Sunday Drivers - Brier Island

Today we set off with a purpose - distance and magnitude! Oh yeah!  We packed a lunch, some snacks and set our compass for Balancing Rock and Brier Island.
"Are we going far?" came the usual sniveling drivel from the back seat.
"YES!" we replied in unison from the front.
A groan issued forth from Ingrid's rearward regions as The Boy resigned himself to another long drive.
"But will we be getting out to walk?" he asked weakly.
"YES!" we replied, once again in unison.

Our first stop was Prim Point Light near Digby.  We disembarked and dabbled about on the rocky shoreline. Not the most beautiful light, but a photo-op and walk-about nonetheless.

Prim Point Light, near Digby

Climbing the rocks at Prim Point.

 Much like Baja California splits off from regular California, Digby Spit is an extension of North Mountain's basalt formations.  This means the coastline is rocky and perfect for climbing.  Here, The Boy demonstrates his new found climbing abilities. For those who may not know The Boy, this new skill set is absolutely amazing.  It was only six months ago that he could not balance on one leg, jump with both feet, walk backwards or venture farther than our hands could reach - he was terrified to stray farther than an arm's length.  As you can see in the photo above, today he found a perch on a wee ledge.  He has come so far.

After the brief climbing adventure, we resumed our journey making our way to Tiverton and Balancing Rock on Long Island.

It's a short ferry ride from the main land to Long Island.  We learned a valuable lesson, however.   Buy the ticket book (which is a punch card for ten passages) - this brought a car fare from "tourist" ($5.50) down to "local" ($1.35). If you have plans to go to Balancing Rock - stop by and grab our punch card!

Trail head at Balancing Rock. It was wet. We risked it.

While I'm at it, I think I'll brag about The Boy's running abilities, too.   Look at him!  He's running in a straight line - long strides, without that wee left side wobble!

There are a couple board walks on the way to Balancing Rock, but because we were drenched by post-tropical storm Andrea yesterday, much of the trail was running water, too.  Good thing we don't leave home without our rubber boots!  Laur didn't bring her boots, but bravely slogged through the muck without complaint in her sandals.

Skunk cabbage lines the trail in many places.  I put my cap on a leaf to illustrate just how large (and powerfully stinky if crushed) these leaves are.  Yeah, yeah, I have a small head.

From the trail, it's 254 steps down to the shore.

Balancing Rock, in all of it's beauty.  It is approximately four feet wide by twenty feet tall, and has been standing there for hundreds of thousands of years. Luckily it is protected by a wire fence from those who would push it over.  Like a jerk, I sat on top of said fence to take this photo.

Annnnnnd... back the way we came!

From Balancing Rock we continued South? West?  Because NS is on a diagonal, I cannot for the life of me figure out how the Dept of Highways decided on the directions.  Anyways, we continued on to Brier Island via Highway 217.

Brier Island is (obviously) an island. The Boy was delighted to take another ferry ride.

As we waited for the boat to arrive, I wandered about and took a few snaps.

You can click on any of these photos to make them larger.

An abandoned house in Freeport.

The ferry arrived in short-order and we were transported to Brier Island in a matter of minutes. It's a pretty little town and one to which we will no doubt return - avec chiens.

First stop, Grand Passage Light.

There are tens of kilometres of trails crossing back and forth over the island.  Although we didn't have the dawgs with us today, walking a few metres on the trail at Western Light steeled our resolve to come back for a longer walk.

The amazingly beautiful Western Light. I took a bunch of photos here, but most of them had tourists in them.  I wish I'd been able to give this the HDR treatment.

The Western Light.

There is an interesting pile of rocks on the shore. The sign reads, "Here lies the growing pyramid of Westport. Make a WISH. Chuck on a stone and good fortune may come your WAY."  Naturally, when throwing my stone I wished for good health.  Naturally, The Boy wished for chicken nuggets.

The Boy wanted to know if anyone was in there. "Knock, knock", he said, "is anybody in there?!"

Mr. Buttercup Hat pauses to pick some of the wild irises.

From the Western Light we made a bee line back to the ferry, through Long Island, on the Tiverton ferry and back home. Poor Truman had to pee so bad that he went twice! Piddling on his way down the hill to the doggie area, right back in for supper and then immediately out again for another enormous pee!

Dogs are definitely coming on the next adventure!