Walking on the Sea Floor and More

Monday: Hopewell Rocks and on to Nova Scotia. Today I walked on the ocean floor. High tide will be up to 58 feet above my head. Remember the funnel effect from last week? The further up Fundy Bay we go, the higher the tide. It’s really remarkable. What surprised me the most about this part of the sea floor was that there were no sea shells. The surface was pebbly rocks with a small amount of muddy silt the receding tide had deposited, no sand. The boulders were covered with seaweed.  Here the tide comes in and goes out at about 5 feet per hour. You don’t want to get caught with it coming in! In the 45 minutes or so we spent walking around, the tide was noticeably lower than when we arrived, a couple of hours before low tide. Amazing stuff in this world Heavenly Father created for us. We spent the night in Glenholme, Nova Scotia. Don’t try to find that city on a GPS device, Mapquest, or on the map program I have. Google earth found it, though. We had to use an actual map and directions from the campground guide book to find it.

Tuesday: We drove to Joggings, Nova Scotia another site with the extreme tides on the opposite side of Fundy Bay. We got there too early because the tide had just started receding an hour or so earlier. We did walk down to the little shelf that was just exposed for a few feet and took some pictures. We were only there for about 10 minutes and could already tell the water was lower. We would have had to wait an hour for the tour of the fossil site. It was cold and raining, so we drove back to the campground. We also saw Five Islands (picture with the lighthouse) which was interesting. What we didn’t know was that at low tide we could have walked to the islands.  Most of the best things to see in the Bay of Fundy area happen at low tide. How can you be at several places within a few hours time frame?

That small dark spot are trees on top of a pillar that will look like those at Hopewell Rocks.

Wednesday: Freeway driving! I love driving on small country roads, but there can be too much of a good thing. We were on curvy 2 lane roads all day yesterday, fun, but hard on the driver. We visited the Halifax temple which is always a highlight. We stopped by the Masstowne Market on the way home. It’s basically an indoor market plus. Besides the expected vegetables and flowers they had a bakery, restaurant, and deli. It was next to a fish market built like a lighthouse. The lighthouse had a nice view from the top even on this rainy day. It’s supposed to be spectacular on a sunny day.

Thursday: We went to Truro, NS and saw some neat carvings. The elm trees that used to line the streets died, so they had artists carve the dead trunks. The best thing we saw was the Glooscap Heritage center about the Mi’kmaq Indians.  In legend, Gooscap created the landscape we see today. We also took a hike in Victoria Park and saw some waterfalls. Fun stuff.

Friday: Our last stop in Nova Scotia was the swinging bridge in Tidnish. We could see steep cliffs below the water, and although it was relatively calm, we could see water flowing in both directions, but this area isn’t on Fundy Bay where those extreme tidal waters flow. It’s close to Northumberland Strait, so it was just a stream entering the bay.

We’re back in New Brunswick, Moncton to be exact. On our way we stopped by Sackville where we visited Swan Pond and Waterfowl Park.

Saturday: A quiet, rainy day. We drove to Magnetic Hill. We drove down the hill which had another hill that went up at the bottom. When reaching the bottom, we put the car in neutral and it backed up the hill. The water in the water bottle remained flat, but the terrain certainly looked like it went down then up, and it felt like we were going uphill backwards.

Canada!

Monday: St. Stevens, New Brunswick, Canada. We traveled to Calais, Maine. Since we didn’t want to hang out at Wal-Mart with nothing to do all afternoon, we went to St. Stevens to see Chocolate Museum which was established by the Ganong Brothers in 1873. (Yes I bought something, white chocolate almond bark.) We also took a beautiful walk along the river. Too bad it was foggy. I’ll bet it’s even more beautiful on sunny days. We’re in Canada a little early for the summer vacation season. We’ve been beating the crowds so far, but when we get back to the USA, that will be over.

Tuesday: We drove to Campobello Island in NB. FDR spent most of his summers there from the time he was 1 year old. After he went into politics, he didn’t spend all summer, but visited as frequently as possible until he was struck with polio. He only visited 3 times after that. I learned a lot about him and his wife Eleanor. It’s a beautiful place. I hope the weather is better tomorrow.

Wednesday: It rained all night with thunder and lightning, but at least it wasn’t windy like the thunderstorm in Arizona. Today we drove to the other end of the island to East Quoddy Lighthouse. In this part of the country, high tides are very dramatic because two land masses concentrate the water in a smaller area (think pouring water into a funnel). The lighthouse is only accessible at low tide when a rocky shore is exposed. The first part of the path was over boulders most of which were covered with extremely slippery seaweed. After we walked across the more stable rock walkway, and up a ladder, there was an even greater expanse of those slick boulders. Since it was yet another foggy day, we decided not to go over to the lighthouse—too much effort and hazard for no view. We also went on a long hike. The landscape was spectacular, but still no view when we reached the lookouts. Oh well, that’s part of the adventure.

Thursday: More beautiful landscape and two easy if long hikes before we left Campobello Island and back to Calais for another Wal-Mart night.

Friday and Saturday: We started with a hike in the Irving Nature Park, finally clear enough to see the bay from outlooks, stupendous. We visited the Carleton Martello Tower St. John which was built to protect the then British subjects from the American invasion during the war of 1812. It was finished about the same time the war was over, so it wasn’t used, but it became a tourist attraction until the depression. It was pressed into use as a look-out station during WW II, thus the cement part on top.

The most fascinating thing we saw was Reversing Falls in St. John, New Brunswick (sometimes called Reversing Rapids) Friday afternoon at low tide, and Saturday morning at high tide. The St. John River flows toward the open ocean in whirls and over rocky ledges as it meets Fundy Bay. High tide is about 28 feet, so the opposite happens; the tides overcome the river flow, and moves up-river. This happens to a lesser degree when any river meets the ocean, but in New Brunswick, it is the most dramatic in the world. I paired the pictures below—taken from close to the same place so you can see the dramatic difference. (We took the pictures about half an hour before low tide, and an hour before it reached full high tide, but the difference is still quite clear.) I’ll have even more on this phenomenon next week.

Notice the flow of the water at low tide is from left to right.

Here the flow is from right to left in the same spot.

Saturday continued: We drove along the Fundy Trail this afternoon: A clear sunny day and gorgeous views. We took a few short hikes including one over the suspension bridge. The whole thing is 13 kilometers. When we started wondered what we could find to do to spend 3-4 weeks in Canada so we don’t get to Palmyra, NY more than a couple of days before July 13 for the pageant. Now I’m wondering how we can see what this grand country has to offer and still make it on time. We won’t. Just like everywhere else. There is too much to see and do. Americans don't pay enough attention to our Canadian neighbors. Come explore!

Magnificent Maine

Notice: We will be traveling in Maine for the next couple of weeks, so I'm not sure how regularly we will be able to get to the Internet, so my postings may be irregular.

Monday: Took the subway to Boston! We walked all over the city, ate the best clam chowder I’ve ever eaten, and saw Paul Revere’s house, the Old North Church, and where the Boston Massacre took place among other highlights.

Tuesday: After going to the Boston temple, we drove right through New Hampshire. It was raining all day, so no chance to stop anywhere. They don’t have an information center, so we didn’t know where to go anyway. I’m sure there were lovely things to see and do, but we didn’t find them. Here are pictures of the beautiful area we drove through. We’re just over the border in Lebanon, Maine.

Wednesday: Finally a restful day hanging out at the campground Potter’s Place in Lebanon, Maine—a day of rest and recuperation. We’re in yet another gorgeous mountain forest with a pond and nature sounds. In the daytime birds of many types sing from morning to evening, and then the frogs and crickets start their melody.  Birders would love it here.

Thursday: Traveled to Skowhagen, Maine. They have a 62 foot Indian statue that they are trying to restore, another mainly relaxing day.

Friday: Major hiking day. We’re in Acadia National Park in Maine. We hiked 8 miles to the top of Gorham Mountain, all of 500 feet high. We started at Sandy Beach and ended up back there on an easy trail along the beach. Tough hike, but we enjoyed it. Part of the path was rocky and sometimes wet, some of it was a slab of granite, and other parts had rock steps that were steep and hard to clamber over. When we got to the top we had a view ... of fog. There is supposed to be a view of the ocean, but we didn’t see it. It was still worth the hike because the fog was thin and we could see the gorgeous landscape along the trail.

Saturday: A 7 mile hike today. This one was on carriage roads built by John D. Rockefeller from 1913-1940. Smooth sailing compared to yesterday’s trek, wouldn’t be able to handle another one like that so soon.

We also drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain (named by the man that built the car. He once owned it). We did have some magnificent views from there. Acadia National Park is truly a well kept secret. One of the most magnificent of our national parks even if it is off the beaten path in the north-east corner of the USA. They have trails from very easy to difficult. I highly recommend coming here! We drove to a campground in Harrington, ME for the rest of the weekend.