Hiking the Community Trail



Woody Point's Community Trail



My husband once asked me how long it took to walk the community trail.  I responded:  It depends on who you meet along the way. 

Here in Woody Point we have a community trail.  It is my favorite place to walk with my dog.  You can pick up the trail behind the school.  It goes uphill rather steeply in places to two small lookouts - one looks over the town and the other looks out over the Tablelands.  It then is a gentle downhill across a boggy area with pitcher plants down to Cemetery Road.  Down and across Bonne Bay Road, leading to a steep downhill with steps to the bay and then through town.  I love the wildflowers that line the path and the differences in surroundings.  The upper part of the trail is through a stunted forest and a boardwalk over the bog.  The lower part of the trail is through tall grasses on the uphill side while looking down at the bay.  Depending on the season there are various berries to nibble on and cherries to pick. 

Scout and I usually detour down to the beach.

She swims in the bay and I comb the beach for sea glass and other interesting what-nots.  

Trail Along the Bay

The trail can take as little as 45 - 60 minutes to walk.  Yesterday it took us over three hours.  On the upper trail,

we met Munja sneaking up on us while we looked down at our town.  After a few minutes of chit chat, we finished the upper trail and hoofed it down to the bay.  Scout swam, Mike collected mussels, and I collected sea glass.  The tide was extremely low.  We spent about an hour in our and each others various pursuits.

During the town portion of the trail, we met our mayor, Ken Thomas, who pointed out that CBC was here doing a story on fracking.  Since we have strong feelings over the prospect of fracking near the park, Mike, Scout, & I headed over to the camera man who was wearing a Siemens (my employer) tee-shirt.

Upon finding out I was from Pennsylvania, he introduced me to the reporter who thought I was an excellent interview candidate.  He asked me to share my perspective of Pennsylvanians' experiences.  Of course my first thought was that I needed a shower, had on sloppy clothes and no make-up. It amazes me how superficial things like that matter to me at the most inopportune time.  It was a comfortable interview.  I talked about how the anticipated jobs were not forthcoming and that there is flammable drinking water coming out of people's faucets. He also asked what I thought would be the impact to Woody Point.  Of course if I had to do it all over again, I would have said additional things.  I wish I had remembered to say that with the drilling company gone, the people were turning to the government for help and the government was not responsive.  Also I wish I had talked about my concern for the bay, since the drilling here will go from ground to water.  My husband said I did a good job and that he was proud of me.  I am sure most, if not all of that interview, will be on the cutting room floor. All in all it was a good experience and I feel good about speaking out so people can know what is happening here.

Lastly as we headed up the hill past the lighthouse, we noticed it was finally

 being painted.  The town had scraped it, but was prohibited from painting it since it is federally owned.  Well the painters were there working at 7:30 at night.  Scout & I headed home, but Mike stopped.  I will share his story and the pictures in another post.  For now I will just say he got to the top of the Woody Point lighthouse!

All in all, yesterday it took us three hours to walk the community trail.

So how long does it take to walk our community trail?  It depends on who you meet along the way.

My Dream

Falling in love is never forgettable whether it be with a person, a pet, a flower, a book, a food, or a place.  I fell in love in June of 2002.  I fell in love with a place.  I fell in love with Newfoundland, Canada within 24 hours of arrival!  I had traveled to many fabulous locations across the world.  Many I wanted to return to "one day".  But I had a self-imposed rule that I never return to a "place" I had been until I had visited all the "places" I wanted to see.

As what usually happens when one falls in love, many of our self-imposed rules fall by the wayside.  After traveling through the west coast of Newfoundland and Labrador Straits in 2002, I toured the east coast in 2003.  In 2004, I drove across the Island, visiting many nooks and crannies. By this time my dream started developing.  I loved the small outports and the older homes in them.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to one day own one and somehow spend my summers on the Island.  A more practical version of my dream was to live within an hour of one of the cities and rent out the house to tourists and visit for a week or two in the summer. 

I returned to Newfoundland in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and in 2010 my dream came true when we purchased a small 85 year old house in Woody Point.

In this blog, I will share what I love about Newfoundland, what it is like for an American to buy an old house in a small village in Canada, what it is like to live in a small village, and how we are making our cottage our home. I may even throw in another love story as  I met the love of my life here in Newfoundland.  We are building our life together both in Newfoundland and in the States.