Group JournalJuly 27th, 2009:We spent a great first night at camp Beaubassin. We cooked way too much spaghetti though. We got our first taste of collecting out on the Dykes, and learned to identify yellow rattle and tear thumb. We will be on the lookout for the rare one! Scratching mosquito bites, playing cards, and reading were the activities of the night. July 28th, 2009:Second day: itch, scratch, itch- the mental and physical anguish of the mosquitoes of Beaubassin marsh. Oh the price of yellow rattle and tear thumb. Thunder and lightning and 150+ car trains in the night- the music of Beaubassin house. We had a lovely time walking back from the presentation. We explored the road out to Friar’s Head and found a spectacular look-off to watch the sunset. We couldn’t find the friar though. There were interpretive signs explaining the spot. One told a really neat story about a girl who turned to stone waiting for her lover at sea. We’re not sure how a legend about a girl who turned to stone turned into the friar though... We also picked blueberries. Not bad for the second day- sunsets, blueberries, and whale watching on the ferries when the porpoises came to play! We visited a brackish marsh near Wilson’s Beach. Some interesting plants were there including Arrowgrass (Triglochin palustre), narrow-leaved cattails (Typha angustifolia), salt marsh spike-rushes (Eleocharis spp.), etc. Great little marsh! We enjoyed our walk ‘round the block.’ We spotted quite a few birds- a belted kingfisher and great blue heron. A wonderful day! Quote of the day: Harold Bailey: “Is she wearing some kind of uniform?” July 29th, 2009:Whose idea was it to get up in the early a.m. to watch birds??!@&#? Also there must not be enough food...Peter E. Found eating out of the garbage. (Editor’s note: was eating peaches which were apparently not as rotten as originally suspected) Some people get their pleasure finding new plants (or plants new for us); some just love trudging through bogs in ever increasing searches for the new. Some, however, get their jollies in stranger ways. While this year hasn’t yet seen flooding, the fridge proved to be problematic- something that led to a lovely and informative afternoon though! Did you know that the regular fridge guy is a reservist? He got called up last month and is now in Baghdad. Thus Danny got his first chance to take a fridge apart and a wonderful job it is. Other interesting but non-botanical factoids from Campobello:
Then there was a terrible sucking sound as Harold’s boot was torn from his foot- and he nearly tumbled on top of the snake-mouthed orchid. Archaeology was part of our work on the lower duck pond as we unearthed the bones of some legless, headless, mammal which was never identified. What a day! Stephen, the Campobello interpreter, took us through a local bog. He was incredibly knowledgeable about the flora. He had a great sense of humour and set quite a pace through the raised bog. After a great lunch in the fog, and after we all just about fell asleep in the grass, we went through the pebbled beach over to the marsh. Great plants- there were gooseberries galore! Wow, what a day! Up at 6 am to take in some early birding- too foggy though! We enjoyed the ferns and examined quite a few plants. Birds were scarce but I enjoyed the cedar waxwings and golden crowned kinglets. A highlight for today was the Northern Harrier taking a field mouse. We enjoyed a pair of ospreys as we ate our lunch at Raccoon Point. Our plant work was fabulous with Stephen as our leader and Ruth as our resource. We toured the visitor’s centre and area today. We enjoyed a wonderful supper, a silly but fun card game, and cooked the meat for tomorrow’s meal. The 30°C weather never materialized! Quote of the day: Harold:“Everybody needs to see the beaver dam.” Vicky: “I see nuts! I see a bag of nuts!” July 30th, 2009:We had a lottery last night to see when Peter R. would arrive. Claire won with 8:30 am - Peter finally arrived mid-morning and met us on the trail as we were returning to the base. Claire’s prize was a free day of cooking and cleaning, which didn’t work out because she made the vegetarians in the group a string pie which was delicious (Vicky helped). We had a campfire in Peter R.’s bowl (seriously) in the front yard and got eaten by mosquitoes. There were some great photo ops in front of the sunset earlier as well while we were on a walk to see Vicky’s perfect cottage and the spies. Quote of the day: Peter E, upon grabbing a foreign object: “It’s a terd- I thought it was a pod!” July 31st, 2009:We were so tempted to cross the Grand Falls Dam back into Canada- but the “do not enter” red tape –and threat of security cameras- gave us pause, so we didn’t. Hell on Earth- the attack of the killer mosquitoes which descended on us in the Grand Falls swamp (a haven of new plants for Ruth). Whipping ourselves with bracken ferns we ran and stumbled out to the road. And oh how those poor New York kids we met suffered as they were slowly consumed by mosquitoes as they waited for their transport which had gone to Grand Falls NB instead of Grand Falls, Maine. Dddddduuuuuu!!!! Quote of the day: Peter E.: “A tree fell in the forest- and I heard it!” August 1st, 2009:We forged through overgrown swamp following Ruth. She led me astray. I landed in mud-sucking, boot swallowing, black ‘guck.’ It’s real hard to get up while carrying a heavy back pack. I felt like a belly up turtle-snapping. A small price to pay for an unforgettable experience! There was a rare plant waiting to be documented. Tall Claire made cheese scones to go with the chicken, rice, and fresh beans at supper. Sooooo good. Definitely going to miss Claire’s cooking when this is all over. Later on there was yoga and table climbing in cabin #2. Some of us are going to feel that tomorrow... August 2nd, 2009:The cardinal flower raising its head, just above the water of the swollen river, lay just beyond our reach (and there was only one, not ten). Garmin- oh you faithless deceiver, you let us down so badly- and led us astray. But we reverted to real maps and won the day. “Big bear #1, this is big bear #2- where in the heck are you? Oh so you stopped at the big rock for a Kodak moment- well! We thought you were lost! Ha!!” Many of us are now convinced that we need to spend at least a few days on Mt. Katahdin- camping and hiking and getting 1 mile up- the view would be awesome. A good morning spent with the mosquitoes but we got some good stuff. Then a wonderful afternoon going up Mt. Katahdin to see the Katahdin Stream waterfall- lots of water coming down but very cold! More chanterelles were found today. Gisela says she will cook them for breakfast for those who didn’t get some this morning. Yum yum! And Brian says “nothing.” That is because he is so knowing and knows everything. Thank goodness someone does. Good on ya Brian! Before Harold left our group at Campobello Island he and Claire heard and identified a grey tree frog. None exist in Nova Scotia. In Bancroft Tall Claire heard a grey tree frog during the night. We think there are 8 or 9 tree frogs living in a puddle in front of cabin#1. We spotted some belted kingfishers, a great blue heron, many vireos- blue headed and red-eyed. Our trip to Katahdin was a good experience. We hiked high up a trail and got a tremendous view of Niagara Falls, Maine. We whipped back to the cabins for beef stew and fresh biscuits. Quote of the day: Jan: “Well I guess like any machine, it’s only as good as its user.” August 3rd, 2009:We spent most of the day traveling to Doaktown and getting set up. Along the way, Calvin took us out to see the tractor and machine the Irvings are using to create woodcock habitat as part of a conservation project. It is completely run by GPS and has tires which were taller than the best of us! We saw our first moose of the trip and Peter R. saw some bears. August 4th, 2009:Today was spent out on the bogs around Muzrol Lake, and then around the Miramichi River collecting plants. We are finding the water levels are high no matter where we go! We saw some more moose- one particularly large bull was waiting outside Moosecall first thing in the morning. Our second presentation of the trip went well at the salmon museum- 6 guests! We also got a free tour of their aquarium and rather unique adopt a salmon program. We finished the night with apple brown betty at old camp. A very successful day! August 5th, 2009:Irving camps: Old Camp to Moosecall by ‘go devil’ and back- super machine and good design. (Editor’s note: not sure if this is sarcasm, as the boat referred to as go devil was much cursed by those who ran it to ship us students back and forth between the camps). The time will be remembered for a long time. Thanks to ALL and all of Acadia for a great time! – Ed The lack of electricity and running waters along with the general tiredness from a long trip caused us all to move out from Doaktown a day early. We headed off to Peter R.’s brothers house to do some final collecting on a river and relax with some smoked salmon. We travelled down the Bouctouche River at Saint Paul, New Brunswick. The river was up slightly from the rains over the past week. The flies were tolerable and we walked through and down the river, which gave us a great look at the banks. Ruth collected a couple of plants and we spotted a number of Canada lilies that were just past blooming. A number were eaten from about halfway down- probably deer or moose. I picked up a nice leech on my foot under my boot. It’s nice to know there are still a few around! Doug (Peter’s brother) showed us all how to use the devil’s wheel to work our abs. Even recovering from two broken wrists he showed us all up! |