Trial by Fire

This week our life has been defined by the forest fires.

On Monday, we decided to drive along the Fundy shore to French Cross and Morden. This gave us splendid views of Isle Haute. On driving back down into the Valley, we noticed smoke on South Mountain. This proved to be the beginning of the Lake George fire.

Tuesday, being frustrated by the Fire Ban in Annapolis County, we decided to check out Kejimkujik National Park. Fortunately, we were allowed to walk the Peter Point trail (1.9 km. each way). On Wednesday, we took a short walk on the Kingston trail in Kings County.

Luckily, I had my Men’s fitness class at CORAH with Sandy Murray on Friday.

Later in the day, we stopped at the Bridgetown Library and discussed the walking situation with the Librarian. She suggested van Tassel Lake in Digby County. Fortunately, we had our Nova Scotia atlas in the car. We will save the visit for another day.

Instead, we went up to Valley View Park. The campground was open and we could stop at lookout and enjoy the landscape of Bridgetown, both the agriculture in the Valley, and the forests of South Mountain.

This reminded us not only of Buckler’s ‘Mountain and the Valley’ but also Robert MacFarlane’s ‘The Wild Places’. His chapters include Beechwood, Island, Valley, Moor, Forest, River-mouth, Cape, etc.. Could we identify similar places in Southwestern Nova Scotia? Of course.

After our conversation with the Librarian, Heather suggested we donate a Nova Scotia Atlas to the Bridgetown Library. I had a parallel thought, I wonder how many people know about the maps at COGS (eg the Church maps)? (see also posts Community Engagement, Community Information Utility: Its Time Has Come)

In conclusion, perhaps this blog should be titled ‘Trail by Fire’. When we visited Keji Park it was astounding to see how dry were the leaves of the trees along Highway #8.

References

The Nova Scotia Atlas, seventh Edition, 2019, Formac Publishing.

Robert MacFarlane, 2008, The Wild Places, Penguin Books.

Acknowledgements

Heather shared the travels. Edward added the graphics and links.
Thanks to both of them.