Heavenly Paradise@AdelineAng.com

More pictures…. Can you tell what they are?

These sand sculptures were amazing! They looked so real… Imagine the time and effort that the sculptors have put into their masterpieces. The creativity went wild! Some of the artwork was beyond imagination. Simply stunning!

More pictures from previous years can be found here.

The annual sand sculptures competition at New River Beach was held on August 15th this year. The registration started at 9 a.m. and judging begun at 3 p.m. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon. The busy crowd was unbelievable! Cars were parked by the highway, due to the congested route to the provincial park.

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Musquash and Lepreau, west of Saint John.

Nestled about 30 km west of Saint John, the 5-megawatt Musquash Hydro Generating Station was built in 1922. It’s known to be the first hydro facility constructed by the New Brunswick Electric Power Commission.

The Musquash Estuary is situation on the Bay of Fundy. It boasts to be ”one of the last ecologically intact estuaries in the Bay of Fundy.”

The Musquash Hydro Generating Station.

The wooden penstock pipe has a diameter of 2.75 m.

A tiny crack on the pipe creates a neat “water fountain.”

The penstock pipe is made of wood.

Lepreau is located approximately 15 km west of Musquash. A covered bridge can be found beside the Little Lepreau Road.

With a total length of 105 ft., the Little Lepreau Covered Bridge stretches across the Lepreau River. It’s about 7 ft. above the water level. Built in 1910, this covered bridge was used to facilitate the automobile traffic. It is no longer in use.

The Little Lepreau Covered Bridge with its solid wooden structure.

Another famous tourist site in this region is the Lepreau Falls, situated in Point Lepreau. This place is ideal for afternoon picnics. Besides, the observation decks in the park allow visitors to capture images of the falls from different angles. 

A steady water flow of the falls.

The unique shapes of rocks are formed over the years.

The blueberry season is here! Brand new blueberry treats on Tim Hortons‘ menu, namely Whole Grain Blueberry Muffin, Blueberry Bloom Donut, and Blueberry Glazed Donut.

Fresh blueberries taste good, and blueberries in baked goods give a unique flavour to them. They are yummy! I was excited to try out the new blueberry treats at the Tim Hortons. They are offered for limited time only.

These blueberry treats tasted great! Looking forward to trying them again, for a treat someday…

Blueberry treats with Iced Coffee on a hot summer day.

The Blueberry Bloom Donut, with blueberry jam at the centre and candy sprinkles around it.

The Blueberry Bloom Donut is made of Timbits (bite-size donut). What a neat idea!

The Blueberry Glazed Donut, with lots of berries in it.

The Whole Grain Blueberry Muffin filled with blueberry goodness.

It has been a memorable and rewarding experience. The hiking trip was absolutely beyond my imagination. It didn’t turn out as expected, nor as planned. The trip wasn’t only a physical challenge, but also a practice of hope, faith, and trust.

I was glad to be able to remain calm when challenges arose, knowing that frustration and disappointment wouldn’t get me anywhere. I was delighted when the trials over the weekend had finally come to an end.

Every move I made was a step of faith, and every heart beat was a sign of hope. I was happy to be home just before 3 a.m. on Monday. My body was sore and aching. Emotionally, I was on cloud nine. I thought “this was too good to be true.”

Just as we thought we were out of troubles…

I was backing up the car in a pitch black environment. Nothing came into sight from the rear and side mirrors. I had to make my judgement based on the white sign that read “Dobson Trail 58 km” at the corner of the dirt road. Just as I thought I had the car backup far enough and turned the wheels, all of a sudden, “BAM!!”

The car was sitting at a 45-degree angle, with both rear wheels in the ditch. With my trembling hand, I pulled the hand break instantaneously. I was terrified. Trying my very best to stay calm, I approached Garth who just got out of his brother’s car. He was in shock.

No blame. No question asked. The guilt in me was kicking hard. I was afraid that Garth was going to blow up at me, since his car could have been wrecked from the accident. Instead, Garth tried to find a solution…

It was 9:30 p.m. on a Sunday night. The next day was a public holiday. We were on a dirt road with no reception on cellphones. It was dark. We were exhausted and helpless. What were the chances of us finding some help? A tow truck might take a while to come to our rescue,  if we ever managed to get hold of one. Hence, we decided to work things out without ruining the group’s initial plan (making it home for Monday morning).

I hopped into the car and started the engine. It was working fine. While Garth was pushing the car by the driver’s door, I slammed on the accelerator in first gear and hoped to get the car out of the ditch. We didn’t succeed… The car moved forward a little, but the force wasn’t strong enough. Worse still, the driver’s door was jammed on the gravel. With his sharp-wittedness, Garth jacked up the front wheel and managed to keep the door closed with enormous effort (kicking, pushing etc.). One problem solved…

Next, we filled up the gap between the bottom of ditch and the rear left wheel that was hanging in the mid-air, with rocks that we found along the dirt road. One good thing was that the rear right wheel landed on the gravel in the ditch. Here was the challenge…. With the front wheels on road and rear wheels in the ditch, Garth did an amazing “stunt” by backing up the car onto the road. He made it!!

I was keeping my fingers crossed the whole way when he did it. I was actually afraid that the situation might be worse… Sure enough, he proved me wrong. I was glad that he did.

The exterior of the car looked fine, as far as we could tell. Off we went; we drove along the dirt road for about 30 minutes. We asked for direction to get to Prosser Brook Rd. A young couple was kind enough to guide us all the way there.

To our surprise… Our friends weren’t there! After thanking the young couple, we drove to the top of the hill, hoping to get cellphone reception. It was about 11 p.m. They left us a voice message. Apparently, they were invited to wait for us in an older couple’s home, instead of idling along the dark road.

We met up with the rest of our group 10 minutes later… It had been a long day for everyone… I was grateful that they waited patiently for close to six hours, and never gave up their hope on Garth and I….

* Adapted from Google Map

The route travelled during hitchhiking, from Prosser Brook Rd. to Fundy National Park.

* Adapted from Parks Canada

The driving route (in pink) from Chignecto campground to Laverty Falls trail; and hiking route (in black) of Laverty Falls and Dobson Link.

Comfortably slipping my feet into clean sandals, I put aside my hiking shoes that were still soaking wet. Carrying my IDs, a bottle of water, a few granola bars, some cash, a cellphone, as well as a camera; I went on a journey of hitchhiking. It was totally random. There wasn’t much time for second thought. If I could help to get the rest of the group out of our dilemma, why not?

It’s still hard to believe that I actually hitchhiked. At that moment, we had no choice…

The journey began around 1:30 p.m…. Garth and I were walking along this one-lane highway under the scorching hot sun, with some occasional warm breeze. We didn’t have much luck finding a ride for the first hour.

A quiet highway with barely any cars on a Sunday afternoon.

Prosser Brook Rd. We agreed to meet up with the rest of the group here with the cars, sometime….someday….hopefully on the same day….

We didn’t give up asking for a drive. Finally, an older couple stopped for us, after they made a turn onto the highway from the housing area. It turned out that they were trying to find their way to the Moncton exit, which coincidentally, heading towards the same direction as we wanted for at least a good 30-minute drive.

At 3 p.m., we were dropped off at Hillsborough. Comparatively, this highway was a lot busier. We started walking along the busy highway.

Overlooking the Chignecto Bay.

We stopped at an ice-cream shack for a cold treat. Enjoy while we could…

After 40 minutes of wandering along the highway, we decided to seek help at the gas station.

Bingo! A middle-age couple who were on their way to the Hopewell Rocks to pick up their daughter from work, offered a drive. Hopewell Rocks, off we went!

From 4:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., we were busy approaching visitors who were leaving, at the parking lot. I was hoping that someone would visit the Fundy National Park after Hopewell Rocks on the same day; meanwhile, Garth was trying to find someone who was heading towards the park for camping.

Cars either had full wheels, headed towards the opposite direction (Moncton), or traveled a short distance. The construction on the way to the park didn’t either much either. People were avoiding that route due to potential slow traffic.

Finally, we decided to seek help from the help line. We might be able to get some assistance from the volunteers of the Dobson trail. Unfortunately, they could only offer some advice. “Try to approach homeowners along the highway. Chip in some money for gas, and they might offer you a drive there.” Hmm…that wasn’t much of a help.

At the same time, I contacted Miles who was spending his weekend in Grand Bay. He was worried and offered help by driving up to get us. Realizing that it was going to be a 3-hour drive for him, I kindly turned down the offer, hoping that we could work our way around it.

At the entrance of Hopewell Rocks.

The exit to Hopewell Rocks from the highway.

Eventually, we were given a ride back to the highway by a young couple from Ontario. We walked aimlessly along the highway and something caught our eyes. There was a sign that said “painter” at the lawn of a house. There was a van parked on a driveway. Just as we walked by, the homeowner stepped out of his house. I looked at Garth and asked:”Do we want to ask for help?” Since there wasn’t any harm asking, we approached the homeowner. Coincidentally, he was going to pick up his wife and was willing to offer us a drive.

“Great!” I thought. It must have been about a 35-minute drive. Instead of Riverside-Albert, he drove us all the way past Alma, to the Fundy National Park lookout area. As a token of appreciation, we chipped in $30 for gas. It was very kind of him to extend help.

At the lookout area.

We walked uphill along the road, and felt so lost.

We couldn’t get any car that went towards our way, to stop for us. It was rather disappointing. At last, we arrived at the Chignecto campground around 7 p.m. and sought for assistance. At 7:20 p.m., we were given a ride to the starting point of Laverty Falls hiking trail. We were there 30 minutes later.

Hmm…here came the big challenge. Could we make it through the woods and get to the cars before the night kicked in? We started our hike at 8 p.m. With our sandals, we literally jogged and ran along the trail. It was a 2.5 km trail to the falls. There were some wet and muddy patches along the trail, but nothing compared to what we’ve gone through on Dobson Trail.

The beginning of the Laverty Falls trail.

A steep, rocky, and rooty part of the trail. We wanted to be quick, and tried not to hurt ourselves at the same time.

We got to the falls about 8:40 p.m…

The Laverty Falls.

What was next? We waded through the falls to get to the Dobson Link trail. It was another 2.6 km of hiking. As the warm sunshine replaced by the cool evening breeze, we were afraid that we won’t be able to make it to our destination before it was dark. I was panting heavily and gasping for breath. My legs were getting tired and sore. Nonetheless, I refused to take breaks as I didn’t want us to end up stranded in the woods, and had to spend a night here.

The Dobson Link trail.

Finally…. We completed the hike just before it was completely dark, at 9:15 p.m. Just as we thought everything was about to come to an end, problems arose…

It was a hot, sunny Sunday. I had to wear a pair of sunglasses of protect my eyes from the glaring sun. There was a long stretch of dirt road that we had to hike through. It turned out to be a nice change, since we got to stay away from the muddy trail for a bit. In other words, we managed to keep the mosquitoes away from us for a while ^v^

At the time, I didn’t mind the sunshine at all, even though I felt rather warm walking under the sun for long hours. I was happy as long as the bugs stay away from me.

A big puddle in the middle of the road. Wading through it?

No. At least I hope not. There was a dry spot that we could walk along, beside the trees.

Our destination was no where to be seen. Every stride we made, was a step of faith.

23 km….

2 km more!

We came to a junction that has a “Dobson Trail” marker pointing where we came from.

We had our lunch around 12:30 p.m., when we were about half way through the entire trail. Considering the slow hiking progress we’ve been making and that some of us from the group had to be back to Fredericton by Monday due to personal commitments, we decided to abort the hike; knowing that we won’t be able to complete the hike by the end of the day.

Here came the problem… How are we supposed to leave here with our cars miles away from us? It’d be another good 30 km hike through the trail, or about 100 km hike on the road…..

Upon mutual agreement, six of us would hike for another 8 km, while Garth and I would go on a hitchhiking (known to be illegal in the province) adventure; and hopefully, we would drive the cars and pick up the rest of the group from Prosser Brook Rd. We had no clue what has laid in front of us.

In order to fulfil this great mission, we had to abandon our backpacks and hid them in the woods. We’d come back for them when we managed to drive back here with the cars. After biding goodbye to the rest of our buddies, we started our journey–a journey that knows no future. Nonetheless, I knew deep down in my heart that we’d be able to make it through…

Ben (left) and Arturo continued their hike with the rest of the group.

Water in the river was flowing steadily, sun was shining brightly. Life has to continue…

Some wild raspberries in the bushes. They were tasty and juicy. A nice treat!

My sore muscles were protesting after the long hike; 3 km on Friday night and another 15 km on Saturday. I tried to lay still while sleeping. It turned out that I had sore shoulders and arms for sleeping sideways. I didn’t get up till around 8:30 a.m. It was a good 11-hour sleep! I couldn’t believe that I slept in that late…

My hands, arms, legs… literally my entire body felt so itchy. Guess what?? The worst, and I mean the very worst mosquito bites I’ve ever gotten in my life!

There must have been at least 20 mosquito bites on the back on my hand! ITCHY!!!

I applied some “After Bite” (essentially liquid ammonia) to soothe the swelling. Thanks to Justin.

After we had everything packed up and a quick breakfast, we started our hike around 10 a.m.

19 km… Yeah!

Trees that collapsed and lied across the trail.

A unique “wooden” bridge with a tree trunk connecting one end to the other. It was quite a challenge walking on it!

More fallen tree trunks blocking the path, in a swampy area.

These brittle trunks had the tendency to break easily. Cross the swamp at your own risk!

The treacherous trail has slowed us down a lot. It was a slow progress treading along the trail; with mud, slush, puddles, and swamps. It was my wettest and muddiest outdoor adventure, as far as I can recall.

Regardless, we had a great time throughout the hike; wading through the woods, dodging tree trunks, hurdling tree roots, working through weeds and broken branches. Having said that, we didn’t feel very comfy hiking with our muddy and soaking wet hiking shoes. Oh well, we had to bear with them for the time being. Changing into a pair of clean, dry socks wouldn’t help much, as our shoes are too wet to begin with, and the same thing would happen–wet socks again.

It was a cool morning, after a rainy day on Friday. This was the perfect weather for mosquitoes and flies to go “hunting” around. Apparently, I’ve such tender skin and juicy blood that the mosquitoes couldn’t let go for me, not even a split second! Even the insect repellent that I’ve sprayed all over my body didn’t help much. As a matter of fact, mosquitoes love me too much! Unfortunately, I hated them!!

I had no choice but to put on my rain jacket and splash pants to minimize my exposure of skin areas for mosquitoes. Just as I thought I already had myself well-bundled up, they started attacking  my face! Oh no… leave me alone, you evil bugs!

Mosquitoes find their victims by tracing exhaled carbon dioxide. Hiking along the trail with my backpack that weighed at least 15 lbs, huffing and puffing was necessary during the cardiovascular activity; replacing exhaled air with fresh air.

She was penetrating my skin. Ouch!!

A slug was hanging in the mid-air from a tree branch with its slime.

…And trying to attack my backpack!!

At a crossroad, trying to find our way back to the trail.

The 17 km marker. We were getting close to the campsite.

Garth, Justin, and Ben didn’t have a good night sleep last night. The rain seeped through the top of their tent and caused a flood. They had barely any sleep, perhaps 3 hours of nap during the night. We decided to call it a day as we got closer to the potential campsite, around 5:30 p.m.

Just before that, there was a “big mess” that we first had to get over with…

A muddy stream!

We found this decent site for…

A campfire!

Robbie fixed his torn shirt with duct tape and ropes (by the sides). It was quite impressive! 

My wet, muddy, stinky pair of socks and hiking shoes by the end of the day :( 

“Watch out, water is entering your tent!” I heard the voice of Robbie as the clock struck 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. Guess what? The water from the brook overflew and flooded the surrounding areas. My tent was set right beside it!

As soon as I have all my gears packed up, I literally fled from the tent to keep my backpack and myself dry. It won’t be pleasant to get everything wet at the beginning of a hike. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much water in the tent. We managed to save it from drifting away. Pheww….

After our breakfast, we started hiking around 8:30 a.m.

Following the blue markers along the trail.

There were puddles everywhere. Wet!

Arturo is trying to keep himself balance on the log, while crossing the swamp. Justin was ahead of him.

I was behind Ben, hiking through the muddy patch.

Muddy and yucky!

Robbie and Susan were fetching us some drinking water by a running stream, with filter pumps.

There was water everywhere, owe to the large amount of rain we’ve received since the beginning of spring.

My backpack for the hiking trip.

Green ice tea? Nope. It was drinking water that filtered from the stream. It did look like ice tea though :)

Sun was shining, birds were chirping, and bugs were bugging… :(

One of the better-looking bridges.

Taking a break under the tree.

My hiking experience has been fun and rewarding thus far. My passion for outdoor activities was developed since my first mountain climbing adventure at the Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak in Southeast Asia. It was challenging, exciting, and nerve-wrecking at times.

There are numerous spectacular sites and trails across the Maritimes. I enjoy exploring the trails on hiking/camping trips. For the past few summers, I’ve been on hiking trips to Cape Chignecto and Fundy Footpath. My attempt to climb Mt. Katahdin in Maine, U.S. was tempered by the inclement weather (hailing in August) two summers ago.

Last weekend was the New Brunswick Day long weekend. I was eager to go on a little expedition with seven other friends, on a 3-day hiking trip at Dobson Trail. It’s a trail that stretches 58 km in length, and runs from Riverview to Fundy National Park, in southeast New Brunswick.

We arrived there around 8:30 p.m. on Friday. Six of us from the group hiked in about 3 km to the campsite. Garth and I drove the cars and parked them at the end of the trail. David, who wasn’t on the hiking trip gave us a drive back to the starting point.

It wasn’t until 11 p.m. that we started our hike. It was pitch black and rain was pouring down heavily. After 45 minutes of adventure in the dark with a compact size LED flashlight, we managed to find our group at the camp site.

As soon as I changed into dry clothing, I was ready to hit the sack. I heard the steady stream flowing beside the tent and rain drops beating furiously on the tent. I couldn’t care less. I was sleep deprived. I finally dozed off around 12:15 a.m…..