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.

Autumn on the trail

It’s a scene from a dystopian novel, a farmer’s field with a hedgerow where a gap with an invisible portal takes all who enter to another dimension. Of course, getting back to the present is the problem. My mind worked overtime as we rode the Confederation Trail recently from Emerald to Borden Carleton and back. The gap in a hedgerow in this area is large and it inspires me. I always stop near the “portal” for a few minutes and mentally write another chapter of the next great dystopian novel.

This section of trail is a favourite of my husband and I. Ponds near Kinkora have ducks again though the sunlight on this beautiful autumn day doesn’t allow for great photos. Ducks all but disappear when they moult but look to be in fine form again as far as we can see.

Autumn on the island means the apple trees are bearing fruit again. The trail has lots of apple trees but most of the apples are small. Such is not the case with these huge ones and it looks like those which were reachable have been picked.

Near Emerald, Sumacs are putting on their best autumn show. Some leaves are already flaming red and the berries are plentiful.

I haven’t heard of people picking the berries here but it is said they have a lemony taste without the tartness.

This past summer, the province opened sections of the trail to horseback riders. One such area is north of Kinkora where the trail has new signage. 

We passed several farms but nobody was out riding on the trail that day.

However that day, we discovered one way a horse scratches its back. We stopped to watch this horse and miniature pony 

when the mare lay down on the grass and rubbed her back around on the ground. We had never seen this before.

Not far from the horses, a view over the cornfield across to the hay bales was a pretty scene. The bales in autumn provide one of my favourite sights.

The Newfoundlander in me was shocked to see this Dogberry Tree, without leaves, loaded with berries, a mass of orange. You know what that means for winter this year!

Blooms

Leaves are on the trees and hedgerows are blooming. Blooms line the roads, trails, banks and shorelines of streams, ponds and sea. 

Sometimes the blooms are unidentifiable in a distant row of trees 

separating fields. 

At times, blooming trees line the trails 

and one can identify some of them. The pink-white colours of the Wild Apple blooms make them easy to distinguish.

Pin Cherry trees are everywhere and are covered in blooms.

Mountain Ash is blooming now as well, its leaves reminding one of the orange berries to follow.

Sumac is distinctive too, clusters of creamy blooms erupting from rose coloured buds. 

On a rare occasion, an old homestead has lilac trees along a trail.

Some of the prettiest blooms right now though are on the Choke Cherry trees which are everywhere as well. 

My favourite photos were from the boardwalk by the sea.

Nature in late spring on Prince Edward Island is a feast for the senses.

Question from the post on Thunder Cove by Boud at https://fieldfen.blogspot.com/

Does the sand stain the way red clay does? 

The red clay of the island does stain sneakers and clothes. We use an old towel or blanket sitting on a red sand beach, especially in the wet sand. However, not all beaches are on the island have red sand, such as the beach at Cavendish and white sand beaches on the south shore of the island. The colour of the sand depends on the rate of erosion in an area.