The Salmon River flows into the Pacific just out of sight between the headland and the beach above. The trail up here to the lower viewpoint starts at the boat launch, climbs through a lovely mossy old growth grove and crosses a few small bridges—the cascades were hidden in the brush—before reaching the meadow where a rare flower and butterfly live. There’s an upper viewpoint some 700 feet further up the hill, but I figured the closer view was better.
This UNESCO Biosphere is mostly on Nature Conservancy land, thanks to concerned citizens who rallied to protect it. Definitely needed the birdsong app: white-crowned sparrow, golden-crowned kinglet, chestnut-backed chickadee, pacific wren and a brown creeper, not to mention the usual coastal waterfowl and some raptor I couldn’t identify. Lovely spot on the Oregon coast with about a dozen other hikers on the trail on a beautiful day last fall.
Most of our border with Canada is a straight line from Minnesota to the Pacific, except for Canada’s Vancouver Island, which dips below the line. When the border was negotiated, the treaty put the border through the “middle of the channel”, i.e. the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca. Except where the San Juan Islands are in the middle, and then which is the main channel becomes a matter of interpretation. San Juan Island is much closer to Victoria Canada than to the mainland, so the British claimed it. But the Haro Strait is larger than the rest of the channel, so the Americans claimed San Juan Island too. Nobody really cared much about the sparsely populated islands, until an American squatter killed a British pig for rooting in his garden. Then, both sides prepared for war.
English Camp in the northwest is lovely, set on a well protected bay amidst large oaks, hemlock, and madrona trees. Well supplied from Victoria, the British created a formal garden above, kept calm and carried on. The Americans—actually the Robert’s Rules of Order writer—built a fort on the exposed southeastern point, conducted rigorous drills and maintained strict discipline. Large flag poles were erected at both camps. At the time, the US was entering the Civil War, so the government sent General Scott to negotiate peace. Fortunately, the border dispute was settled diplomatically.
There is an interpretive center at the American camp, while the English camp visitor center was closed when I visited late last September. Regular car ferries run to San Juan Island, with pleasant views along the way. Friday Harbor is between the English and American camps, 9 and 6 miles respectively, and has nice restaurants and more.
I also stopped at Cattle Point below on the southern tip which is part of a BLM National Monument protecting points, small islands and rocks in the San Juan Islands.
The view above of Clear Lake from the wishing well is beautiful. The Canadian biosphere includes Riding Mountain National Park and environs, including many ranches, homes and towns that proudly support the local species and clean environment around them.
I enjoyed a few hikes in the park, including a lovely marsh with floating boardwalks and over a dozen bird species, like swamp sparrow, black billed magpie and yellow-rumped warbler. (Love that birdsong app!)
Another hike took me to a lake near Grey Owl’s cabin, before he moved to Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan. He was an Englishman who reimagined himself as part Native American and who spent his life advocating for wilderness conservation, especially the beaver. Interesting stories about him. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any beaver, but I did see the moose below.
I recently completed visits to all national park units in New York and New England. Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont each count only 1 unique park. Maine has 4, including the only National Park in the region. Massachusetts has 14, and New York has 21 unique park units, plus 2 shared with the Mid Atlantic region and 2 world heritage sites. The multi-region Appalachian and North Country scenic trails start/end in the region, and the New England scenic trail crosses Connecticut and Massachusetts. Follow the links for more, including affiliates, heritage areas and the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route.
Maine has Acadia National Park, France Perkins, Katahdin Woods & Waters, and Saint Croix Island. All four parks showcase the state’s pine woods, clear waters and scenic views, while Perkins celebrates the woman in charge of the New Deal and Saint Croix tells the story of the first French settlers. If you want to hear French spoken, you can visit the Acadian Culture partner village area in the far north, where I hiked as a boy. Mt Katahdin is also the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. The coastal area from Acadia to Saint Croix Island is part of the Downeast Maine heritage area, including the bridge to Campobello in New Brunswick Canada.
New Hampshire is home to the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ studio and marvelous sculpture garden. Freedoms Way heritage area is shared with Massachusetts, and the Appalachian Trail crosses the state.
Rhode Island protects our religious liberty at Roger Williams and affiliated Touro Synagogue, and the state preserves our mill town history at Blackstone, which extends into Massachusetts within a broader eponymous heritage area. The Rochambeau Route begins here.
Gateway is multifaceted, but for me the most important part is the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge above. Here there are migratory and year round birds, butterflies, trails, groves of trees and pleasant views. The contrast between the busy planes of JFK and the mute swans could not be more striking. Although the road noise limited my birdsong app, I still lost count at a dozen species. With more time, I would have kayaked around to see more birds.
But for folks interested in other things, the park includes Forts Hancock, Tilden & Wadsworth, beaches, parks and more, spread out over western Long Island, Staten Island and Sandy Hook peninsula in New Jersey. The Sandy Hook unit has miles of beautiful beaches (below with NYC skyline view) and paved bike trails to enjoy.
The park extends from the fist to the elbow, from around proud Provincetown to historic Chatham Harbor, and there’s much to see and do. For me, the quintessential experience is to find an isolated stretch of beach and walk until the birds far outnumber the people. I saw dozens of grey seals swimming right near the shore or lying on the rocks just off the beach. It’s difficult to get to any beach without passing a lighthouse, but if you want to climb one, your best shot is Highland Light (above), the first one commissioned on the Cape by one George Washington.
There are about a dozen named trails too, and I’d recommend hiking near Fort Hill, where you can see the Penniman House, get a great view of the marsh, and spot many different birds. With the aid of a birdsong identifier, I counted 18 different species in one day, including the rare Indigo Bunting and an uncommon Willow Flycatcher.
If you have a bike, consider taking the Cape Cod Rail Trail, which is a high-quality dedicated bike trail through about 1/3 of the cape, and there are also other decent bike lanes and bike trails. My first bike trip here a few decades ago, extended the length of Cape Cod, plus the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, returning by ferry from Provincetown to Boston. When I last visited the lighthouse above, it stood where I stood to take the photo above, because the highland cliffs are eroding at several feet per year, forcing them to move the lighthouse in the intervening decades.
Visiting in shoulder season, rather than July-August, helps avoid miserable traffic and exorbitant hotel rates. There are also lots of good seafood shacks, still one or two cheaper motels, some campgrounds, and lots of nature. Wellfleet is well known for oysters, and the fried clams here are the best I’ve had. I’m still on a quest to find the best lobster roll, and I suspect it will be lifelong. Though speaking of seafood, I would be careful swimming around here, as great white sharks prowl along the shores.
The 32 mile narrow island park is interspersed with small communities of folks who have taken responsibility for protecting their long and fragile wilderness. Around Watch Hill there’s a salt marsh, home to many birds. Near Sailors Haven, there’s a Sunken Forest of centuries old Holly trees below protected by a double row of dunes. There are beaches, boardwalks, small boat harbors and historic homes within the park too. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy temporarily breached the Fire Island Wilderness, cutting a path from the Atlantic above through the dunes to Long Island Sound. You can cross the Smith Point bridge—while its replacement is being built—at the eastern end of the park and hike in from the Wilderness Visitor Center.
If you’re driving in from NYC, navigation software might direct you across the Robert Moses Causeway to the west end where you can hike to the lighthouse. But be aware that park ‘roads’ are limited to authorized vehicles, and visitors typically arrive via passenger ferry from places like Sayville. After just such a detour, I barely caught the Sunday ferry to Sailors Haven, my last chance to see the Sunken Forest below for a week during the limited fall schedule. Besides a stand in Gateway NRA in Sandy Hook NJ, this is the only grove of its kind in the world, and there’s a lovely boardwalk nature trail to enjoy the trees, birds and scenery.
Mt Tom in Holyoke Massachusetts is a high point of the trail along the Connecticut River (although there are mountains over ten times higher in Colorado). The trail runs along a high ridge with several lookout towers to watch hawks or catch a glimpse of the river over the trees. The Eyrie House Ruins above are of a view hotel that burned down 123 years ago. As usual, I had forgotten about my childhood visit here, until I reached the ruins and climbed a rusty old tower to see the view below.
The trail is 235 miles from Long Island Sound to the New Hampshire border, through native lands, over rugged mountains, through annually brilliant foliage, past reservoirs, waterfalls and quaint New England villages. Last year, President Biden elevated the trail to a full national park unit, along with North Country and Ice Age National Scenic Trails. Hopefully, this step will encourage more people to hike and explore this lovely area of our country.
The trail is not straight. It meanders through Wisconsin’s wooded hills, green valleys and along its rivers and lakes. The trail begins along the Niagara Escarpment that separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan, then south below Madison, before crossing the Wisconsin River at Lake Wisconsin. Then it passes up across the bluff on the right with its characteristic rough rock glacial remnants on the steep slope to the north beach of Devil’s Lake above before continuing north to the Wisconsin Dells with iconic eroded rocks. Eventually it crosses the state to end at the St Croix River.
President Biden elevated the trail to a full national park unit, but many of the most scenic sections are in state parks or affiliated scientific reserves. Wisconsin Dells itself is quite commercialized, with water parks and pricey tours, even though the layered rock can be seen in several different places along the Wisconsin River. State parks like above or Mirror Lake have fine scenery, camping and miles of maintained trails. I tend to rush around and then spend too much time at supper clubs, but it’s worth slowing down a bit here to enjoy the natural beauty. For more, read my earlier post about the Ice Age Trails.
Ignore the famed waterfalls and focus on Goat Island cliff in the middle. That wall is the Niagara Escarpment, caused by relatively hard rocks at the top holding the land underneath together, until it erodes away from the side. This two level land break—all erosion and not earthquake fault—is the key geologic feature to understanding the Great Lakes.
Much of the escarpment is in Canada, and even where it crosses the border to form Niagara Falls, it’s easier to see from the Canadian side as above. It runs along the south shore of Lake Ontario, across Niagara Falls (above) where it sets the level of Lake Erie, northwest through Ontario where it guides the Bruce Trail, up along the north shore of Lake Huron where it splits off Georgian Bay and shapes Lakes Huron and Michigan, along Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where it separates Lake Superior, and down the Door Peninsula past Green Bay in Wisconsin. After driving around the Great Lakes, it’s apparent how the water levels depend on the escarpment: Superior is the highest above both ends, Michigan and Huron are the same level in the middle, and shallow Erie is a little lower, held back at Niagara Falls, before that river drains into the lowest lake, Ontario.
UNESCO defines the Biosphere as the mostly forested area of Ontario between Niagara Falls and Tobermory on the tip of the Bruce Peninsula next to Georgian Bay, roughly 500 miles along the escarpment. The geologically interesting landscape holds great biodiversity in wetlands, coastline, deciduous & conifer forests, and rocky bluffs, perhaps the most in Canada. And there are many opportunities to explore, photograph wildlife, hike, drive or boat nearby. I hiked on the Cup & Saucer Trail on Manitoulin Island, the world’s largest freshwater island, when traveling around the Great Lakes. There, the escarpment is eroded on both sides, providing many views along its edge, including Lake Manitou below.
