Kouchibouguac Walks

Crazy weather here.  Yesterday was a bright sunny day, then while we were out for a walk, big gray clouds began to roll in.  While we were sitting out in the late afternoon, the wind picked up then rain.  Not much, but enough that we put the chairs away and went inside.  Within minutes it was over and the sun was

Over night, about 5 AM there was a fifteen-second burst of rain and a few loud rolls of thunder, Then nothing.

Our short walk yesterday took us back to the South River Trail.  We hadn’t seen the “now famous” leaning pine and had figured out where it probably was.  The pine grows out of the sandstone shore, at about a 45-degree downward angle, then extends another 20-30 feet over the water.  A bit different.  The wildflowers along this trail are in full bloom.  There are salsify, yarrow, daisies, coneflowers, and lots of tansy in the sunny sections.  In the wooded areas there are blueberries and bunchberries, wood aster, and numerous small, low-growing white-flowered plants I haven’t identified.

Today we decided to do a series of short hikes.  Each one was very different from the next.

Callanders Beach is on a shallow lagoon between the shore and the south dune.  Would be a pleasant place to wade and picnic.  A few shore birds.

Migmag Cedars Trail (1.3 km) circles a grove of eastern white cedar. Nearly the entire trail is a boardwalk.

Beaver Trail (1.4 km) is a lollipop trail that leads to a now abandoned beaver lodge.  The beaver took down so much birch and maple that they had to move on because of lack of food. Again most of the trail is a boardwalk, so no wet feet.

Pines trail is another lollipop trail that circles some old huge pines.  At one time this forest was filled with 40-60 pines, 7 meters circumference, but most were harvested for sailing ships in the 19th century.

Bog Trail (1.8 km) was perhaps the most different.  We walked through a pine, spruce, and fir forest to the bog.  Suddenly the forest ended and the bog began.  A few scrubby trees, including larch, grow on the bog, but there are various mosses and at least two different kinds of carnivorous plants (pitcher plants) that we noted.  Foot prints in the mud may have been moose.  On one edge of the bog is a tower that gave us a marvelous view of the bog.  Elsewhere in New Brunswick are commercial peat bogs, but this one within the national park is protected.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)