There are countless trails criss-crossing HRM. Some are informal footpaths used for generations for hunting and fishing, others are on old rail beds taken over and managed by community groups, others are in public parks. There are even water trails along the coast.
HRM's emerging Regional Trail System reflects the widest possible range of experiences associated with our diverse natural history landscapes. The system features challenging wilderness trails with a guaranteed high degree of environmental and ecological integrity, multi-use, shared trails which link communities and offer visitors a unique glimpse of our cultural/living history, coastal trails which traverse beaches, truncated headlands and estuaries and offer outstanding vistas, and urban greenways which offer that unique opportunity for overnight visitors to exercise in a pleasant natural setting.
Please click on the region in the map that you would like to view Trails opportunities
33 Parks Found
Admirals Park
Caution: Although this is not a big park, it is easy to get lost. Keep checking for the paint on the trees, old blazes, and the occasional flagging tape. On the way down from Eagle Rock, the trail markers disappear at times and you have to look behind you regularly at the white markers to make sure you are still on the trail. It can be confusing because there is so little undergrowth that the trail is not always obvious. There are no guard rails at the edges of the cliffs. Use your common sense.
Natural Features: Admirals Park is on the quartzite ridge that borders the Basin and is littered with quartzite boulders and exposed cliffs. There is very little soil and hikers have quickly exposed the tree roots and rocks under the thin layer of needles on the paths. The forest contains several large white pines that would take two, or sometimes three, people to reach around. The rest of the trees are mainly middle-aged red spruce, pine, and some hemlock. At the start of the trail to Admiral Rock, off Shore Drive, look for the three conifers that grow in this park. On the left is a small red spruce and on the right a small white pine and young hemlock grow side by side. Notice the differences between the needles, bark and cones on the three species. Blueberry, kalmia, and huckleberry shrubs grow on the edges of outcrops and where gaps in the tree tops provide some light. From the look-offs notice how the Basin narrows under the bridge. Thousands of years ago the basin was plucked out by glaciers on their way across HRM. It became a lake fed by the Sackville River whose channel cuts across the bottom of the Halifax Harbour. As sea level rose both the lake and river were later drowned to become the deep water port of today.
Did You Know?: Bald Eagles are large birds of prey easily identified by the white head of the mature adult. They perch near lakes, river estuaries, and the seacoast. Here they catch fish and sometimes water birds. They are scavengers and eat dead or dying animals.
Bedford Lions Sandy Lake Park
Natural Features: The woods come down to the edge of a boulder shoreline surrounding the lake. There is a mix of pine, oak, and sugar maple. The trails lead to the Jack Lake lands to the east where 50 acres was cleared for a detention centre that was never built. This is an interesting place to see a forest regenerating from clearcutting.
More Info: Images courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, NS
Clam Harbour Beach Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Musquodoboit Habrour DNR office at 902-889-2332.
Natural Features: Clam Harbour is wider than the barrier beaches along this shore, which is likely why it hosts the annual sand castle contest. There is more time and room between tides for building. An extensive boardwalk provides passage through the dunes. At the end of the beach, tracks lead across the dune past the outhouses to a footpath. This runs parallel to the coast, just above high water, across a headland where the exposed quartzite bedrock divides small pocket beaches. All along the beach and headland you look out onto the spectacular swells rolling in to Clam Bay. On Burnt Point, paths lead up the rocky summit to views of Long Island lighthouse and Clam Harbour.
Did You Know?: You may be forgiven if you think that all the spruce trees near Clam Harbour are in the final stages of a terminal disease, covered as they are in thick blankets of pale green strands. In fact, the forest is quite healthy, but is merely colonized by old man's beard, one of the most conspicuous of more than 500 species of lichen that have been identified in Nova Scotia. Old man's beard on fir and spruce in damp coastal forests was mistaken for a parasitic growth by the early settlers because it was found on dead and decaying trees. Lichens are beneficial absorbing nutrients and providing structural support through their fungal component and producing carbohydrates by photosynthesis. White tailed deer forage on lichens, and certain bird species, particularly the northern parula warbler, build their nests in old man's beard. (Reprinted from Haynes, p.59)
Cobble beaches form from the rocks and boulders left by the glaciers. When the waves wash away sand and smaller gravel, they leave behind larger rocks. Over time, as these rocks are tumbled against each other by the waves, they are rounded and smoothed. Granite, in particular, makes lovely rounded cobbles that make a clapping sound as they turn over in the receding wave. If the beach is exposed to storms, the cobbles can pile up above high tide. This gives a chance for lichens and flowering plants, such as lungwort and beach pea, to grow in an otherwise very unstable environment.
Cleveland Beach Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560
Natural Features: Cleveland Beach is wider than Queensland. This is because its west-facing arc is nestled against a headland that captures the sand moved by currents along the shore. The headland is relatively sheltered here at the head of the bay and supports a wide variety of common native flowers. Look for queen anne's lace, beach pea, pasture rose and thistle along the trail. The trail also offers good views of the high granite ridge of the Aspotogan Peninsula, the islands, and the variety of sea ducks and other waterfowl that like the sheltered water of the bay.
More Info: Images courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, NS
Did You Know?: On the west side of St.Margarets Bay, a backdrop of the Granite Uplands rises above the low shoreline. Aspotogan Peninsula is the high point of land along this part of the shore. Here the granite intruded into the quartzite and slate folds of the South Shore. The pressure and temperature are greatest at these points of contact, creating a fine-grained bedrock highly resistant to erosion. Hence its height above the surrounding landscape.
Cole Harbour -Lawrencetown Coastal Heritage Park System; Cole Harbour
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560
More Info: Images courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, NS
Did You Know?: Eelgrass is the only seed bearing (angiosperm) plant that grows in salt water. Look for it in sheltered low energy waters. Eelgrass dampens the force of waves, thereby collecting sediments around its roots and slowly building soil in the marsh. Alive, it looks like long thin strands of green cellophane. Dead eelgrass, like shredded paper, rolls up into long rows at the high tide mark. Dry eel grass is very slow to decompose and was used as insulation, to bank foundations in fall and to grow potatoes. They come out clean and free of soil
Cole Harbour -Lawrencetown Coastal Heritage Park System; Lawrencetown Beach
About the Site: Contact the Musquodoboit Habrour DNR office at 902-889-2332.
Caution: The combination of swells and outflow from the lakes behind the beach creates strong undertow at Lawrencetown and Conrod beaches.
Natural Features: The beach is a mix of sand and gravel fed by two drumlins eroding at either end of it. Storm waves generate currents that flow along the shore towards the beach and carry sediment eroded from the flanking headlands. Fine particles are washed away and the sand and gravel left to form the beach. There are cobbles abundant at the eastern end, where most of the sand has been built into the dune. It is interesting to watch the shape and position of the beach change from season to season and year to year. The drumlin slopes and roadsides around Lawrencetown are ablaze with pink and purple in the summer. Lupins are an introduced plant that naturalizes well and now adorns many roadside banks in HRM. There is no formal trail at the park, but you can get onto the Atlantic View Trail by following the boardwalk from the parking lot and crossing the road at the park entrance. The rail trail is behind the beach, with good views of the dunes to the east and across the causeway to the west (See Trail). There is also a rugged footpath over the drumlin with the tea house on it that leads through a white spruce forest and offers tremendous views from the top. On a clear day you can see the entrance to Halifax Harbour and across to the white granite cliffs of Chebucto Head.
Did You Know?: Along the shore between Cow Bay and Martinique Beach, you might see rather predatory looking creatures bobbing in the water just off the bluffs. These are surfers in wetsuits waiting for the perfect wave. A combination of three natural features creates ideal conditions for surfing: the slope of the bottom, the exposure, and the swell. On this exposed coast storm winds from the southeast generate large swells in the open Atlantic. The swell moves towards the shore and the waves start to curl and build up as they feel the gentle slope of the bottom. Along this coast the waves start to curl far offshore creating a wide surf zone. Surfers love to track storms to know when to catch the best waves. For a couple of days after a storm, offshore winds hold up the large storm swells creating ideal surf. These same winds eventually flatten the waves and the surfers retire to wait out the next storm.
Cole Harbour -Lawrencetown Coastal Heritage Park System; Rainbow Haven
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560
Crystal Crescent Beach Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560
Caution: Wildlife in this park includes the rare "naturist", a relatively uncommon species in Nova Scotia. These nude sunbathers tend to confine themselves to Mackerel Cove south of the main beach.
Natural Features: True to its name the sand and cobble beaches snuggle in crescent coves backed by low dunes. There is little sediment for feeding the beaches of the Granite Barrens. Currents moving along the shore carry the fine sands washed out from the thin glacial till. These get trapped in indentations in the coastline and build up as beaches. Crystal Crescent is fully exposed to the open Atlantic and the waters are frigid even in the summer. This does not reduce its popularity however. These pockets of sparkling white sand are treasures among the rocky shores of the granite coast.
Dollar Lake Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Middle Musquodoboit DNR office at 902-384-2290.
Natural Features: The park overlaps two distinct landscapes. To the north, campsites perch on one of the drumlins that vary the topography in the Atlantic Interior. This old field is reputed to be an excellent place for stargazing. Notice how the trees try to creep back in now that the drumlin is no longer farmed. In late spring, the field is fringed with the white blossoms of the chokecherry that later bears clusters of dark red fruit that pucker the mouth. The southern section crosses into a forest of black and red spruce alternating between the ridges and swales of the folded bedrock of the Quartzite Barrens. The sandy beach at the head of the lake nestles between quartzite outcrops. In a canoe look out for the cinnamon head of the common merganser leading her brood fishing in the lake. These diving ducks chase their prey under water, earning them the common name of fish duck. Their presence testifies that there are fish in the lake, which is the deepest lake in HRM. Geologists believe that Dollar Lake is the southern-most extension of the ancient Windsor Sea that covered most of northern Nova Scotia millions of years ago.
Elderbank Provincial Park
Hemlock Ravine
Natural Features: Although there are some 300 year old trees in Hemlock Ravine, the forest lacks the layers of undergrowth typical of a natural old forest. There are, however, small pockets of the climax conifer forest of the Quartzite Barrens. The park shelters some 80 foot tall hemlock on the slopes in the ravines and pure stands of red spruce. Look for painted trillium in the mossy carpet in the spruce forests in June. In the northern part of the park, repeated fires have created a young forest of red maple and other deciduous trees that tolerate growing in full sun and act like pioneers in open areas. Here a thick growth of eracacious shrubs such as kalmia prevent conifer seedlings from establishing themselves. The red maple sprouts from stumps and regenerates easily. In the dark and cool at the bottom of ravines, ferns border small streams and flowers bloom later. There are several types of flowering shrubs and wildflowers in the park. Look for the dogwood-like flowers of the native hobblebush, pink lady's slipper and the blue-black fruit of the elderberry in fall.
Did You Know?: The eastern hemlock is the oldest tree species in Nova Scotia and can live 450 years. It was once dominant, but extensive logging considerably reduced its presence and seed source. It does regenerate easily and is now found in isolated pockets in HRM and is identified by drooping, feathery, dark green foliage in flat sprays and small, glossy, flat needles and oddly small cones for such big trees. Although in the softwood category, hemlock is actually an extremely hard wood. Natives made a poultice from the inner bark and early settlers drank hemlock tea to induce sweating. The famous poison that Socrates drank did not come from the hemlock tree. That hemlock is an herb and no relation.
Herring Cove Provincial Park Reserve
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560.
Kidston Lake/ Rockingstone Park
Natural Features: The park is located on the edge of the Granite Barrens and is famous for a 40- ton erratic deposited in its present unstable condition when the glaciers melted about 12, 000 years ago. Glaciers dumped the boulders along with all sorts of other loose materials such as sand and gravel. As the loose materials weathered away, the boulders gradually settled down onto the smaller rocks beneath them to perch there as if they have been dropped from the sky.
Smaller granite boulders dot the landscape and the bedrock shows different stages of granite formation, with larger and smaller crystals indicating faster and slower cooling. The network of trails to the rock take visitors through mixed woods and patches of blueberry bushes.
More Info: Images courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, NS
Laurie Provincial Park
Natural Features: Deciduous trees edge the lake and a small trail leads through tall pines to a point of land. The view of the lake is charming.
Lewis Lake Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560
Natural Features: The lakes typical of the Granite Uplands are ringed with white boulders that highlight the colourful fringe of shrubs and maple and birch in the fall. The shrubs range in height from cranberry floating at the shoreline to the tall viburnum or wild raisin with its dark blue berries in fall. Look for the occasional tall pine sticking up above the canopy as a reminder of the original forest. The lake is stocked with brook and rainbow trout.
More Info: Images courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, NS
Did You Know?: Brook trout is a native of northeastern North America and one of seventeen native freshwater species in Nova Scotia. Its popularity as a game fish has caused its wide distribution throughout the world. It is commonly known as the speckled trout due to the attractive spotted markings on its sides.
Long Lake Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Friends of Long Lake Provincial Park Association. 902-876-2456 rodlake@hfax.eastlink.ca or the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560
Caution: This large track of land close to Halifax was once a water supply area for the city and is now an unmanaged provincial park. Once used mainly by local residents, Long Lake has gained popularity in recent years as a destination for hiking and mountain biking. There is a network of unofficial trails within the forests and skirting Long Lake. Some of these follow historical footpaths. Others are on old roads that used to service the watershed or homesteads. The last leg of the old St. Margaret's Bay coach road runs through the park to end (or begin) in Spryfield (see Trails). The one official access point is a small municipal lot on the St. Margaret's Bay road. The Department of Natural Resources is working with the Friends of Long Lake Provincial Park Association to develop the park.
Natural Features: Aside from servicing the watershed, the forest has not been managed for generations. It is a good example of the Acadian forest typical of the Granite Uplands. On some slopes, deciduous trees are being taken over by spruce and pine with some hemlock in areas with a seed source. On others, large red oak mingle with yellow birch and beech moving towards the climax hardwood forest of the region. Long Lake is true to its name and typical of the long, narrow drainage channels created in fractures in the granite. Freshwater marshes, complete with cattails and red-winged blackbirds, streams, small lakes and overgrown fields complete the diversity of habitats in the park. The lake is within easy portage distance along an old service road and worth exploring in a canoe. Take a wildflower guide with you to identify the freshwater plants.
More Info: Images are courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, NS
Did You Know?: There are three categories of freshwater plant: floating, emergent and submerged. They typically grow in distinct zones starting near the shore and ending in deep water. Emergent plants root in shallow water with most of their stems and leaves sticking out of the water. They get carbon dioxide from the air and nutrients from the water, in much the same way as plants on land. In Long Lake look for pickerel-weed and water lobelia. Water lilies are the most obvious of the floating type with large leaves splayed on the surface and long underwater stems rooted to the bottom. There are at least two types of water lily in Long Lake. Submerged plants like the pondweeds are hardest to see. They are either rooted to the bottom or floating freely in the water extracting oxygen from it and their leaves are very thin and finely divided.
Martinique Beach Provincial Park
About the Site: From Dartmouth take highways 107 and 7 approximately 40 km east to Musquodoboit Harbour. Turn left onto the East Petpeswick Road for 12 km to the park entrance on the right.
Caution: Martinique is the only known site in HRM where the endangered piping plover nests. Plovers build nests in bare sand. Signs on the beach mark the nesting sites. Between May and August you will be sharing the beach with adults and chicks that feed at the edge of the water in the inter-tidal zone, eating tiny invertebrates. The birds need to eat to develop body weight for their long migration south. Disturbance interrupts this process. If you see shorebirds please turn back and always keep dogs on a leash. For more information contact the NS Coastal Guardian Program at 902-860-1263 or plover@istar.ca
Natural Features: Martinique is one of the largest crescent beaches in the province and creates a barrier between the Atlantic and the protected lagoon and marshes behind. The barrier beach is anchored at both ends and in the middle to bedrock. The middle anchor divides the beach into two arches. The ocean washed out the middle of the beach in the 1970's, creating a breach in the dunes. Park staff set up snow fencing to trap sand and rebuild the breach. A new breach divides the eastern crescent, which is migrating landwards as the sand moves away from its rocky anchor.
The white sand is tumbled quartz crystals and is likely supplied from a beach that existed thousands of years ago when sea level was much lower. Waves and currents pump these relic sands towards land to feed the present beaches.
Did You Know?: On exposed shorelines, sand transported by wind and waves can build up into one or more ridges called dunes. A dune starts when marram grass colonizes sand deposited above high tide on a beach. The roots of the beach grass, and other beach plants such as sea rocket, sandwort, and orach, stabilize the sand and gradually add organic matter to the sand. The stabilized ridges retreat inland and can eventually turn into forest. On the seaward side, the dune keeps building as long as there is a supply of sand and the beach grass is allowed to grow. In many parks there are boardwalks over the dunes to protect them from erosion.
McCormack Beach Provincial Park.
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560.
McNabs Island Provincial Park Reserve
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560 or the Friends of McNabs Society at 902-434-2254 or visit the web site at http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Environment/FOMIS/index.html
NOTE: If you can't get onto McNabs Island , McCormack Beach near Fisherman's Cove offers a view of the island and a boardwalk tour of the salt marsh developing behind the islands from sediment eroding from the drumlins.
Caution: The island supports a variety of fragile ecosystems and bird-nesting sites. It is important that people don't create new trails or campsites. To find out the best way to respect the island, contact the Friends of McNabs Society (902-434-2254) or the Parks Division of Natural Resources (902-662-3030).
Natural Features: McNab's is a series of wooded and eroding drumlins that feed the beaches and barrier spits. Inland the forested drumlin hills retain their elliptical shape. The ocean is eating away at the exposed Thrumcaps on the southern end and Thrumcap Shoal is all that remains of another victim of the sea. This cycle of eroding drumlins and building beaches continues down the coast in the Eastern Shore Beaches. McNabs, however, is the only significant island in this landscape. Its size and configuration supports a variety of coastal and inland habitats. There is the typical forest of white spruce and balsam fir that you might expect along the coast. The hill tops in the middle and at the northern end might be in another climate zone, so different is the forest. Here you find an Acadian forest of beech, birch and sugar maple with significant stands of red spruce bordering on old growth. The island is a birder's delight with migrating song birds, a heronry and nesting osprey and eagles.
More Info: Images are courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, NS
Did You Know?: The osprey, the provincial bird of Nova Scotia, is a large, powerful raptor recognizable in flight by its white underside. Known as the fishing eagle, or fish hawk, because its main food is live fish, which it catches in a spectacular dive from up to 40 m. Each day, the osprey makes several patrols over the water in its territory. When it sees a fish, it hovers until the fish is in a suitable position. The performance that follows is worth seeing: the huge bird dives from the sky with its wings half closed and claws stretched forward, and disappears under the surface in a great spray of water, usually reappearing a few seconds later with a fish firmly clutched in its claws. Osprey most often nest in sturdy spruce or pine trees whose tops have broken off under the weight of snow or ice, providing a natural platform for the large nests of coarse sticks. In areas where large trees are lacking, the bird will sometimes nest on artificial structures such as power pylons and artificial nesting platforms (erected to keep the birds from electrocuting themselves.)
Moser River Seaside Park
About the Site: Contact the Moser River Community Association at 902-347-2602
or gail@highway7.com
Natural Features: Interpretive signage details the catchbasin area of the Moser River, which includes many stillwaters, lakes, and Wilson's Falls, about 3 km north of the village on the Moser River North Road. The major lakes in the chain are located in the Liscombe Game Sanctuary and include Boggy Lake which borders on Halifax County and Guysborough County (about 5 km. east). Others include Shoaly Lake, Bear Lake, Moose Lake, Round Lake and Kelly Lake.
More Info: Images are courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, NS
Musquodoboit Valley Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Middle Musquodoboit DNR office at 902-384-2290.
Natural Features: The park is located on the floodplain of the river and offers a good view of the surrounding valley. The Musquodoboit River carves out a broad valley from the soft Carboniferous rock between the harder ridges. The river meanders in symmetrical curves, cutting away the deeper outside curve where it flows the fastest and building deposits on the inside curve forming mud and sand banks where the current is slow. These are good places to see wood turtles sunning and bank swallows nesting in holes in the steeper banks. Look out for muskrat, mink, and beaver swimming by. The occasional silvery trunk of a dead tree testifies to the sugar maple and American elm forests that once bordered many of the large rivers in the Carboniferous Lowlands. This forest has been heavily impacted by cultivation of the fertile alluvial soils that underlie the floodplain, by grazing, and by Dutch Elm Disease.
Did You Know?: Canoe Trip
The Musqudoboit River is a favourite for canoeing. It starts in the wide floodplain of the Windsor Lowlands before turning abruptly south through the hard bedrock of the Atlantic Interior. For about 40 km the Musquodoboit flows like a mature river quietly along the floor of the valley it has excavated in the soft Carboniferous layers. Here the river meanders -look out for oxbows where the river bend cuts back on itself to create a new channel The banks are muddy due to clay soils. Look for the wild cucumber , which is a river bank species. Wood turtles enjoy the slow meandering waters, and banks for basking in the sun. This habit earns them the local name of mud turtle. Robins and pheasants feed on the agricultural land of the floodplain adjacent to the river. Just above Meagher's Grant, the river takes an abrupt turn south and enters a steep sided valley cut through the granite ridge of the Atlantic Interior. It is rejuvenated for about 25 kms, then finishes its course across resistant quartzite bands, creating several sets of rapids, to enter the Atlantic as a drowned estuary. The Musquodoboit is one of the sweetest rivers (ie lacking in the acids typical of Nova Scotia water bodies) in Nova Scotia and was, at one time, an excellent salmon river. This may be due to the fact that its headwaters lie in the more alkaline Carboniferous lowlands to the north.
For access and portage information see "Canoe Routes of Nova Scotia" published by Canoe Kayak Nova Scotia or look at the Canoe Waterways of NS web site at http://www.trails.gov.ns.ca/SharedUse/hx042.html.
Oakfield Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560.
Natural Features: The park is on a drumlin that was once farmed, and large open fields are maintained as meadows. The woods support a small pocket of climax forest. Three trails join together for a 5 km loop. An old cart road runs under a canopy of 200-year-old beech and hemlock. Young beech are plainly visible in winter because they hang onto their large buff, coloured leaves. A footpath covered with roots and pine needles lies along the shoreline. Large red oak indicates good drainage throughout the park. White spruce and pine have taken over the early successional forest of red maple and birch, which can still be seen under the conifer canopy. Walk to the iron bridge over the rail track for a good view down the length of Shubenacadie Grand Lake. Or paddle across Grand Lake to the waterfall at Sleepy Cove on the opposite side. Take care crossing the lake as winds often increase in the afternoon.
More Info: Images are courtesy of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, NS
Point Pleasant Park
Natural Features: The forest is a remnant of the spruce, pine, and hemlock forest that once covered the Halifax Peninsula. Many of the trees are large and old, but it can't be considered an old growth forest because the undergrowth and snags are regularly cleared as part of the management of the park. One of the most interesting features of the park is the folded slate bedrock visible on the coast and outcrops. At Martello Tower look for grooves or striations in the slate that were left by glaciers dragging small rocks across the bedrock. They point towards the harbour entrance and indicate the direction that the glaciers moved. Expect to see red squirrel and chickadees in the feeding boxes, scampering up trees, and landing on outstretched hands and hats.
Did You Know?: The small holes or pits in the surface of slate is from crystals that formed when the bedrock was heated by the intruding granite about 370 million years ago. As the crystals weather away, they leave the pits on the surface. The wavy lines in slate show where layers of bedrock were folded like a rug being pushed together when two ancient continents collided. At the coast, the waves polish slates and make shingles on the beaches.
Porters Lake Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Musquodoboit Habrour DNR office at 902-889-2332.
Natural Features: Porters Lake is a 24 km long lake and occupies an ancient valley that was deepened by glaciers. It exhibits the classic configuration of a fjiord with a shallow slope on one side and steeper on the other. The long, linear lake starts in the granite country to the north and extends all the way down to the ocean. Here you can take a boat through an old canal at high tide. Drumlins dot the landscape around the lake.
Powder Mill Lake Picnic Park
Queensland Beach Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560
Natural Features: The fine white sand on the narrow beach is derived from quartz and feldspar crystals in the sandy granite tills surrounding St. Margaret's Bay. The sand extends several hundred metres from the beach and the water is warmed in the shallows. In the winter Queensland is mostly cobbles as the backwash of the strong storm waves pulls the sand from the beach.
Did You Know?: Beaches are not common on granite coastlines where loose material is scarce. The sand is tumbled from the thin layer of gravel left by the glaciers. Waves wash the sand and gravel off exposed shores and deposit it in low-energy areas such at the heads of bays. The material is continuously in motion and the beach changes from season to season with the strength and direction of prevailing winds.
Second Lake "Park in the making"
About the Site: Contact the Second Lake Regional Park Association at 902-865-9947 or haled2@snc-lavalin.com or visit the web site at www.whatasite.com/secondlake/ or HRM Parks and Open Spaces at 902-490-7099.
Caution: The trails are not maintained and are rough and eroded in places. There were no signs, facilities or services at date of publication.
Natural Features: Second Lake nestles in a valley in the drumlin landscape of the Atlantic Interior. It is part of a chain of lakes that flows into the Shubenacadie system. In its status as watershed the land was protected from clearcutting and the ecosystem is relatively intact with a healthy forest and clean water. The forest includes many of the tree species native to Nova Scotia. Some conifer stands border on old growth, including hugh spruce and a grove of hemlocks over 125 years old. The ecosystem supports white-tailed deer, beaver, owls, trout, small-mouth bass, turtles, loons, and black ducks. The forest is home to migrating and breeding songbirds, owls, and pileated woodpeckers. Osprey and loon fish in the lake, possibly after the trout or the small-mouth bass that live here.
Shubie Park
Natural Features: Through the middle of the park, the Shubenacadie Canal looks like a river at the bottom of a ravine. This canal modernized a natural waterway of chain lakes and rivers that bisects the province. The biggest challenge for canal builders was the high point at the drainage divide below Lake Charles. From there, water flows north towards the Bay of Fundy and south to the Atlantic. A series of locks allowed boats to navigate this divide and follow a traditional native route between coasts. Lichens now grow on the piles of rounded boulders that were dredged from the canal in the mid- to late-1800's. These boulders were very likely tumbled into shape by water from melting glaciers that flowed through this ancient channel. Notice the difference between the forests on either side of the canal. On the west side, towards the highway, pioneer species such as birch, aspen and blueberry colonized a burnt area. On the other side, the trees are older and mostly hemlock, spruce, and fir. On the islands in the lakes at either end of the park are the best examples of the original pine forest. Someone has counted over 80 different chipmunks in the park.
Did You Know?: Squirrels are one of the animals that have adapted to the changes people create in their habitat. They are common in urban parks and play an important role in developing forests. They are natural hoarders and their caches of conifer seeds often germinate after forest fires. The boisterous red squirrel is the most common of the indigenous tree dwellers. It uses it tail for balancing as it scampers precariously among treetops. The same tail puffed up to twice its normal size, warns off intruders and is a warm wrapper on cold days. For such a small, edible rodent, it is remarkably vocal, earning the names "chatterbox", "chickaree", and "big boomer".
Sir Sandford Flemming Park
Natural Features: The park borders on the Northwest Arm, which is an old fault that was widened and deepened by glaciers and later flooded by the sea. Like Point Pleasant, there are spruce, pine, and hemlock in this forest; however, here there is less forest management and more natural growth. On the high point, look for a scattering of jack pine, one of the three native pines in Nova Scotia. The Frog Pond is actually a small lake and a good place to see a variety of ducks, frogs, and freshwater plants.
Did You Know?: Of the 2,800 species of frogs in the world only eight are native to Nova Scotia and one is a toad. The largest is the bullfrog and the smallest, the spring peeper, is about the size of a quarter. Frogs are amphibians and lay their eggs in water in spring and early summer. During the breeding season you are more likely to hear them than see them as the males call their intentions and defend their territories. Peepers have a particularly loud, piercing call and, since they all tend to call at once, their chorus can be heard far and wide on humid spring evenings.
Spry Bay Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Sheet Harbour DNR office at 902-885-2377.
Taylors Head Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Sheet Harbour DNR office at 902-885-2377.
Natural Features: Taylor Head is a long, thin peninsula fully exposed to the harsh influences of the ocean. The perimeter of quartzite changesfrom rocky shore to boulders, depending on how the waves hit the shore. A healthy fringe of seaweed testifies that the salt water is clear and free of sediment. The occasional small pocket of white sand breaks up the shoreline, although beaches are scarce where hard rock and thin glacier till provides little sediment for building. Inland, the peninsula is a mosaic of windswept forest, barrens, bogs, and freshwater marshes. Black spruce and larch border the wet places around bogs. Barrens of crowberry and other low, hardy shrubs grow on the thin soils where the bedrock is close to the surface. The bare rocks are themselves covered in several different species of lichen. On several small islands west of the park, cormorant guano has killed the trees, leaving bleached snags as nesting roosts. Arctic and common terns, gulls and eiders also breed on the islands
Did You Know?: High winds and salt spray have a strong effect on trees growing near the ocean. Of the native trees the white spruce best tolerates the harsh conditions, which stunt growth and twists trunks. This krummholz effect results in dense clumps of trees with longer branches growing out close to the ground in the lee of the wind and short twisted branches to windward. A forest will appear shortest near the coast, gradually gaining height inland. On the offshore islands, forests are so dense that only small animals can manuver through them on low paths.
West River Sheet Harbour Picnic Park
William E. Degarthe Provincial Park
About the Site: Contact the Waverley DNR office at 902-861-2560
Caution: The sloping rocks fronting the village are often wet and exposed to waves that build to tremendous heights.
Natural Features: The buildings in Peggy's Cove perch on the southern end of a huge outcrop of the granite that extends northwest to the South Mountain of the Annapolis Valley. The granite drops off sharply here, causing plunging breakers close to shore. Even on calm days, the surf builds up with tremendous force because of distant offshore storms. Notice that the bedrock further inland is smooth while at the edge it is shelved and angular in places. Freezing water widens joints in the bedrock. The waves then take over and wedge out great chunks of rock. This process of mechanical weathering created the harbour of Peggy's Cove.
Did You Know?: Rocky shores are home to plants and animals that tolerate being dried by the sun or battered by waves. The species arranges themselves in horizontal zones on the rock. The splash zone above high water is reached by storm waves and little grows there except the occasional hardy clump of grass or lichens. The upper shore is slimy with algae and lichens that tolerate seawater during the highest tides. A distinct line of white barnacles defines the top edge of the middle shore which extends down into a dense mat of brown rockweed. These seaweeds are a true intertidal species living half their time under water and half in the air. The small bladders keep the plant afloat at high tide while its foot is firmly anchored against the waves on rock or wharf. Wharf piles are an excellent place to see the distinct zones of the intertidal world. Rockweed shelters marine life, such as mussels and periwinkles. Lower still, the diversity increases. Animals such sea urchins, limpets, anemones, and starfish can only be out of water for short periods of time. Most shelter in the cool dark under rocks during low tide. At the lower shore, a conspicuous zone resembles red parsley and paint. Irish moss has the delightful scientific name of Chondrus crispus. The "paint' is actually calcareous algae that encrusts rocks, mussels, snails, and bottles if it can find them. Here the shore plunges into the depth of the subtidal ocean where fronds of kelp, like large brown lasagna, tolerate being uncovered during the lowest of tides.
