My day started at 5 AM last Saturday. I quietly left the bed and breakfast and drove from Port Elgin to Cape Jourimain in the dark. I parked in front of the visitor center and quickly went around back to the boardwalk, then around the tourism center to get to the Lighthouse Trail. The sky provided enough light so I didn’t need my flashlight. I had to hurry so I could get to the lighthouse before the sun breached the horizon.

There is something I love about being in a beautiful place before sunrise, before the rest of the world is awake. I could still hear the faint woop-woop-woop sound of the windmill at the visitor center. I could also faintly hear what little traffic there was on the Confederation Bridge. Otherwise it was silent. Nobody else would be hiking to the Lighthouse this early in the day, this early in the year. I had the place to myself. This is how I started our third, and last day of our Southeastern NB Coastal hiking adventure.

Vicki was back at the Victorian Veranda Bed and Breakfast in Port Elgin enjoying her own quiet. I setup the camera on the tripod and framed the bridge, the lighthouse and the sunset. I then started the time-lapse sequence to take a picture every two seconds. As the camera clicked away I explored the area around the lighthouse and down to the beach. I watched a group of Mergansers diving near the shore and wished that I had another camera to take their pictures.

The sunrise started to turn the underside of the clouds a bright pink color. The clouds that were being lit on the underside by the sun were moving in the direction of the sun and eventually covered it. The sunrise didn’t remain as spectacular as it started, but it was a beautiful sunrise just the same. I got several time-lapse sequences that I should be able to use in my hiking time-lapse video. I plan on publishing the video later in the summer.

The golden hour ended at 7AM like someone flipped a switch. I took a few photos of the lighthouse and the beach before setting off on the trail. I had to hurry if I was going to hike the Trenholm Trail and make it back before breakfast. I walked on a new road that led back to the visitor center. I am assuming the road was built to access the lighthouse by truck. There were upturned pieces of boardwalk along the side of the road from the trail it replaced. Once back to the visitor center I continued on the Trenholm Trail.

The trail meandered through some scrubby bushes along the edge of a field. A lookout platform provided views across the field to the lagoon below. An osprey was nested on a pole at the far end of the field. After taking a few photos of the osprey I continued on. The trail eventually climbed to the old rail bed along the highway. This straight section of trail provided great views of the lagoon below. Soon after passing the lagoon the trail turned into the woods on the left where there was a sign showing the entrance to the trail.

The trail went through a mainly softwood forest with small sections traveling through poplar, pin cherry or fields. The trail looped around the edges of the island never going far from shore. There were several lookouts where I consistently scared away any ducks that were close enough to photograph. There was also an old plow for a tractor and an old well along the trail.

On the way back across the causeway towards the visitor center I noticed the sun shining across some dead stumps near the edge of the salt-marsh and decided to take a closer look. I tread lightly on the surrounding grasses that were shaped by the tides. The stumps looked like dead soldiers in a sea of grass. The sun provided long shadows. After taking several photos the sun went under the clouds and the rich color that had attracted me was gone.

When I reached near the other side of the causeway a couple of Osprey were floating on the wind. One was the bird that I saw on the nest earlier. I watched as they seems to float in one spot, supported by the strong wind. As they flew off into the distance I made my way back to the car and eventually back just in time for breakfast.

For more information on Cape Jourimain go to Hiking NB – Cape Jourimain.

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