Tramping through the Woods in Nova Scotia and Other Highlights

Everywhere we go in Nova Scotia the scenery is stunning, especially now with a full spectrum of fall colors plastering the forests and hills and lining rivers and lakes. There are also large stretches of pastureland and farmland with picture-perfect grey and red barns, appropriately aged. 

The marshes along the shore are equally picturesque. Usually we’re in the truck whizzing by all these photo-worthy scenes. It is a feast for the eyes. When the weather is conducive, we try to go on a hike. 

One day we wanted to see a tidal bore. This happens on a river that drains into a body of water that has exceptionally high tides, in this case, the Bay of Fundy. Twice daily, the tidal water is pushed into a narrower and narrower opening until it forms a wave that rushes and gushes up the river, against the normal flow of the river.  On this day it was at noon. By the time we left the campground, it was 10:30, so we had just enough time to squeeze in a quick hike.

We drove about 20 minutes to “the dirt road with ATV tracks before you get to the motel” as explained by the campground owner. “It’s only a short walk to a waterfall,” she said. We found the unnamed “road”, parked, walked a little ways into the woods and encountered a river bridged by a precarious assortment of boards, logs and twigs. “That’s it,” said David, “let’s go back.” “Not yet,” I said and proceeded to try crossing it. David waited for me to fall in. When I didn’t, he followed. We walked a few minutes without finding the waterfall. “We’re out of time,” said David. “It’s 11:30.” 

So we turned around and raced back in time to see the tidal bore, which was pretty interesting, considering one minute you’re looking at a mud flat and a couple minutes later it’s flooded. 

Then we drove to another location to hike the “Rogart Mountain” trail. The trail followed a bubbling brook through a forest of maple trees, whose leaves had turned lime green, yellow and orange providing a striking backdrop for the dark green ferns carpeting the forest floor. Then we started to climb and climb. 

We climbed up to 1125 feet where the maple trees were stunted. In the distance we could see the ocean and windmills on a crest. Then we descended. Suddenly and unexpectedly we came upon a delightful waterfall called “Jane’s Falls.” 

Unfortunately, about an hour into the hike, David’s knee “popped”, and he almost passed out from the pain. His leg had been hurting him all week, and he thinks maybe something popped back into place or maybe it was a pulled muscle. At any rate, the last hour and a half of the 4-mile hike was painful for him. He’s doing better and thinks the problem has to do with all the driving we’ve been doing, but we won’t be hiking any trails with the word “mountain” in them for awhile.  

We’ve done other things besides driving and hiking, especially on rainy days. The rain usually doesn’t stay around long, or as David puts it, “It doesn’t rain here. It antagonistically sprinkles.” Here are a few highlights:

Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site - Bell made a lot of money with his telephone invention. He used the money to fund other endeavors, including a hydrofoil boat that was the fastest boat in the world in 1919. He had a summer home in Nova Scotia. We spent several hours learning about his life and work in this fascinating museum.

Glennora Distillery - Me: “David, do you want to go on a scenic drive and visit a provincial park or go on a tour of a distillery?” 

David: “Uh, I vote for the distillery.” Actually, it was a scenic drive on the way to the distillery. The single malt whisky distillery, the only one in North America, isn’t much to look at, just a couple rooms with some copper pot stills, but the tour was great, thanks to the tour guide who had the knack of being both informative and interesting. We tasted their 10-year-old $80 variety. (They don’t offer tastes of their 20-year-old $350 variety.) Me: “How do you like it?” David: “It’s good!”

Miners’ Museum in Cape Breton - until the 1960’s, coal mining was big industry in Cape Breton. The museum was good but more interesting was having a retired miner take us down into a 4-foot-high coal mine where he told us about mining first-hand as we hunched over. The walls were black as coal. Actually, they were coal!

Fortress of Louisburg National Historic Site - this was the site of a French fortified town in the 1700’s that had been in ruins until the Canadian government decided to put out-of-work coal miners to work reconstructing it. It’s massive but still only a small part of the original town. During the summer, costumed interpreters recreate life in the 1800’s. When we were there, it was more like a ghost town with only a few hardy (shivering) tourists wandering about. Even still, it was evocative and intriguing, and park employees were around to answer questions.