I'm in love with this rugged backwoods trail. I did this trail with a group of 12 adults last Tuesday. I was amazed that I had never made more of effort to do this trail previously. The trail is relatively short at 5.5 kms and some added flat rail trail, however it has lots of rocks and roots and many look-offs. The Musquodoboit Railway Association suggest giving yourself 4-5 hours which is pretty reasonable depending on your group.
When I got home from that hike, I ranted and raved to the kids how great the trail was, and showed them pictures of "the cave". This morning, the kids insisted that they could handle this tough hike as they really wanted to explore around the cave. Last year, we did some fantastic hikes in the Gaspe region that were up mountains and longer distances. I was excited to try the Admiral Lake Loop as a family hike, but for some reason still a little hesitant. I compensated by packing more chocolate :)
We also stopped on route for juice packs and chocolate covered PB granola bars. It's always a good idea to pack some exciting food things that the kids don't usually get at home.
Often we start our hikes in the afternoon, that way we are sure the adults have had enough caffeine and we get lunch out of the way too. Today, we managed to be on the trail by 11:15am.
We started on the Musquodoboit Trail (a flat rails to trails). We decided to get the flat section out of the way first and did the loop in a clockwise direction. (if you read the http://www.mta-ns.ca/Index.asp?inc=AdmiralLoop&s=Spring description, we did it the opposite way).
After a quick ascent, we stopped at Jessie's Diner (what a view of the lake below). The kids had a juice pack. Unfortunately, we left their water bottles in the cars. I was trying to get them to drink more water on the way to the hike so they would be hydrated! Oh well, luckily we had a water filter with us. I just needed to remind the kids to drink from my water pack more often.
The next stop was at Eunice Lake. The kids were happy to throw pebbles into the lake, attempting to get all the bugs that were resting on top of the still water. The adults found a rest stop in the shade and called the kids over for their granola bars. Al filtered some water while the kids and I started up the trail.
It didn't seem to take long to reach Admiral Lake Look-off. It is quite a sight to look out over the White Lake Wilderness Area. There were several groups here. I was surprised to see how many families were out...even though it was a spectacular spring day for a hike...it is sometimes unusual to see other kids of any age on the trails, particularly a backcountry trail. We had our lunch here. It also gave us a chance to take off our sneakers and air out our feet. That felt great! (I was wearing some new Merrill barefoot trail shoes). Hummus and pita, cheese and crackers, hard chips, and two bite brownie! yum-yum!
We stopped at a stream to get some more water shortly. Liam was not listening about staying out of the water and not throwing things in it (as Al was about to filter water from there). In hindsight, it's easy to see why he would want to play around the water on such a hot day, and how acknowledging that first would help. Unfortunately, we both got too upset that he wasn't listening to us. We need to remind ourselves at these times, that Liam has spent enough time on the trail and knows well enough by now - if your feet get wet, you just have to keep walking as there is nothing we can do about it. And if you knowlingly get your feet wet, then you are the one that is going to be uncomfortable. It certainly wasn't a bit threat as it was warm day. Again, I took the kids ahead so Al could filter without distraction.
Next stop was the much anticipated cave! The kids were not disappointed! With the adult group, I had walked through the cave (insert picture as it's not really a cave but a fallen rock but still cool). With the kids, we explored above and below the rock and up and around every crevice we could find.
Zachary had his poop of the day - we didn't have time to find the perfect spotto dig a hole and he wasn't far off the trail (luckily no one came by). Al was still able to bury it after the fact (yes, I know, details that you care about! :) We all had juice packs (hydrate! hydrate!) and we were on our way again.
Zachary lost a little steam after finally gettting to explore the cave but mostly managed to keep trucking along. He took a break on a fun little stool with backrest made out of a tree stump. We met up again with Liam and Al at the Harbour Look-off. We stood on the "peak" past the fenced area, but we made the kids hold our hands the entire time. The boys were excited to find a geo-cache. I aired out my feet again, and found the secret box of Pot of Gold chocolates. Woohoo!
Zachary and I got a chance to chat and walk along holding hands most of the way. I think he enjoyed us moving mostly at his pace and he made up 14 secret superhero names for himself. So cute.
We met numerous people with dogs on this hike. This is always more of an issue for us because of our experience of a child being bitten, but all the dog owners were more than considerate. A few of them didn't have their dogs leashed, but the dogs were more interested in continuing down the trail than meeting us.
Al and Liam made it to the junction to the Skull Trail and then backtracked to meet up with us again. We headed down the rocky boulder path and took the new barely broken in trail that leads you to the old cart trail, turned left and followed it back directly to where we had parked our car. The old cart trail gave us an opportunity to do some trail running in which we all participated. It always relieves me that they are running at the end of the trail, meaning we didn't totally wear them out.
Supper in musquodoboit harbour :)
