Moominmama's Adventures

Of baby turtles and petroglyphs... The first morning after Moominmama arrived in Kejimkujik National Park in southwestern Nova Scotia, calm waters on Jeremy's Bay off Lake Kejimkujik invited her to break out her folding kayak. Clear, calm mornings have proved ideal for exploring by boat, which is how the Mi'kmaq traveled here for thousands of years. In addition to being a national park, this is a historic site because it has been a crossroads for First Nation's people traveling between the Bay of Fundy, the Atlantic and this large interior lake.  The smaller lakes and rivers, combined with a couple portage points make it possible to travel across the land from the bay to the open Atlantic. It's also interesting for being different when it comes to foliage. On the coast are wind-battered spruce. Here inland it's white pine, beech and lots of birch. Petroglyphs can be found on certain rocks that jut into the water. One has four compass points and an arrow pointing tow...

In which Moominmama explores Newfoundland's biggest city, St. John's, and goes hiking on the Avalon and Bonavista peninsulas... Gray skies aren't uncommon on the eastern shore of Newfoundland, but the people who live here compensate by painting their homes in bright colors. While it's clearly a Newfoundland aesthetic now, there are a couple stories about why this tradition started  The first suggests fishermen used the same paint on their houses as on their boats so as not to waste any -- and since the boats were different colors, the houses were too. The other is that the row houses were painted varied colors so the fishermen didn't wander into the wrong house after a night at the pub! Newfoundland's fishing industry took a hard blow in 1992 when Canada implemented a moratorium on cod fishing because of severe overfishing, mostly by large international trawlers with technology that allowed them to harvest fish at an unprecedented rate for months at a time.  Fis...

  Wherein Moominmama walks the mantle of the Earth, crosses from the Ordovician to the Cambrian, and hikes the boreal forests of Newfoundland... Moominmama had a largely sleepless overnight ferry ride from Sydney, Nova Scotia, but the drama of Newfoundland quickly woke me up as I traveled up the island's Northern Peninsula to arrive at Gros Morne National Park. The mountains and boreal forests of the park are thrilling. And if that wasn't enough, the geology of this area turns out to be incredibly unique. Newfoundland's west coast was shaped initially by a collision of tectonic plates. In the process, a section of the Earth's mantle slid up over the crust instead of below. This has happened in only a few places in the world, and Gros Morne is one of them. The area is called the Tablelands, and it's a rusty red color, with rocks called peridotite that discourage plant life. Apparently, this area has been studied for its similarity to the planet Mars. Peridotite is de...

  Wherein Moominmama explores the Cape Breton Highlands and goes in search of the source of a friend's stories... The last hurrahs of Tropical Storm Debby are coming across Cape Breton Island at the moment: rain last night, fierce winds today and high humidity.  Moominmama got wet weather when I arrived at the beginning of the week as well, but I did some easy hikes to start and then got one spectacular sunny day when I drove out to White Point, pictured here. Covered in windswept grass and heather, dotted with rocks and facing the deep blue ocean, the water creates endless patterns of white lace against the rocks. White Point has a small cemetery, with a marker seeking the day when loved ones will meet again on God's great shore. Because shore is surely what Cape Breton is all about! On one cloudy but otherwise good day, Moominmama hiked Mica Hill on the northern end of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. That took me up bushy hillsides full of wild blueberries (yum!), a...

In which Moominmama forgoes hiking for country walks and learns about the author of Anne of Green Gables... Here on Prince Edward Island, there are no dramatic tides, towering cliffs or epic mountains. Instead there are gentle country byways, sandy beaches and refreshing breezes. This has been a relaxing week. Rather than load up my backpack with first aid and emergency gear, I carry only my water bottle, wandering in my sandals or sneakers along easy paths that skirt the dark green potato fields or golden wheat. Views of sand dunes and ocean are never far away.  Wildflowers and raspberries grow alongside the exposed edge of these grassy paths, and I frequently startle plump brown rabbits who venture out for the clover. These turn out to be snowshoe hares and will turn white come winter! Love for the natural world is a big part of the writing of L.M. Montgomery who grew up and wrote many of her novels and stories on the island. The town of Cavendish, where I am staying on the north...

In which Moominmama sees the amazing tides in the Bay of Fundy and slips on the ocean floor... The Bay of Fundy between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is famous for its tides with a hundred billion tons of water pouring in and out of the bay with each cycle. Water can rise at high tide by as much as 56 feet, and at Hopewell Rocks, pictured above, it averages around 46 feet at high tide. According to the Mi'kmaq legend, the giant Glooscap wanted to take a bath and got Beaver to build him a dam across the mouth of the bay. A whale took objection and slapped the dam down, sending water rushing into and out of the bay with a force so strong it continues to this day. Since it pours in at about 6-feet an hour, the bay fills quickly and can be dangerous. Visitors are allowed to walk on the "ocean floor" at low tide but the staircase is closed as the tide comes in. In fact, the lower levels of the stairs flood. Moominmama joined the crowds for low tide to explore the rock features...