17 Kouchibouguac

Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Kouchibouguac, New Brunswick, Canada
Decamped early in PEI and was rolling down the highway by 07:30 - another Irish day having to use the interval wipers. I saw a Bald Eagle miss a small squirrel for breakfast - they are such a beautiful bird to watch but not a very good hunter compared to smaller hawks. After paying my $40.75 to get off the island (akin to Monoploy get out of jail), I resumed meandering along the Acadian Coastal road heading north to Kouchibouguac National Park (pronounced Koo-she-boo-g-wack and means "river of long tides" in Migmag).

Kouchibouguac Park is extremely flat but has a lot of interesting interpretive trails - the Migmag Cedar trail was the nicest and presented the threatened White Cedar very well . Walked along Kellys Beach which is on an island dune and I even got to spot a rare endangered Piping Plover which has protected areas at both ends of the sand island. The winds have been unreal since I arrived and my beach footprints refilled with drifting sand within a minute; I would guess that the gusts are at least 70kmph - I have the tent double anchored so I won't sail away into the night. Have used the bike to explore the immediate area of small villages, such as: Pointe Sapin, St Louis de Kent, Richibucto and Miramichi.

I guess the wind chill got me as I am sniffling somewhat today - will try the old scotch remedy tonight -- I thought it must be working since I kicked the sleeping bag off me last night but it was just a surprise warm night; but the sniffles have disappeared. No rain with the wind and it just turned itself off as if someone hit a light switch. Took it easier today and walked more beaches -- found some sea/beach glass :), which I scooped up since in the park, nature's things, like shells, must be left alone so other people get to see them as well . I'm finding that the Canadian Acadians are a fun proud people.

Since I've walked all the trails here, I will continue the slow trip around the coastal roads until I run into the next National Park.

Tidbits:
- Bridget, If you ever get into a tree planting mood (or mode), you have a great spot in the back of your place for White Cedars -- I'd help dig the holes and perhaps some government branch would help subsidize the seedling costs :).
- Red beach glass yellows at the edges since they used gold originally when they poured the old glass and it's the rarest find. White, green and beer bottle brown are the most common finds along a beach.
- Except for bilingual federal and provincial signs, the majority of Acadia is unilingual French.
- New Brunswick gets my vote for the poorest province at providing WIFI internet service.
Other Entries

Comments

2025-02-12

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank