Summer this year has been a busy time. It isn’t even over yet and I have the feeling that Halloween is already knocking at the door. And no, I don’t spend all my time in a Dollar Store, they already have their Halloween stuff out.
It has just been a busy time, that’s all.
In fact, so busy that I thought I had posted here several times since the last time I went to The Ovens. It turns out, I didn’t. This is the biggest gap in posts since the beginning of my blog in 2010. Hmm, I think I will have to rearrange my time somewhat.
Anyway, last weekend, we decided on a whim to go back to The Ovens, a Natural Park, as they call it. It’s all private, no government help or funding of any kind. The entry fee you pay goes to the owners who use it for the maintenance of the park.
One of the caves
The “whim” came after a full day’s work in the house and for work; neither ever end, it seems. So, at 6pm we decided to get moving. Packed a few sleeping bags, some food and off we went. To make a long trip a little shorter, we managed to get the cable ferry in LaHave and shaved off 45 minutes of the trip.
Sailing into the sunset
Arrived at the park, The first thing we saw was this lovely sailboat, apparently on its last trip of the day. Setup on the camp site was easy and quick. My tent had been stolen a long time ago, when we arrived in Nova Scotia. Sunset was not long after and a nice panorama just begged to be shot.
A little anemic, but warm anyway
Then it was time to get a fire going, but that proved to be much more “involved” than I expected. The air was very humid, all wood was wet. To the point where our cooler with a few things to eat was collecting moisture like a sponge. We did get a fire going, but it was a little anemic. This is a cellphone shot, everything I had handy in the thick smoke of the wet wood.
Milky Way
Then darkness fell. After a little drink of some tomato juice, after all alcoholic beverages are prohibited in public, I headed out to get some Milky Way shots. Even without my glasses, I could see the milky band of the galactic core. I thought it would be a nice touch to have one of the cottages in the foreground, but that turned out to be a mistake.
The glow of civilization
So I went down to the beach, to see what I could shoot from there. The Ovens Natural Park is about 90km away from Halifax, at least for a crow. Yet the glow from the city was clearly visible with even the naked eye. A camera sees this even better. The orangey part is probably from nearby Lunenburg.
Colours after all?
Then it was time to go to sleep. Like I said, our tent went “missing” during the move to Nova Scotia. So we decided to sleep straight in the back of the car. A Ford Escape is definitely NOT the most comfortable to sleep in, even with double sleeping bags in guise of a mattress. I will probably not be doing that again any time soon. At 5am, I thought the torture was enough and I went outside to get some more shots. The time leading up to sunrise turned out to be “meh”, as clouds at the horizon prohibited the nice colours to show. Until I turned away, back to the camp site.
Sunrise, at last
As it turned out, the app I used for planning my sunrise was set to the wrong date and not to “now”. I had left 15 minutes before the sun was really coming up. I think I will propose that as a change to the makers of the PhotoPills app. That app is excellent for planning all kinds of weather/universe related events. So I went back to the shore and got some more shots of the sunrise.
On Cunard Beach
I was off to the trail again. As per federal “regulations”, this trail is a one-way trail, so I couldn’t decently walk it from the other end, where the car was parked for the night.
By the Thunder Cave
The trail didn’t disappoint in the vistas department. The upcoming sun was absolutely stunning. Too bad the waves were kind of small. I guess a next time to come here will be after a good storm from the east, to catch the swells from the past storm. Just without the wind and the rain…
If you are curious to what it sounds like in the Thunder Cave or Cannon Cave, head over to my audio blog here.
I guess the next time, I’ll be a little better prepared for the night, not spending it in the back of my Escape, for sure. The Ovens Park is certainly one of the places that remains on my list to visit.
Until next time…