Drumlins, Eskers, and Erratics, Oh My!

After spending several hours in Annapolis Royal, I stopped at the historic gardens on the edge of town. They had a reproduction Acadian house and garden.


There was a neat garden statue.


I then headed out towards Kejimkujik National Park. As I climbed out of town, a woman called out, "It's all uphill!". Well, it really wasn't, it was just a series of long rolling hills. Since it was getting a bit late, I decided to stop at Raven Haven Park where I ended up staying in s great little hostel for two bucks more than for a campsite.


The view was fantastic.


It was a treat to sleep in a bed! The next day, I met Deborah, the supervisor for the county recreation department. She incited me to go kayaking with her on the lake. I'd never been in a kayak but got the hang of it pretty quickly.





I stopped to take a photo.


After I put my camera away, I automatically started pushing on the rudder pedals and was momentarily surprised when I didn't start moving. I'm not much of a swimmer so I've always been apprehensive of being in the water so this was a great experience. Thanks Deborah!

The next day, I finally got to Kejimkujik National Park after riding several hours in the pouring rain. Keji, like the rest of Nova Scotia was heavily glaciated during the last ice age. The lakes are all glacial depressions and all the hills are actually drumlins which were formed by the glaciers forming piles of rubble into inverted spoon shapes.


Eskers are ridges formed by streams carrying debris under the ice sheets and erratics are large boulders left behind by the melting ice.

After pitching the tent in the campground, I left all my gear I camp and rode a mountain bike trail to the dock. The trail wasn't particularly technical but it did test my riding skills a bit which was good practice on my new bike. I still find myself not trusting this bike as much as my old one so this was good for gaining some confidence.

At the dock, I rented a kayak for a few hours.


I saw lots of wildlife including this large turtle which doesn't look particularly large in the photo.


I also saw several deer, a duck on it's nest, and two beavers really close up. I've never seen beaver in the wild so this was really cool. I drifted up so close to one as it was eating some lily pads, I couldn't believe it. I think I'm hooked on kayaking!

Location:Kejimkujik National Park