Grand Manan Trails
Annual Newsletter #2
November 1994

 

See page bottom for prev. editions) Our Membership This second annual newsletter is going to the fifty-four individuals or couples who over the past year, have donated funds, labour and materials towards the maintenance of Grand Manan's Heritage Hiking Trails. These 'friends' have been either recruited by our existing members or by the Grand Manan Tourism Association's - Trail Committee. Others have responded to the appeal published in the last printing of the trails guide. This number represents a pleasing increase of fourteen over last years figure. We know we represent only a small percentage of a rapidly increasing number of visitors who are hiking on Grand Manan. If you know of additional folk who have sufficient interest in us to make a contribution of money or effort, please show them the list of tasks at the end of this newsletter. We would like to add them to our membership. Updating Since this newsletter reaches you annually it must serve to update you on changing trail conditions which will always be ahead of the infrequent revisions of the guide booklet. To this end it will also be mailed to all members of the G.M.T.A. since they continue to support the work financially and are meeting the public retailing the trails guide and, hopefully, giving out accurate and up-to-date information on specific trails! top Last Year As mentioned in the first newsletter, a second grant of funds came from the province's Environmental Trust Fund. It enabled a five member crew headed by Duane O'Neill of Seal Cove to go over most of our trails; also to link up parts of existing trails on Ross Island and bring it into our system. Record cold temperatures and deep snow made their task very difficult. Unfortunately, after completing their work period in January, late winter storms brought down dead spruces to undo much of their good work. Clearly, the ideal time period for major renovation of our trails is in the early spring and summer. Work done between mid April and June would exploit the improving weather and leave the trails in top-notch condition for the hiking season. We shall attempt to apply this model if further funding is forthcoming. Heavily used trails included Net Point, Beech Hill, Ashburton Head (from The Whistle Road) and of course, the Red Point - Anchorage Trail. All of these are short, require no special footwear and are easily negotiated. In each case it requires a both ways hike in order to return to your vehicle. Net Point has come into its own as a walk which can occupy your last hour on the island. After the family vehicle is in the line-up, you can be out on the Point when the arriving ferry comes into view and still walk back to your vehicle in time to load. Beech Hill gives the best view (short of being airborne) of the islands in the Archipelago and eastward to Digby Neck in Nova Scotia. Choose a clear day for this one. We had a straight sixteen days period of fog in July. Who pointed out that our title contains the word F.O.G....Sounds like Maude Hunter! The Anchorage Red Point known as "The Boardwalk" had thousands of users and the new Nature Trail and bird blinds nearby were a delight. D.H.B. figures he had close to 500 visitors through the Duck Blind! Most were Elder Hostel Groups. top Minister of the Environment Visits On June 4th, 1994, Seal Cover, Eric Allaby, Member of the Provincial Legislative Assembly, for Charlotte County, brought the Hon. Marcelle Mersereau to D.H.B.'s home for a briefing on the work done in recent years by provincially funded crews and volunteers. She showed great interest and proved to be an accomplished hiker herself who has spent time on our trails. She accepted a copy of the trails guide. In late October she again visited the island to inspect the ongoing improvements in the Anchorage area. Incidentally, Eric Allaby is credited with having helped put out an earlier trails guide back in 1976. At North Head a two hundred plus acre property, including the Old Airport is being developed by the owner, Mr. Basil Small. Called the Hole-in-the-Wall Park it now offers easy drive-up access closer to the Hole-in-the-Wall than previously. Toilets and picnic-tables have been provided and several points of interest are signed. Entrance and parking fees are charged. The traditional trails from the Swallowtail Light out to Fish Head and on past the Hole-in the-Wall to Whale Cove are still in use at no charge. Hikers are warned that they use these trails at their own risk. top Our Logo The idea that we should have a symbol suitable for a pin or badge to identify us originated from an inquiry made by one of our Boy Scout leaders Rudy Laffoley. When contacted, long time 'Friend' O.K. Schenk (whose beautiful paintings of Grand Manan scenes are known to many) promptly designed a couple of attractive options. Shown to a number of members, the clear favourite was the one depicted on the front of this newsletter. Mr. Schenk describes it as "a hard white shape symbolizing the Bunchberries (Cornus canadensis) which are abundant throughout the summer and always a source of pleasure". The background colour is a dark coniferous green and the flower centre or berries a bright green. Whilst Mr. Schenk was working on the design, Thisbe Schenk surveyed a number of companies in the crest making field and enabled us to target a sum of $500.00 needed to purchase the initial quantity (456). The plan is to retail the badge to our members and the public at a price which will contribute funds for the upkeep of our trails. Since a revised and enlarged guide is due next summer thought is being given to a 'package' which could include: The badge, the new guide booklet and our annual newsletter. At the October 20th meeting of the Grand Manan Tourism Association the design was displayed and the Annual Trails Report given. D.H.B. asked for $500.00 to finance this venture. The request was approved. G.M.T.A. members will be asked to retail the badges at no profit to themselves. Your ideas are welcomed! The following description will be included in the revised trail guide which will be available next summer. top Ross Island 7.5 kms; 3.75 hrs. Red. Marked in 1994, the island is reached across The Thoroughfare when the tide is not high. The start point is at Captain Looks Lobster Pound at the end of Thoroughfare Road. Ross Island is cut off for approximately 2½ hours before and 2½ hours after the high tide. The intervening low water periods provide ample time for this walk. Ross Island is one of the wilder parts of the archipelago and is uninhabited. Site of the earliest European settlement, the trees have been less harvested in recent years and offer cover to a variety of animals. White-tailed deer are plentiful, Otters can be seen and Bald Eagles nest. Several species of wildfowl regularly nest and raise their broods on the four ponds. There is a very rough four-wheeled drive road down the centre of the island to Cheney Passage. For the first part, it follows the power lines which serve the White Head community. Islanders use this rough road to harvest 'Passage Dulse', dig clams and collect periwinkles. This road passes the stone and cement basements of the old buildings. At Chalk Cove a number of obsolete fishing boats have been beached and abandoned; these are picturesque and can be explored. Further on, from the atop a grassy knoll, you will come in sight of the abandoned lighthouse on Fish Fluke Point. This was wrecked by a February storm on 'Groundhog Day', 1976. Ingalls Head with its Boat Haul-up can be seen beyond. Follow the trail down to the old lighthouse. You can then continue on down the western shore of the island to Indian Camp Point. This portion of the trail first follows the beach before entering the woods. On reaching this southern point, White Head Island comes into view and its red-hulled ferry 'Lady White Head' can be seen on its crossings. Turning left (east) the trail follows the shoreline past Rockweed Pond and Passage Pond to Cheney Passage. From there the trail follows the eastern shoreline to the north alternating between shingle beaches and the woodlands. En route salmon farming cages will be seen offshore and Great Duck Island Lightstation will come into view. After passing Ross Island Pond the trail is mostly along the beach until you come in sight of a cluster of lobster pounds in The Thoroughfare. The last part of the trail takes you left (west) across a boggy meadow and back to your starting point. Take some food and be aware of the tide times if you undertake this four ponds circular hike. Brian Dalzell hiked this new circular trail on October 23rd., and submitted a report on trail conditions. He found "about a dozen" trees down across the path as a result of the Labour Day Storm. Whilst walking he tallied 39 species of birds. Most were typical late fall migrants but also included were resident Boreal chickadees and a rare Black-backed woodpecker. top Trail Adopters Our numbers have increased. Maude and Gerald Hunter continue care for the lovely Pats Cove to Southwest Head Light Trail. Duane O'Neill's crew also made improvements at the Bears Den brook last Fall. Sidney and Barbara Guptill again maintained a portion of the "Back-of-the-island" Trail in the Sloop Cove to Dwelly's Cove area. They also re-marked the blue trail which joins the Back-of-the-island Trail to the Dark Harbour Road at Dark Harbour Brook. If you weren't on Grand Manan this summer you will not have seen the hard topped road which now goes all the way out to Dark Harbour. As already mentioned Jackie Foote signed and marked Ross Island and will maintain it. Andy and Cindy Normandeau and boys kept an eye on the much used Net Point Trail near the Ferry Wharf. Picking up garbage was one of their contributions. Shirley and Sheldon Cook maintained the trails and signs out of Bradford Cove pond and out to Hay Point. Our Scout Troop hiked from Dark Harbour down to Bradford Cove and replaced a few fallen signs en route. On the last Thanksgiving weekend Eugene Gillies led a party of eight over the Trails from Deep Cove to Bradford Cove, Hay Point, Bradford Cove Pond and out to Southwest Head Light. They still had enough energy to hike from there up to Pats Cove. They found a small number of trees down, and not yet removed from the Labour Day Storm. top This Gale caught Grand Manan Weirman unawares! There was no time to remove any twine. Coming down the Bay of Fundy out of the northeast like a full-scale winter storm it did massive damage to the weirs. Some were left with only a few stumps of snapped off main stakes visible at low tide. Gusts of up to 90 M.P.H. probably occurred. However, by Wednesday's 7th, some of the least damaged weirs were back catching and the Seal Cove Cannery lost only one days work! Trees were uprooted all over the island. 1995 will present a challenge if we are to get our trails back into shape. Other Contributions Thisbe Schenk produced the Wildflower sketches used herein. They will also adorn our revised Trail Guide. Kurt Rowe, National Audubon Society Expedition Institute Field Director, sent a generous donation and a report on his September student group's week-long backpacking hike over the entire "Back-of-the-island" Trail. As a result of the group's 'brainstorming' they came up with a list of suggested guidelines for future hikers and also improvements to the existing guide. Their very positive critique has provided much food for thought and will help direct us in the future. Amongst their questions for our consideration was "Should fees or a donation be part of funding continual maintenance of the trail?" G.M.T.A. President, Andy Normandeau suggested at the October meeting that we donate part of the retail cost of the new guide book to this purpose. They also asked "Could local businesses provide topographic maps of the trail(s) for sale?" A map of 24" x 30" (60 x 80 cms) would be ideal for this purpose. It could include local as well as official names and these could be keyed into the trails guide and avoid some confusions. This latter point was also made by the Audubon group. Dennis Brooks of Edmonton donated the sketches used on pages 2 and 5. He did these in late September '93. Maureen Baldwin did the layout and typing for this newsletter. Many thanks to all who made financial contributions; we were able to cover last years expenses including the production and mailing of the newsletter. top Needed Next Year Please peruse the following list and see if you can make a specific committment for 1995. Working on the trails with hand tools. Erecting signs and improving marking. Submitting written and dated reports on trail conditions. Recruiting new members who will get involved. Producing short articles for inclusion in our next newsletter. We need black and white sketches or maps to illustrate the newsletter or for future trail guide revisions. Help with the newsletter; typing, duplicating or mailing. Anyone with the equipment and word processing skills could be of great service. The newsletter could be produced anywhere! Promotion and sales of the new crests and guides on Grand Manan. Re-measuring times and distances on all our trails. Donating tools or materials. All of our '94 'Adopters' did this without remuneration. Producing signs and markers. Our signs utilize driftwood, our markers are painted can lids Bringing out garbage - some (few) people will litter. Adopt-a-trail or portion thereof. top Grand Manan Tourism Association - 'Trails Committee' Don Baldwin -Chair Eugene Gillies Maude Hunter Billy Daggett Walter Wilson Andy Normandeau Don Baldwin, Baldwins' Guest House,  2071 Route 776, Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada E5G 4K6. Note: Laurie Murison prepared the newsletter for the web site version.