Thomas Raddall Provincial Park - Exploring History & Beaches
Preview video of the second series of geocaches placed by Nova Scotia Parks with help from Atlantic Canada Geocaching Association. Much like the other geocaching programs ACGA has been involved in with a number of Parks Canada sites, this is a slightly different take on the passport program.
Five new provincial parks will be selected with the theme of Aboriginal legends & travel routes.
In this video, we are at Thomas Raddall provincial park, the last park build by the province. There are a number of hiking trails that cross both the day-use and camping areas of the park.
The white sand beach at the day-use area is well worth the trip. Facing Port Joli harbour, the park faces Kejimkujik Adjunct.
lean more about the park at
Overlooking Port Joli Harbour on Nova Scotia's South Shore, Thomas Radddall Provincial Park is a nature lovers' haven. The park is just across the harbour from Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct National Park, and there are four migratory seabird sanctuaries nearby.
With over 650 ha (1,600 acres) the park offers visitors a wide range of outdoor experiences, including hiking, camping, picnicing, sight seeing, or relaxing on the beach. #avoidingchores
Thomas Raddall Provincial Park N.S.
Park Info: Overlooking Port Joli Harbour on Nova Scotia's South Shore, Thomas Radddall Provincial Park is a nature lovers' haven. The park is just across the harbour from Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct National Park, and there are four migratory seabird sanctuaries nearby.
With over 650 ha (1,600 acres) the park offers visitors a wide range of outdoor experiences, including hiking, camping, picnicing, sight seeing, or relaxing on the beach.
Port Joli, Nova Scotia
The Port Joli coastal region features a shallow and sheltered ocean inlet, sandy beaches, mudflats, small islands and dunes. These habitats combine to make it a sensitive and unique ecosystem.
Learn more: natureconservancy.ca/en/where-we-work/nova-scotia/featured-projects/port_joli.html
Video and production: Mike Dembeck (
Day Hike at Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct, 10.5km in Port Joli, Nova Scotia
A very easy dayhike at Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct National Park. Bear poop, cranberries, spiderwebs and fog abound. Port Joli Nova Scotia.
Full hike of the park's trails - Port Joli Head Trail and the Harbour Rocks Trail. Trails is a bit of a misnomer - manicured paths would be more apt.
Park info:
Music:
Angevin 120 loop by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (
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1st Encounter With Black Bear - Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct
We travel to Port Mouton area of Nova Scotia to hike the loop trails at Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct, just across the way from Thomas Raddall Provincial Park.
The area was once a sheep farm with up to 1000 sheep, but the harsh landscape made that difficult. It became a summer home, until the 1980's when the park system made it a protected area.
In fact this area was an important with migratory birds and other species using this area to feed. Across the way towards Thomas Raddall, historic evidence of first nations people using the area as a fishing ground has been documented.
We hiked the Port Joli loop which is along a mix of gravel, boardwalk and beach stones. We saw a sign that said black bears were in the area. It wasn't until we reached the old foundation of the sheep farm that we saw a large black bear feeding on seaweed at one of the many beach areas.
We had to reverse track as the bear tried a bluff charge and we lost sight of it. We didn't get to complete our loop or head towards the other trails. That will be for another day.
Take a look at the GPS track file with photos and more!
More early history of the area can be found on the Parks Canada website.
The human history of Kejimkujik Seaside spans as much as 5000 years. Only one object, a spear point, dating to the Late Archaic Period (5000 to 2500 years ago) has been found. It is believed that most of the prehistoric sites occupied by ancestors of the Mi'kmaq have been submerged by the rising waters of the Atlantic Ocean and are now fishing banks. In more recent times, the Mi'kmaq probably used the area of the Kejimkujik Seaside for short hunting and gathering excursions. Mi'kmaq communities were found in what is now Liverpool.
In the summer of 1604, Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua, sieur de Mons camped at Port Mouton. In his map, Champlain describes the Port Mouton area as being: Open country where grows only shrubs and heaths. The expedition spent the next summer exploring and mapping the entire coastline. Major settlement efforts by the French were concentrated in the Liverpool area and at Cape Sable. The Seaside seems to have held little interest for the first Europeans. The earliest European settlement at the Seaside, including a free black Loyalist homestead, dates back to the late 18th century Loyalist period. This was in the form of isolated farms along the coast.
Music:
Rockabilly mix # 2
joeylove
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Avoiding Chores is a collection of interests from a group of guys who do everything possible NOT to do chores. This involves getting into a number of interests such as: hiking, camping, outdoors, bushcraft, running, beer reviews, live hangouts and long term projects like living off the grid or stone carving.
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Seeblick Cottage and Area
This video has been taken on January 28, 2013. The waterfall is located in the small village of Milton near Liverpool, Nova Scotia. It is a 30 minutes drive from Seeblick Cottage. The river is the Mersey River. The feeding of the gulls has been recorded at the end of Pleasant Point Road.This is within a walking distance to Seeblick Cottage. The Canadian Geese have been recorded at Port Joli. This small community is located in a bird sanctuary near Seeblick Cottage.
Quiet scene in Port Mouton bay, Nova Scotia
Looking out at Port Mouton Bay from the lower deck of The Four Ladies Cottage. You can hear the birds, and the ocean - as the waves hit the beach - just beyond the small bushes. A sure-fired way to reduce stress!
Port Monton Nova Scotia History or the Road
oldhistoryns.ca
Port Mouton--The Name
First Name: Wologumk, given by the Mi'kmaq. The word means deep gully or hole in the river.
Second (and Current) Name: Port Mouton, given in 1604 during the visit of Du Guast de Monts, after a sheep was lost overboard. De Monts and his crew settled in the area and used it as a base for exploring the coastal areas of the province.
Third Name: St. Luke's Bay, renamed by settlers from Scotland, sent out by Sir William Alexander.
Fourth Name: Guysborough, named in 1784 by grantees who were disbanded soldiers serving under Sir Guy Carleton during the Revolutionary War. In the second year, all but two houses were destroyed by a fire. The settlers moved to Cape Canso on the Eastern shore of Nova Scotia.
Early Description Of Port Mouton
An an anonymous pamphlet published at Edinburgh in 1786, a description is given of Port Matoon, or Gambier Harbour:
The soil for several miles around is full of rocks and stones and the most barren in Nova Scotia. One of the regiments, (the British Legion, commanded by Lieut. Col. Tarleton) which had served with distinction during the Revolutionary war, began a settlement here and built a town late in the year 1783. Unfortunately for them, being somewhat too late, and the ground consequently covered with snow, they were prevented from observing the nature of the soil until the following spring. Their town at this time consisted of 300 houses, and the number of people was something more than 800. They seeing the sterile appearance of their lands, and all their hopes of course frustrated, were meditating upon the best means of getting away to other places, when an accidental fire which entirely consumed their town to ashes, with all their live stock, furniture and wearing apparel, filled up the measure of their calamities. The summer of 1784 had been uncommonly dry, and many large fires were seen burning in the woods in various places, occasioned either by the carelessness of the Indians, or that of the white people at their work in the woods, in neglecting to extinguish their fires, the ground being at the same time quite dry and covered with moss and decaying vegetables. A poor woman at Gysburgh, (such being the name the Loyalists had given the place,) was undesignedly the cause of the misfortune; the fire, after it was once kindled, spreading so rapidly and burning with such fury as rendered all attempts to divert or stop its progress quite ineffectual, destroying in a few minutes almost every house, and driving the inhabitants before it into the water; one man more unfortunate than the rest perished in the flames. Scarcely any of the domestic animals escaped. In short, a more complete destruction from that merciless element never befel any set of men; and if a king’s ship had not been despatched immediately from Halifax with provisions to their relief, a famine must have ensued. On her arrival she found them without houses, without money and without even bread.
The remarkably dry summer of 1784 was also the cause of a disastrous fire at St. John, which, starting amongst some brush wood near the site of Centenary church, burned everything before it to the Kennebecasis. A large number of log houses were consumed, and a woman and child perished in the flames. The frame for an Episcopal church, at which the Rev. John Beardsley and others were working, on the southwest corner of the old burying ground, was destroyed at this time. The old 42d Highlanders, whose log houses, standing on the south side of Union street, from the ‘Golden Ball Corner’ eastward, were all burned, pulled up their stakes and went some twenty miles up the Nashwaak, where their descendants, the McBeans, McLaggans, Campbells, Youngs and others, still reside.
Captain Marks and his company escaped the disaster at Port Matoon by removing in the month of May to the Passamaquoddy region. The majority of their unfortunate townsmen, after the fire, removed to Chedabucto bay, in the eastern part of Nova Scotia, again giving the name of Guysburgh, (or Guysboro,) to their settlement.
There can be little doubt that Nehemiah Marks and his company were amongst those associated in the enterprise referred to in the following extract from a New York newspaper of the time:
Such persons discharged from the several Departments of the Army and Navy as have agreed to form a joint Settlement at Port Matoon in Nova Scotia, and are desirous of proceeding there immediately, are requested to give in without loss of time, a Return of themselves and families to the heads of their respective departments, in order that a proper vessel may be obtained for the purpose of conveying them and their baggage. They will hold themselves in readiness to embark in eight days from the date hereof.
Hiking Trails of Nova Scotia - Caribou-Munroes Island
There are few stretches of the Northumberland Shore not dappled with cottages. Fortunately, near Pictou, tiny Caribou Provincial Park provides access to Munroes Island, which is actually connected to the mainland by a long, sandy beach. There is no signed trail, but the shoreline of Munroes Island has long attracted recreational walkers.
A description of this hike may be found in Hiking Trails of Nova Scotia, 9th edition.
????Hiking along Portage E & Kayaking to Eel Weir Kejimkujik National Park
Decided to load up the kayak and head out to Kejimkujik National Park for a paddling day trip.
I opted to launch down at Eel Weir and explore the western run and stop at Portage E,- otherwise known as the Hard Carry since it's one of the longest and hardest portage if you wanted to get to some of the deeper backcountry camp sites.
Overall route came out to 12kms round trip. The backcountry sites along the way were occupied, so landing at Portage E was the only option. Hiked up the portage to stretch my legs and work out the kinks in my back during the 2 hour casual paddle. I didn't have much head wind, so the return paddle will go much faster.
Dead calm and quiet on this trip. Had some loons following me as they fished and swam underwater. Also ran into a group of ducks.
One of the things that makes this an interesting paddle is the granite outcrops that are just below the surface. Depending on water level, you might scrap under some rocks or get stuck if you get to close to shore or go between some boulders.
However, I discovered another launch point at Eel Weir. From the parking lot, there are a few paths to the water about 75m worth of walking. It is a much better launch than the designated point by the newly restored bridge. the rocks and low water level makes it hard to get going. #avoidingchores
St. Catherine's River, Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct
The shoreline of St. Catherine's River, Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct, Port Joli, Nova Scotia
Cape Split Nova Scotia on the iPhone 6 plus
Cape Split Nova Scotia on the iPhone 6 plus. I didn't edit the annoying wind noise out of this one.