The Black Marsh Trail is one of my favourite trails on Prince Edward Island. Located at North Cape on the northwest tip of the island, the trail has two routes, through a forest and along the coast. My husband and I have walked a number of forest trails on Prince Edward Island but none is as unique as this one.
I vividly remember the last time we walked here in April 2017. Snow lingered among the trees then and everything was brown. The effect of the icy blast of wind off the water/ice has a huge impact on the trees which is particularly obvious in winter when the deciduous trees are bare and the other vegetation is dead.
However, you can see the effect in summer as well.
This is the location of a wind turbine farm so if the sight and sound of wind turbines bother you, this is not the trail for you. I don’t hear the sound after a few minutes. My husband does but enjoys the trail in spite of it.
The seaward side of the coniferous trees along the forest trail show damage from the icy blast of the wind along this coastline.
The deciduous tress and shrubs, if they survive, grow to fill in the path through the forest along with some wildflowers. We stopped several times to take in the green tunnel.
The open parts of the trail pass beside the turbines in some places. In various areas the trees show the damage. The Queen Anne’s Lace and goldenrod are some of the few wildflowers which can live here.
Before long, we came upon one of the entrances to the coastal part of the trail.
The two sections merge before you reach the Black Marsh. But that’s part 2.