Bunny Tracks

I spied bunny tracks on a hike a few weeks ago, this is apparently a well traveled path:

February Hike

Putting yesterday's  BEAUTIFUL weather to good use, Greg and I took a stroll at Caribou Provincial Park.

Much of the Northumberland Straight was frozen and we took advantage of it to hike further than our last attempt when the incoming tide forced us to turn around.

We started our hike by spotting an eagle, not something I'd expect to find around the beach:

Neat beach finds:

I found a large piece of driftwood, the obvious choices were to (left) be Gandalf and (right) use it as a staff, Donatello style:

Gandalf Source, Donatello Source

More beach finds, BOTH sides to this shell:

Looks like we are somewhere other than Pictou:

An awesome ice formation and another shell:

Cape Breton Adventure

This past weekend Greg and I packed up our snowshoes and headed out with some friends to spend a few days in Cape Breton - where there is snow!

We stayed just outside of Baddeck in cottages and had a beautiful view of the Bras d'Or Lake.

We had lunch and headed out on Saturday afternoon for a great snowshoe through the trails behind the cottages. There were some hilarious adventures through the woods on no path in particular - thankfully I had my Garmin to track just how far we went (6.07km to be precise!):

Some interesting finds along the trail:

On Sunday we packed up after a lovely evening and lazy morning to head towards Usige Ban Falls. We were treated by an amazing (mostly) frozen waterfall and an excellent trail. It was really perfect for snowshoeing, particularly because of the fresh falling snow.

I tried to set up for a group picture before we took off, but my first attempt wasn't successful:

I took a bit of video one this hike:



This hike was a bit shorter, 5.22km:

Saturday Hike

Before all of the snow melted away (again) a group of us decided to take a walk through the woods:

Our walk just happened to be on mountain bike trails, so it was well decorated:

We found a geocache - despite not geocaching:

And an old truck, complete with bullet holes?

Delightful company:

November Hike

Taking advantage of such warm November temperatures Greg and I headed out for lunch and a hike with a group of friends.

We went to Antigonish for lunch at Sense of Japan, it's nice to know there is a good sushi not too far from home:

We piled in cars and headed to Beaver Mountain, just outside of Antigonish, and attempted to hike a virtually unmarked trail - thankfully I took a picture of the map before our walk but unfortunately it didn't help a whole lot and we got a wee bit lost. We DID make it out before dark though, success!:

This was an interesting sight - a larger tree fell directly onto a smaller tree and snapped it over, thankfully the bank to the left of this picture was also helping to keep both trees from falling into the path:

Two interesting structures, the top picture was a super creepy find, it was burnt out inside and had a lot of furniture left. The bottom reminded me of something from a zombie movie, it was locked:

October Hike

After eating a lot of food on Saturday we decided to go for a hike on Sunday, it's also handy that the leaves are changing colour these days.

We went to Fitzpatrick Mountain in Scotsburn, our previous hikes at this spot have been in the winter and on snowshoes. So it was nice to see the hill in a different season.

It was an instagram day:

Sheet Harbour Cottaging

Last weekend Greg and I were invited to spend some time at our friends parent's cottage just outside of Sheet Harbour. It was a beautiful spot on a man-made lake and was previously a camp ground so it was perfect for our myriad of tents! I say we were cottaging because the only thing we did in regards to tenting was sleep and change in it. The cottage has a full kitchen and bathroom and there is a huge deck where we stuffed our faces on several occasions.

It was a great day when we arrived and although I don't have any pictures folks went swimming and other kayaking. Greg and I opted for the kayaking and it was great to explore the lake. We actually tried to chase a loon for awhile....it was on to us.

Pipes direct water from the lake into this pond just next to the cottage, there are a surprising amount of fish and ducks here regularly:

Left: Pitcher Plant found on our Sunday hike. Right: washer toss, what's camping without it?!

After a large, late lunch on Sunday we decided to go for a stroll before eating another large meal. We piled into vehicles and drove about 25 minutes to reach this beautiful walk which ends at the ocean:

The sunset was beautiful, unfortunately my iPhone camera doesn't quite capture it:

Interesting rock formations along the coast, one of the friends along with us is a Geologist so we all learned a bit about rocks:

Left: sparklers by the camp fire - amazing! Right: Instagram shot of a snail:

Left: one of three very cute dogs with us for the weekend. This one wanted to eat all of the food on the table and was successful in a few attempts. Right: freshly made biscuits and cinnamons bunts with homemade jam was ready to go on Monday morning as a breakfast appetizers. Did I mention how amazing this cottage and its cottage owners are?

After eating another extraordinarily large meal we headed out again for a hike. This time we piled in the cars and went to Taylor Head Provincial Park. There is a nice walk along the beach (with clear, cold waters) and it turns into the woods for the rest of the 3km:
 

Barren landscapes and lots of smelly seaweed baking in the sun (it smelled awful!)

Thank you Donald and Renee for inviting us!!!