Friday, 7 April 2023
Wednesday, 15 February 2017
One of our most popular tours is the hike to Uisge Ban Falls. Uisge pronounced "ushka" is Scottish Gaelic for water, and ban pronounced "bahn" is Scottish Gaelic for white. White water it is, with a cascade waterfall that extends approximately 180 feet from the bottom to the top levelling at three plateaus and is part of the North Branch River, a rapid stream that runs the length of the trail and joins back into the Baddeck River which is 22 miles long. It is safe to assume that it originated as a glacial gorge in the last ice age and at the falls the gorge walls reach a depth of 500 feet from the land above it. The lower part of the falls are 50 feet from the lowest plateau and after a heavy rain can reach a spray extending over 12 feet wide. The elevation of this trail is 100 feet from the trail entrance to the falls, but is a gradual climb.
The trail itself to the falls is roughly 3.0 kilometers or 1.8 miles round trip. Easily done in an hour if you don't stop for pictures. The rough terrain as you get closer to the falls, makes this hike a level 3, and for safety reasons we always do this tour with two guides especially if we have a large group.
Because of the gorge, daylight is minimal in the deepest parts of the trail. Only deciduous trees thrive here and the gorge forest is comprised of sugar maple, yellow birch and an abundance of beech trees. Cape Breton is the only part of Nova Scotia that still has beech trees and they make up a large part of the forest along the walking trail to the falls. American beech love it here with good drainage happily growing in shadows with their roots extending around rocks and rising up through the ground all over the trail. These trees are ancient they will live up to 400 years and reach heights of 80 - 100 feet. http://www.2020site.org/trees/beech.html
The beech tree is still harvested for their natural oils known as creosote. Many landscapers still use this product to prevent other trees from rotting, as well as the preservation of telephone poles. The roots of these trees do not die when they exposed to oxygen like most other trees because of their natural creosote, and they are raised up above the ground throughout the trail. This makes for tricky walking in spots if you aren't paying attention.
It was because of these exposed, raised roots that brings me to one of my most memorable hikes.
The Holland America cruise ship Eurodam was docked in Sydney on a particular Saturday and I was asked to take passengers on the Hike Tour along with guide Gordon Moss. It was a beautiful day with the sun peeking into the gorge every now and then between the thick lush forest leaves. There was no rain, few clouds and the ground was perfect for walking.
A gentleman and his wife were taking this cruise to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They seemed to be a very happy couple enjoying the hike with a pleasant disposition and no complaints. they went ahead with Gordon while I was at the end of the tour group watching for stragglers and making sure no one was left behind. The last of the group were lagging a little behind taking pictures so I didn't see what happened. When we caught up to the rest of the group near the middle of the trail, everyone was looking frantically on the ground for something, and the gentleman was still seated on the ground.
He told me he had fallen but he wasn't hurt. He had grabbed on to a young tree after he slipped on a beech root and lost his footing. Unfortunately when his hand slid on the small tree trunk, his wedding ring had been pulled off his hand and was gone.
His wife, a little distraught, had shown everyone her own ring which was a match. A beautiful gold ring with a platinum inset holding three beautiful diamonds. It was beautiful.
"It's just like this only a little larger." she giggled, "His hands are a little larger than mine." His hands were much larger. She was a tiny sweet lady and I felt so bad for both of them, especially when she said they were celebrating their 50th anniversary on this cruise. Our entire tour group searched for as long as we could on our restricted time schedule, and we were forced to return to our tour without successfully finding the ring.
They stayed back with me for the remainder of the hike, and I told the gentleman to file a report with the cruise line, and I knew Gordon was doing the same. I told him that I was up there all the time, and I would look for it as much as I could. He said, "Oh you don’t have to do that for me, it's ONLY a ring. I've been wearing that old thing for 50 years and it's been loose for some time now. It's probably a sign from God that I should have a new one."
To that his wife shrugged and said, "Oh well, maybe it's time to get a new wife too with it." And she broke out in laughter.
They took this all in stride, and made light of the situation resolving that they would not see the ring again, but get new ones.
I was distraught over the loss of something so sentimental, so that evening I told my husband about the day's events and the next day we took the hike. The two of us went with my son to look for the poor man's ring. It had rained a little the night before, and though we searched for quite some time, my husband gave up saying that it looked like a lost cause. It seemed like it may have been washed down or rolled over the slightly steep embankment. I felt so bad for this couple.
Three days later on Wednesday, another cruise ship came in to port, the Veendam. After being on the hike for most of the summer, I just knew I was going to be asked to go back again and sure enough I was. This time I was being sent with guide, Wendell Steel. We had done this hike many times together and I was happy to go again. Again I was holding up the end of the line, and mingling and talking with the tourists about their experiences and where they were from, which for me is the best part of guiding. I was totally distracted, not even thinking about the events earlier in the week.
As part of the tour, we offer a boxed lunch after the hike, where we sit outside of the trail entrance and enjoy sandwiches and drinks at the park picnic tables. I see Wendell approaching all the tables and just assumed that he was asking everyone if they needed anything. Wendell is always so thoughtful.
When he approached my table he asked if anyone had lost a ring.
A RING!
My heart jumped into my throat and I couldn't speak fast enough.
"A two-toned ring with three diamonds! A man's ring!" I said.
"Yes" he said, "That's it exactly" He looked so puzzled that I would know that. He showed me the ring and there it was, the lost ring. Exactly like the wife's ring "only a little larger"
I told Wendell what had happened to us on Saturday and he was amazed. He said he just looked down and saw it shining there. Just there on the ground, sparkling away.
I was so happy that he had the ring and our company just needed to contact the Eurodam to send it back to the rightful owners.
It was such an honor to be part of something so tiny, yet so huge!
Just to be part of doing something for this lovely couple so they could get the ring back that started them on their 50 year journey in the first place.
The trail itself to the falls is roughly 3.0 kilometers or 1.8 miles round trip. Easily done in an hour if you don't stop for pictures. The rough terrain as you get closer to the falls, makes this hike a level 3, and for safety reasons we always do this tour with two guides especially if we have a large group.
Because of the gorge, daylight is minimal in the deepest parts of the trail. Only deciduous trees thrive here and the gorge forest is comprised of sugar maple, yellow birch and an abundance of beech trees. Cape Breton is the only part of Nova Scotia that still has beech trees and they make up a large part of the forest along the walking trail to the falls. American beech love it here with good drainage happily growing in shadows with their roots extending around rocks and rising up through the ground all over the trail. These trees are ancient they will live up to 400 years and reach heights of 80 - 100 feet. http://www.2020site.org/trees/beech.html
The beech tree is still harvested for their natural oils known as creosote. Many landscapers still use this product to prevent other trees from rotting, as well as the preservation of telephone poles. The roots of these trees do not die when they exposed to oxygen like most other trees because of their natural creosote, and they are raised up above the ground throughout the trail. This makes for tricky walking in spots if you aren't paying attention.
It was because of these exposed, raised roots that brings me to one of my most memorable hikes.
The Holland America cruise ship Eurodam was docked in Sydney on a particular Saturday and I was asked to take passengers on the Hike Tour along with guide Gordon Moss. It was a beautiful day with the sun peeking into the gorge every now and then between the thick lush forest leaves. There was no rain, few clouds and the ground was perfect for walking.
A gentleman and his wife were taking this cruise to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They seemed to be a very happy couple enjoying the hike with a pleasant disposition and no complaints. they went ahead with Gordon while I was at the end of the tour group watching for stragglers and making sure no one was left behind. The last of the group were lagging a little behind taking pictures so I didn't see what happened. When we caught up to the rest of the group near the middle of the trail, everyone was looking frantically on the ground for something, and the gentleman was still seated on the ground.
He told me he had fallen but he wasn't hurt. He had grabbed on to a young tree after he slipped on a beech root and lost his footing. Unfortunately when his hand slid on the small tree trunk, his wedding ring had been pulled off his hand and was gone.
His wife, a little distraught, had shown everyone her own ring which was a match. A beautiful gold ring with a platinum inset holding three beautiful diamonds. It was beautiful.
"It's just like this only a little larger." she giggled, "His hands are a little larger than mine." His hands were much larger. She was a tiny sweet lady and I felt so bad for both of them, especially when she said they were celebrating their 50th anniversary on this cruise. Our entire tour group searched for as long as we could on our restricted time schedule, and we were forced to return to our tour without successfully finding the ring.
They stayed back with me for the remainder of the hike, and I told the gentleman to file a report with the cruise line, and I knew Gordon was doing the same. I told him that I was up there all the time, and I would look for it as much as I could. He said, "Oh you don’t have to do that for me, it's ONLY a ring. I've been wearing that old thing for 50 years and it's been loose for some time now. It's probably a sign from God that I should have a new one."
To that his wife shrugged and said, "Oh well, maybe it's time to get a new wife too with it." And she broke out in laughter.
They took this all in stride, and made light of the situation resolving that they would not see the ring again, but get new ones.
I was distraught over the loss of something so sentimental, so that evening I told my husband about the day's events and the next day we took the hike. The two of us went with my son to look for the poor man's ring. It had rained a little the night before, and though we searched for quite some time, my husband gave up saying that it looked like a lost cause. It seemed like it may have been washed down or rolled over the slightly steep embankment. I felt so bad for this couple.
Three days later on Wednesday, another cruise ship came in to port, the Veendam. After being on the hike for most of the summer, I just knew I was going to be asked to go back again and sure enough I was. This time I was being sent with guide, Wendell Steel. We had done this hike many times together and I was happy to go again. Again I was holding up the end of the line, and mingling and talking with the tourists about their experiences and where they were from, which for me is the best part of guiding. I was totally distracted, not even thinking about the events earlier in the week.
As part of the tour, we offer a boxed lunch after the hike, where we sit outside of the trail entrance and enjoy sandwiches and drinks at the park picnic tables. I see Wendell approaching all the tables and just assumed that he was asking everyone if they needed anything. Wendell is always so thoughtful.
When he approached my table he asked if anyone had lost a ring.
A RING!
My heart jumped into my throat and I couldn't speak fast enough.
"A two-toned ring with three diamonds! A man's ring!" I said.
"Yes" he said, "That's it exactly" He looked so puzzled that I would know that. He showed me the ring and there it was, the lost ring. Exactly like the wife's ring "only a little larger"
I told Wendell what had happened to us on Saturday and he was amazed. He said he just looked down and saw it shining there. Just there on the ground, sparkling away.
I was so happy that he had the ring and our company just needed to contact the Eurodam to send it back to the rightful owners.
It was such an honor to be part of something so tiny, yet so huge!
Just to be part of doing something for this lovely couple so they could get the ring back that started them on their 50 year journey in the first place.
Thursday, 12 January 2017
Well today, Thursday Jan. 12 is looking much warmer than days past but an xlnt day to make another small stride at improving on my blog. irst i would like to thank all my friends for taking a look at my web site and blog and making comments to me as well as suggestions i want to hear from you all and i do apprecite your suggestions and ideas . I will strive to make it interesting to all and if any of you have a human interest story or pictures that would relate please share those. I was just talking with a couple of ladies today at St Pats church on the esplanade and they were telling some wonderful stores of some of their senior relatives that related to the history of this old church. We all have some wonderful stories and pics that we should share.
Also i would like to reach out to my fellow Tour Guides who i know for a fact that they have some wonderful experiences that they would love to share. We as guides meet people from all over this globe and it is so gratifying to hear them say what a wonderful place this Cape Breton Island is and how lucky we are to have some many historical bldgs. still standing, especially for the size of this area. Also they are blown away by scene after scene of breathtaking scenery which many of us take for granted
Myself having lived most of my life (42yrs ) in the south western united states, then being home here for over 13 yrs, i know exactly what these folks are seeing and experiencing and i feel so lucky to be able to share these experiences with them. I am surely blessed.
Wendell
Also i would like to reach out to my fellow Tour Guides who i know for a fact that they have some wonderful experiences that they would love to share. We as guides meet people from all over this globe and it is so gratifying to hear them say what a wonderful place this Cape Breton Island is and how lucky we are to have some many historical bldgs. still standing, especially for the size of this area. Also they are blown away by scene after scene of breathtaking scenery which many of us take for granted
Myself having lived most of my life (42yrs ) in the south western united states, then being home here for over 13 yrs, i know exactly what these folks are seeing and experiencing and i feel so lucky to be able to share these experiences with them. I am surely blessed.
Wendell
Saturday, 7 January 2017
Well good morning all you Caper Bloggers out there in blogger land. This is my first entry to my brand new blog so please be patient with me. First i would like to thank my good Friends Jo Ann and her Son Ethan for their help and encouragement i Stay tuned for more exciting
things to come !n getting started with my blog. Hopefully i will be entering lots of interesting stories and pictures as well as an occasional video.
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