Category Archives: Nova Scotia, July 2013

At one time I may have been aware of Bell’s connection to Cape Breton (probably when I was last there in 1973), but I had forgotten it. After the telephone had been commercialized, Bell spent summers on Bras d’Or, a large lake (not just a

A reproduction of the Silver Dart

tasty beer!). There is a museum dedicated to his life and work and surprisingly little of it has to do with the telephone! The things that caught my eye were his interest in flight–both airplanes and kites–and in hydrofoil boats.  He developed the tetrahedral kite and even designed an airplane based on it…but it was not a success. He also was responsible for the first manned flight in Canada with the Silver Dart.

The hydrofoil he developed for the navy was successful, but came at the end of the war and was never developed. It’s main advantages were significantly less drag (so higher speeds for less power) and smoother ride as the weight rode in the water, not on top of it.

A reproduction of he HD-4

The HD-4 being tested

I started today with a half hour hike to Mackenzie Falls nearby. It wasn’t much exercise—short and flat—but it was so reminiscent of the Adirondacks, I was floored. There were even maples. Not long after leaving the parking lot, a cow moose and her calf crossed the road in front of me! No photo, but it was a beautiful sight.

Trail to MacKenzie Falls

MacKenzie Falls

More on the MacKenzie Falls trail

Bridge on the MacKenzie Falls trail

Further on down the road there were more beautiful views of coastline…

Cabot Trail coastline

More Cabot Trail coastline.

Beaches…

Beach on Cabot Trail

And the Groovy Goat Farm and Soap Factory!

The Groovy Goat Farm and Soap Factory

Early to bed and early to rise…and work on work plan and budget. I got quite a bit accomplished and decided to join John and his boys on the Skyline Trail. The trail is a lovely 10 km loop that goes through some very interesting parts of the Cape Breton Highlands. Spruce bud worm wiped out most of the spruce/balsam forest in the 70’s and it is taking some time to come back. What is left is a lot of open space, quite a bit of pioneer paper birch and young spruce (black and red), and balsam fir still struggling to come back. This is great habitat for moose and there is some thought that their increased numbers are inhibiting the return of the climax spruce and fir.

The Quinns: Eli, Leo, and John…and I’m in the back.

The majority of the first leg of the hike is in prime moose habitat and we were rewarded with the sight of a bull moose munching near the trail. He looked meaningfully at us then continued to graze.  We gawked for a few minutes then continued on. As we neared the halfway point, we approached the sea and the headland opened up.

A view of the headlands from the road below.

The last leg back was uneventful (“How much farther?”), but it was a real joy hiking with these guys! Three brothers, 8 – 12, who made their own joy and shared it with the world!

Paper birch pioneering the open land after the death of the spruce and fir from spruce bud worm in the 1970’s

After lunch in Chetticamp at an Acadian restaurant (meat pie, fish cakes…kraft dinner for two of the boys) we took a 15 minute hike around a bog. I love bogs, they have such an interesting ecosystem, and this one was spectacular. It’s actually a “sloped fen” with numerous pools that have sphagnum moss covering varying degrees–most were completely covered, but a few were open.

I didn’t take as many photos as I would like, I was distracted by the place. Like most bogs, it has carnivorous plants: Sundew, Bladderwort and the most numerous her, Pitcher plant. It also had a few beautiful flowers including several orchids.

Another fascinating fact about bogs is their harsh nature. They are hot in the summer and cold in the winter (at least in the microclimate) and very nutrient poor. They are undrained and the sphagum moss makes it very acidic. In addition to cedar and balsam, they also had Eastern Larch (what we know commonly as Tamarack). Despite their small size, some of these trees can be very old because they grow so slowly in the nutrient poor environment.

Orchids

For more photos, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/49747155@N00/sets/72157634758182836/

John Quinn, who was traveling with his 3 boys, Otis, Eli and Leo, fed me coffee and I fled. I drove up the west coast to Inverness and stopped intending to go to the beach. Instead, I opened the windows and napped for an hour or so until the heat became unbearable.

Inverness

Instead of going to the beach alone, I backtracked to the Inverness Miners’ Museum. It took some doing as there was only a small sign on the building identifying it as the museum and that was on the far side. All the other signs were part of the museum! I was the only one to go in, but the docent was a lovely young girl who was a history major in college in Antigonish. She was quite knowledgeable and I spent about an hour. There were a few quirky facts that stuck with me. First, the people knew there was coal there because it kept washing up on the beach, but they couldn’t get any investors to come see the place. Finally they painted the cliffs with black paint and took photos of it and that caught some investors’ attention.

Another fact that gave one pause was that many times the miners spent their whole day on their backs in tunnels as low as 30” or so. When I asked why, she said that sometimes the coal seams were only that tall.

When I asked her what she found most interesting she answered immediately, “The children.” Kids as young as 8 or 10 worked in the mine, but what was interesting to her was that they were given a job based on their father’s position in the mine. They didn’t work in the seams until they were 14 but they often started by taking care of the “pit ponies.” The ponies were used to haul the coal out of the mine and the kids were responsible for never letting them see the outside. Being kept underground, they developed sensitive eyes that could see in the very low light of the mine, but they would be blinded if they saw the light of day.

The rest of the day was a leisurely drive up the coast—punctuated by stops to take in the beautiful views of the coast, read a little, and take frequent naps. I drove almost to Meat Cove at the tip of the island, but stopped at a point where I could see the idyllic little village, but figured there were enough tourists gawking at them at close range, and returned to Pleasant Bay Hostel for the night.

The western highlands coastline.

After the distillery, I headed to Bear on the Lake Hostel on the Bras d’Or lakes. It was described in the Lonely Planet guide as a “super-fun place overlooking the lake.” It is a backpacker’s hostel where people come to meet. This is as opposed to an HI (Hostels International) hostel where people come to sleep cheap, go to bed early and find the majority of their entertainment outside the hostel. Both have their advantages but I wanted to start with a “super fun” crowd.

After a meal at the Red Shoe Pub—a lovely little place in Mabou owned by the Rankin Sisters of Rankin Family fame—I drove over to the Bear. I was met by Carmen, the “effervescent” (according to the Lonely Planet) owner, and told there was, indeed, room. I started to try to work on a grant proposal I hadn’t finished, but was quickly distracted by the guests from Belgium, Germany, Australia and Canada. Someone brought out a bottle of wine and we started talking about energy and sustainability and, after accepting too many offers of wine, I looked up my favorite TED talk and started lecturing. How embarrassing! I finally went to bed and probably kept the whole room up with my snoring.

The Red Shoe Pub. Doesn’t look too Celtic!

So you know that I couldn’t visit Cape Breton without visiting the only single-malt whiskey (you can’t call it “Scotch” unless it’s made in Scotland) distillery in North America. And it was fascinating!

Glenora Distillery was founded here, near Mabou, because of the water. The water comes down off the highlands in a good sized stream but they have to pump it into a holding pond so they have the 2,000 gallons they need to mash the barley. The mash tun is huge compared to the breweries I’ve seen. The mash process is much the same as beer though, temperature is held at about 160 F and paddles mix the mash while a pump recirculates it so the finer particles aggregate on the bottom to form a filter. The liquid from the mash, now called “wort,” is cooled while it is pumped into 3 different wooden fermentation vessels that look like huge hot tubs…but 12 feet deep.

Fermentation vats with the copper mash tun in the background

Yeast is added and the fermentation starts in earnest. One difference here is that the fermentation is “open” and there’s not even a cover over the vessels. They can do this because they don’t aim for high attenuation (the amount of sugar that is turned into alcohol). Instead, they move the wort to the still before all the sugar is fermented. The initial fermentation is so vigorous that the CO2 forms a layer that keeps oxygen out and preventing the formation of vinegar.

The “Spirit Still” for the final distillation with the “Spirit Safe” in the background

Once the liquor is in the first still, it is distilled and ends up with an alcohol content of somewhere in the 25 – 30%. It is transferred to the second still where the results are in the 60 – 65% range. This distillate is stored in the “spirit safe.” Traditionally, this was locked and only excise agent (the “revenuer,” in southern moonshine parlance) had a key. He would ascertain the volume and the “proof” which determined the tax the producer owed. In this, more trusting, environment, the distillery reports its own figures.

From there, the liquor is filtered into casks which are sealed, marked with the date and a number, and moved to the warehouse. These casks are stored in uncontrolled conditions for at least 10 years. At the end of 10 years, the casks may be opened and the whiskey bottled. They may also continue in storage, with the mellowing process continuing for up to 19 years. Although some single malts are aged longer, the chance of improving in taste is diminished while the chance of degradation of flavor is increased.

Robin bottling a 17 year old, cask strength single malt

It used to be when I began a trip, I would build up a head of steam. When I arrived, I would keep going from place to place for a few days before I settled down and started absorbing the place I was. As I’ve gotten older, I tend to settle much faster.

New Brunswick kitsch

I left Fredericton this morning and drove straight through to Cape Breton…and directly to the Glenora Distillery. It was a fascinating tour and the Scotch was Lowland (no peat), but quite drinkable. I’ll post more about it separately.

There is something special about the land here. It’s similar to northern NY, but there’s something different. For one thing, the sea is nearby now and there are some great tidal areas. The view from the visitors’ center just inside NS from NB is quite beautiful.

The view from Visitor’s Center at the Nova Scotia/New Brunswick border.

I ran into the first construction delay on the Canso Causeway to Cape Breton–only 10 minutes or so–and it gave me to time to gape at the cliffside that has been sacrificed to build and maintain the causeway. One cliff face has been chipped away and the crusher and processing equipment remains ready to continue to churn out more crushed stone.

Cape Breton is beautiful! The wooded hills are stunning and there is music everywhere. I spent the first night here at the Bear on the Lake Hostel and it was just what I wanted to do! Belgians, Canadians, a German, and an Aussie all sat around a table, sharing bottles of wine and a bottle of local, cask strength (65% or 120 proof) whiskey.

There was a time when 600 miles was nothing. That was a long time ago. But the 600 miles from Potsdam to Fredericton, NB, was a piece of cake. They’ve finished the A-30 south of Montreal so outside of the inevitable construction on either end of A-30, I didn’t even know I was near Montreal. Not much to slow me down from Montreal to Riviere du Loup had only some slight slowing for construction, no stops. Same was true for the rest of the Trans Canada to Fredericton (through, and I’m not making this up, St. Louis du Ha! Ha!)

I love a town with a sense of humor!

The new 4 lane was a harbinger of what might come to pass in the Adirondacks. The cleared area on either side of the road was wider and there was an 8 foot fence to discourage moose from getting on the roadway. If they do get there, the fence has one way gates so the majestic creatures (with red eyes that don’t shine brightly at night and bodies conveniently located at windshield height of most cars) can get back to safety.

I arrived late in Fredericton and didn’t see much of the city, just drove to the university (that offers low priced accommodation to travelers in the summer) and caught up on email (something I plan to stop doing as soon as I finish the things I didn’t finish before I left). I don’t plan to linger here, although I would love to see the Dali they have in the Lord Beaverbrook (yes, there are a LOT of things in Canada bearing his name, from here all the way to Victoria, BC) Art Gallery. This “sleepy provincial town,” as it is referred to in the Lonely Planet guide, is lovely, but I am determined to spend time in Cape Breton on this trip, so I’m off to Wagmatcook to get acquainted with Mi’kmaq native culture (all I know is they were transported by the colonials to Newfoundland to put down the Beothuks, which they did by effectively killing them all…but that may not be the current historical narrative).

Only 555 km to go today!