial park.

View from my campsite, I was high up on a hill.

I learned a lesson in Nova Scotia. The last day was misty and rainy and we just hung around the campsite watching the changing skies. Suddenly a huge flock of birds ( estimate of about a thousand ) came swirling in towards the coast. They were white with black wing tips and more streamlined than gulls, I thought they might be gannets which the local people confirmed.  The most amazing thing was that they were following schools of fish. From forty feet in the air gannets would plummet straight down into the water with a splash, and more often than not, bob back up with a fish in their mouth. My campsite was on top of a hill. I had a great view of them through my binoculars, you could hear the sounds of their splashing from way up there because there were so many.

Here’s the thing; I became obsessed with trying to get a photograph of the action. I grabbed my camera, jumped in the car and drove down the hill. Of course by the time I got there the flock was gone with only a few stragglers remaining. I could see them winging across the bay so I went back to my site. About an hour later they were back, and of course the same thing happened. This went on all day. In the afternoon I tried a different strategy, I took something to work on and waited by the shore for several hours – nothing. Then I drove to another place I had seen them and waited; it was maddening because I could see the giant flock out in the middle of the bay just bobbing up and down in the waves. I tried using my magic powers to bring the school of fish to me, I’m sure you know how that worked out.  Finally I went back to the campsite and told myself to give up – it just wasn’t going to happen.

That evening I heard a familiar splash, plop. The gannets were back and in perfect view of my campsite. This time I didn’t grab the camera, I got the binoculars and sat and enjoyed the birds for almost fifteen minutes. They were wonderful to watch; the soaring flight so graceful, the sudden dramatic dive was exciting and I swear they looked quite smug when they bobbed up with a fish! I had missed so much when I was chasing them around with a camera.

I have some very beautiful photographs of Nova Scotia but no pictures of gannets. The experience is in my mind and heart though, and you might see them in my art work some day.

I saw this car at Fundy National Park, they followed me to Nova Scotia! They are from New Jersey and very passionate about stopping fracking in their part of the world.

Maya and I took a drive to Cape Breton Highlands.

We took a short hike on top of Smoky Mountain. You can see Maya leading the way.

It smelled wonderful from all the blooming flowers.

Mountain Laurel

Lobster traps waiting….

These are not gannets!

We had a short ferry ride across the channel.

Good bye Nova Scotia, you were beautiful.

When my son, Jack, was young we listened to Native American stories on audio tape. Every time there was a big full moon in the sky we were fond of saying – “Look, there is Grandmother Moon!” Last night was one of those full moons that seem so close you can touch it so I got my tripod out and took a number of shots. I was very excited to see that you can actually see the craters in some of the pictures! 

This gallery is dedicated to my son Jack, I hope you still think of Grandmother moon when you see a big moon like this.

Fundy National Park is the first Canadian National park that I have experienced and it was wonderful! There were several important differences to American National Parks, the first difference was that there are no crowds, solitude and peaceful enjoyment of nature are easy to find. The people in Canada including Park employees are incredibly kind and helpful. They have full facilities; showers, laundry, hot and cold running water in the bathrooms and soap to wash your hands! I have visited many National Parks in the U.S. and have yet to find one where you don’t have to get in your car and drive to a location outside the park to take a shower. Most U.S. parks have only cold water in the bathroom, no soap and nothing to dry your hands with. I did notice Acadia has added hand sanitizer this year so that is a step in the right direction!

The weather at Fundy changed by the hour, although it was often foggy and we had frequent rain; it could without warning, clear and become a sunny day. 

The ocean was such a strange color, sometimes purple or indian red. Apparently there is a great deal of iron oxide in the earth which makes the water along that shore such an odd color. The tides were indeed amazing, one could walk way out onto the ocean floor at low tide. The hills and mountains came right to the sea so if you wanted to get to the ocean it usually required hiking down a steep trail. I would have liked to stay longer and find out about the geology of the place. 

I am certainly inspired to start doing art work and am busy organizing art supplies and paper. I brought plenty of supplies, I just have to find everything and begin. Sometimes beginning the first work is the most difficult – but it will come!

You drive through the mountains to get to Fundy National Park, this is the first glimpse of the shore.

The weather is so changeable, when we arrived at the shore it looked like this…

We walked a trail up a cliff overlooking the beach, it took about 20 minutes -look at the weather now!

You can see how strange the color of the water is. Of course Maya didn’t mind.

Maya started barking wildly at this strange ocean creature.

It’s a rock Maya!

At first I thought the beach was covered with clam shells.

They turned out to be scallop shells, Yum, I’d like to find some that were alive.

The geology of this area is so interesting, look at the contrasting colors of these two boulders on the beach.

I see the face of the “Old Man in the Sea” in these rocks.

Can you see him now?

The Fundy coastal drive has many covered bridges, this was one of my favorite!