Kejimkujik Paddle
With a name like ‘Kejimkujik’ it’s no surprise that most people call this Nova Scotia National Park - Keji. It’s not a particularly large park (less than 400 square kilometres) and its inland location means no ocean coastline, yet when discussing our travel plans with locals the question always came up; “Been to Keji yet?” Now we can answer yes.
We recruited our friends Kim and Chip to come with us. Not only were they good friends and good company - they also had a red canoe.
Their canoe came with a history. It was a strip canvas model – a work of art with its rich wood interior. Chip is its third owner.
“The first fella who had it courted his wife in this canoe,” Chip told us. “He’s in his eighties now.”
The canoe didn’t look so romantic as we prepared to set out on our trip. The poor thing was pretty well loaded – and it leaked a bit.
Our launch point was in a meandering river. We slowly paddled down its mirrored black waters until we entered Kejimkujik Lake. The sun reflected off the glassy waters. It was still and quiet as we paddled by the series of small islands that peppered the lake.
We had been warned that navigating on the lake could be confusing and it was. I was expecting something so much larger that I was screwed up with my distances. Instead of the four-hour paddle I expected, we pulled up to our campsite in less than an hour and a half.
There are 47 wilderness campsites in Keji and 44 of these sites are for two tents only. #20 would literally be “our” site for the two nights we were there. We had never experienced a luxury like that in a national park before.
By the time we had lunch and set up our tents it didn’t seem important to paddle any more. We wandered around our little cove and explored it by foot. We then settled down on our sandy beach with our comfy thermarest chairs, binoculars and a cold beverage.
We returned to the beach in the late evening. The boys practiced their loon calls as we sat in the dark and counted jets (over 50 in an hour), satellites and then shooting stars. The sky was inky black until we noticed an odd green light to the north.
“Is that the Northern Lights?” I asked.
We all watched as they began to deepen and dance along the horizon. It may not have been a spectacular display but it is a rarity to see them at all in Nova Scotia.
We had noticed a small mouse around camp – we named her ‘Minnie’. That night Minnie’s friends came to visit as we tried to sleep. The rustling around outside didn’t really bother us too much – nor did the running across our window screen (it was only one mouse but the image is imprinted on my memory). However, the mice schussing down the outside of the tent woke us up each time.
Next morning, the wind blew right into our campsite. I believed it would die down mid morning - then after lunch. By mid afternoon Jim and I decided to paddle anyway. Kim and Chip stayed in camp.
It was hard work but it was only about a kilometre before we entered a stream and were protected. Emerald green bushes cascaded down the steep riverbank and white granite boulders reflected against the black water. When we returned to the river mouth, the wind blew us right back to camp.
By sunset the wind finally stopped. We went to the end of the point and kept Jim company as he took his sunset photos.
Next morning, we had a lazy start to the day. It was after 10 before we were packed and ready to go. There was a nice tail breeze as we followed the western shore of the lake. We wove in and out of islands and boulder gardens and through fields of lily pads. Every so often one of us would paddle into, or over, a barely submerged rock – the water was so dark you could barely see three inches below its surface.
The breeze stayed at our backs. I’m sure we set some kind of record for the lowest number of strokes per distance travelled. Jim got out his GPS to track our progress.
“You’ve gotta love it when you can travel at 3 km per hour and not put a paddle in the water,” he stated after calculating our drifting speed.
We pulled into an empty campsite for a rest (from what I’m not sure), lunch and a swim in the wonderfully warm water. It only took another half hour or so before we were back at the truck.
Now we have an idea why the locals were so keen for us to experience Keji. We only saw a little of the park, but it was a real pleasure. Now we know why this park is the eastern definition of a canoeing paradise.
posted by Michelle & Jim Wiebe at 3:56 a.m.
