9 October 2019, Wednesday N must leave camp early this morning to drive to the Schoodic Institute on the Schoodic Peninsula. It’s not very far as the crow flies, but it takes almost an hour and a half to drive there. He has another work-related meeting to attend. As he and G have decided to return to Portland tonight rather than tomorrow morning, G. O and I remain in camp
8 October 2019, Tuesday N leaves shortly after breakfast for a meeting in Bar Harbor. He will remain there to work for most of the day. Meanwhile, O, G, and I decide which trail to try today. We settle on the Gorham Mountain Trail which begins on the eastern side of the park loop road. Before driving to the trailhead we once again head to the top of Cadillac Mountain.
7 October 2019, Monday Today’s forecast is for rain, a good opportunity for getting chores done. After breakfast we fuel up Vincent. Then it’s off to Bar Harbor for groceries and a stop at the Visitor Center for a good trail map. G and N are due to join us at camp today, but we’re not quite sure when to expect them. At 1:30 I receive a text from G:
4 October 2019, Friday: We are on the road early. We drive to Moncton in New Brunswick, dine at the Tide and Boar Gastropub and get laundry done. 5 October 2019, Saturday: From Moncton we drive on to Acadia NP with a brief stop in Saint John, New Brunswick to pay the last (I hope) of the medical bills from my ankle fracture. The day is cool and sunny, and
3 October 2019, Thursday An owl and two loons call to us during this cold night. Somehow their voices seem to make a place seem wild and more mystical. In the morning we wake to cold sunshine. Hot coffee, tea and oatmeal warm us up, while a morning breeze and strengthening sunshine dry the dew from the tent and tarp. We strike camp a day early so we can get
2 October 2019, Wednesday O and I wait all night for the rain to come. It doesn’t begin until near 6 am. It’s not much of a rain, but for a little while it comes down hard. When we are ready to get up for breakfast we check Wglwof’s floor – dry! We’ll need a bit more of a rain to be fully confident in our repair, but the results
30 September 2019, Monday: After a breakfast of home made peach berry pie with yogurt, toast and jam, and good coffee at Wild Caraway, we begin our drive to Kejimkujik National Park (affectionately known as “Keji” to Nova Scotians.) Our route passes close to Halifax so we detour into the city to visit MEC, Canada’s answer to REI, where we purchase tape to complete our repair of Wglwof. Then we
29 September 2019 It’s our last day in this part of Nova Scotia, and it’s sunny – ideal conditions for repairing a leaky tent floor. We drive back to Parrsboro to get some rubbing alcohol to prep the tent floor seam for repair. Then we drive out Two Island Road hoping to find a good location to set up the tent and allow the silicone seam sealer time to cure.
28 September 2019, Saturday Today we plan to hike to Seal Cove. It’s a hike suggested by the warden at Cape Chignecto Provincial Park Visitor Centre and a section of the loop we had planned to backpack. We can drive across the cape to Eatonville and take the trail from there. The hike is 6 km each way, a 12 km round trip. O and I get a bit of
27 September 2019, Friday When we went to bed last night the sky was clear and the stars beautiful. During the night we had rain, light at first, then hard and steady. We were comfortable in Wglwof and when we wake there is the promise of sunshine breaking through scattered clouds. This is a good thing, as we realize that beneath our sleeping pads is a great puddle of water.