Peace

We are now at Kouchibouguac National Park in New Brunswick. The young woman at the gate wrote it out phonetically for me; Coo she boo guac (the guac as in guacamole). That’s my chair set up on my patio for today where I’m writing this.

The park is along the coast of New Brunswick across from Prince Edward Island where the Kouchibouguac River runs into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The name means river of the long tides. You can see the mouth of the river from the path that runs along the campground.

This morning Bud, Matey and I went for a couple of short walks. First we walked out on a bog. The trail started through a very damp forest.

Then it opened out to the bog where they had this viewing tower. This is a dome bog. It started some 4500 years ago in a depression. But now the sphagnum moss is about 20 feet deep in the center, where it is oldest, and that center is raised higher than the surrounding area. The water and moss are gradually moving outward, slowly increasing the size of the bog.

Next we took a stroll along a path by the river. This part was through a stand of tall pines.

At one point a pine, a larch and a spruce were over the trail, so I had to get their picture. I like the greater variety of trees we’re seeing now.

There were even a number of apple trees, probably there was once an orchard here.

We walked down to where there were a couple of viewing platforms with picnic tables.

A nice place to sit…

with a good view of the river.

With its level terrain, grass and trees, this park does not offer a lot of excitement, but it does offer a great feeling of peace.