Picnic at Bubbling Springs

The Covehead Lighthouse stood nestled in the sand dunes as we drove through the national park on Prince Edward Island.

My husband and I were headed for our first picnic of the season on a beautiful spring day. With the temperature above zero and the absence of wind, it was a perfect day for a hike and a hot lunch cooked on the camp stove.

Late last autumn, we explored the Bubbling Springs Trail in the park for the first time and we felt drawn back there to start the season this year. This area is one of our favourites on the island. When we arrived, there was snow in the parking lot, so we expected snow on the trail as well. 

Exiting the car, we heard an unfamiliar bird call and a woodpecker busy in a tree. The call and tapping continued along the length of the trail. I was lucky to take a photo of the bird though a poor one. A flock of Northern Flickers, the yellow shafted variety of the east coast appear to make this area home, at least this time of year.

On the pond which parallels a section of the trail, Canada Geese and Ring-necked Ducks enjoyed the morning sun. They were too far away for good photos.

The spring continues to bubble, doing its thing regardless of the weather or anything else. I wonder if the water freezes every winter.

The trail was indeed snow and ice covered in any shaded areas and water accumulated in the hollows. 

Our feet were wet by the time we arrived back to the car. We didn’t mind however and dried off before we started lunch.

On the old Coleman stove we fried bacon and warmed beans and meat cakes. Sipping a cup of hot tea, we had a quiet lunch, the first of the season, listening to the Flickers in the distance and the Song Sparrows in the trees nearby. 

The pussy willows and the sumac seeds against the blue sky completed the scene. 

We stopped at Covehead on the way home to see the birds in the salt marsh across from the light. The radiation fog rising from the marsh while geese and ducks went about their daily lives, created a peaceful scene which we watched for some time. A few deep breaths later and we were ready to re-enter the world.

Bubbling Springs

It doesn’t look like anything special when you first come upon it, a wetland area on a trail in the National Park at Brackley on Prince Edward Island. Yet a storyboard nearby refers to water bubbling up from sandstone bedrock.

My husband and I stood looking over the water for several minutes and spotted fish, not bubbles. I read the sign again and scanned the bottom. On second look, we saw them, bubble-like eruptions, spread over a number of locations! 

There is groundwater among the sandstone bedrock on the island. If pressure is sufficient, the water will bubble to the surface through fractures in the sandstone. The result is a natural spring. This spring must have been a wonderful find for the people who originally farmed this land. It looks like the spring was walled at one time.

My husband took a short video of the bubbling. You can see it here. Did you see the fish too?

We sat for a time and enjoyed the rare 13 degree Celsius day.

The remnants of a tree standing on the edge of the spring became the focus, with its stubs of cut branches. 

How old was it and how much longer could it last here on the edge?

Later we had a picnic lunch near the entrance to the Bubbling Springs Trail. This time, we’d brought our stove to cook lean bacon and heat homemade baked beans. 

It was a delicious lunch on a lovely fall day. We will take the stove again and have hot food on colder days to extend our picnic season this year. 

As for the Bubbling Springs, we will be back!