Thursday Travels: Let’s go to the beach

Point Wolfe. Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, Canada.

If you were here last week, you may recall that I took you as far as the bottom of the stairs on the hike M and I took to Point Wolfe in Fundy National Park.  (If you don’t recall it, or you missed it, you’ll find the link at the bottom of this post).  This is the beach at the Point Wolfe River Estuary.

Waterfall and pool.

Before exploring the beach, M and I went off to the right after descending the stairs to have a look at a small waterfall and pool.  You can’t see it too well in the photo above.  I imagine it looks much more impressive after a good rainfall.

Rocks in the pool.

It was very pretty near the waterfall, and one of those places where I’d love to sit and wile away a morning or an afternoon.  Or a whole day.

Once we finished admiring the waterfall, we wandered off to explore the beach.  The first photo in this series shows the cloudy day it was to become.  The photo just above this paragraph shows the sunny day we started out with when we began our morning hike.  (All the weather magic is just a result of turning from one direction to another.)  The debris you see along the beach is all natural.  Rocks, wood, grasses, etc.  Except for this:

We never did figure out if the picnic table was put there for storage or if it somehow washed up.  Whatever the case, it didn’t seem like a safe area for a picnic lunch.

I take all sorts of photos of rocks, shells, and driftwood, yet rarely post them on the blog as part of my travel posts because I figure people prefer to see the bigger picture (literally).  I admired the driftwood on the beaches in the Maritimes so much that I came home with a lot of it.  Digitally, that is.  I couldn’t very well pack a big piece of driftwood into my suitcase.  A small one, maybe, but I’m trying to get out of the habit of collecting in ways other than photographically.  I already have shells, rocks, and driftwood galore decorating my home or sitting in boxes.

The bones of a tree

I always think of the driftwood (and the wood on the ground in the forests) as the bones of a tree.

Small waves

It was a relatively calm day, the waves on the water small.

Yes, it really was this green!

Walking along the beach, we were on a strip of rocks and sand that runs between a small creek and the estuary.  The creek, as it turns out, was the tide coming in.

Stones in the water

M and I crossed the small stream to explore more of the beach.  A few minutes later we realized we were going to have to swim out if we didn’t go back right away.  The water was chilly and not at all inviting.

More pretty stones in the water. Don’t they look almost like jewels?

We went back and found we had to jump over the creek (if we didn’t want to get our feet wet).  I did put a foot in the water (which is how I know it was cold).  I was wearing my Vibrams and they dry pretty quickly provided it’s not a wet day or I don’t continue walking in water.

Because of the tide, we had to cut our explorations short and didn’t get to explore the back part of the estuary or the river.

The part we didn’t get to explore.

Except for another photo or two, that’s it from Point Wolfe.  We’ll head back to the forest next time.

Peregrine Falcons nest up there somewhere.

In other news…

It rained today!!  For over three hours, it rained and rained and rained.  I turned off everything in the house except the refrigerator just so I could listen to the rain as I went about some chores that didn’t require electricity.  I watched as waves of wind and rain danced across the surface of the pond.  Birds were swooping around as if in celebration (more likely catching the bugs that seemed to hatch or show up all at once with the rain).  I joined the birds and did a little thank you dance, feeling very grateful that we finally got a decent amount of rain.  It should be enough to save the trees for now.

A willow standing in the rain

Sometimes my camera does odd things.  When I use the zoom and the action setting, once in a while I get photos that look more like paintings.  The willow standing in the rain is a good example.  I like it.  I often whine think that I would like a better camera, but I do love this one.  It frequently surprises me.  Not always in a good way, but more often than not it’s good or at least interesting.

But I digress…  I was rambling about listening to and enjoying the rain.  Turning everything off reminded me of an article I read about Shiva Rea who periodically celebrates an unplugged day.  I found a link:  YEA! Yoga Energy Activism.  I love this idea, and plan to start my own unplugged practice soon.

That’s it from the Bogs (and Point Wolfe) for today.  Thanks for joining me.  I had a lot of great responses to the group walk experience.  I’ll post more on that tomorrow.  I hope all is well in your world.  🙂

Related articles

• Thursday Travels: Point Wolfe (bogsofohio.wordpress.com)

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