If there is one thing the TLs have learned on this trip – it is that the Maritime Provinces offer such beauty, it is about impossible to absorb. Deep blue oceans. Clear blue mountain lakes. Brooks and bogs. Farms and forests. Bike or hike. Or just walk.
Here in Keji (as it is affectionately called), all these things seem to come together. Walk the trails of the seaside adjunct (on the coast, about an hour and a half away from the main park inland) and hear the the thunder of waves crash on the shore. Watch eagles fly, or seals bask on the rocks. The trails take you through forest to bog, and on to the coast. These are not long, arduous trails – but they are beautiful. Meander, stop, look at all that lies around you. Field or meadow – how diverse the plant life!
Along the coast, each bend offers yet another view of water, sand, rock, seaweed, shore birds, gulls, herons or osprey. Stop, look, and listen.
And back at the main park, trails again take you through incredibly diverse forests. Visit the old growth hemlocks, some of them more than 400 years in age. Here, the forest floor is a carpet of lichen and moss, with a smattering of other shade tolerant, acid loving, low growing plants – all sheltered under the canopy of hemlock boughs that let so little light through! Some of these big fellas have had a struggle – starting out atop boulders, with barely any soil, they somehow find sufficient nourishment to send their woody lifelines ever downward to more inviting soils. Now the challenge is to hold on: the hemlock root is fragile – and those TL interlopers, who, thinking they were proving something, climbed those rocks. And now the old ones struggle.
Elsewhere, take a walk amid the majestic white pines. With trunks a good several feet in diameter, they are but a mere 70-80 years of age. The Keji forests are home to so many species – mushrooms, moss, fern, beech, maple and oak, fir, spruce, pine….. No, these are no difficult trails, but difficulty and beauty are not synonymous! And in walking so many, we have learned to appreciate yet again, the the subtle differences in appearances which often mark significant differences in ecology.
So. We highly recommend Keji to you. The campground sites are large, the shower and restroom facilities will be upgraded in two years, but in the meantime, they are not bad at all. There are trails for hiking, trails for biking. Lakes (the grand Keji, and numerous smaller ones) for exploration by canoe or kayak. There short treks, and multi-day back country trails for the overnight backpacker. Come and experience!
Rollin' with a Road Toad 