Helenbar Lookout Trail, Mississagi Provincial Park, Ontario We made several surprising discoveries on the Helenbar Lookout Trail, 15 minutes north of Elliot Lake. The first was a glacial erratic − a huge boulder dropped by the kilometre-thick melting ice sheet that covered this region 10,000 years ago. A short walk through a forest of sugar maples, white and yellow birch, trembling aspen, white spruce, hemlock and balsam fir trees led us to a second surprise − ripple rock. After ancient waves rippled lake-bed sand two billion years ago, water pressure cemented the formations and fossils into sandstone rock. Pudding stone, another unusual rock, later grabbed our attention. The conglomerate was comprised of white pebbles, embedded in a dark-coloured, fine-grained matrix. The final highlight of the trail was a lookout, 130 metres above Helenbar Lake. It rewarded us for the climb to the summit with a panoramic view of the lake, forest and mountainous landscape. Tablelands & Lookout Trails, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland Walking on yellow oxidizing earth mantle rocks from deep inside the earth − 10 kilometres below the ocean floor − was the highlight of Gros Morne’s Tablelands Trail. Glaciers exposed this 500-million-yearold rock when they carved out the Bonne Bay fjord. We enjoyed bird’s-eye views of this Gulf of St. Lawrence inlet from the peak of the nearby Lookout Trail. Instead of rocks, pretty purple rhodora blossoms and pink-and-maroon lady’s slipper orchids lined our path to the boardwalk at the top. A mind-boggling 56 species of orchids grow in the park. Brackley Beach & Greenwich Dunes Trails, Prince Edward Island National Park The diversity of trails in P.E.I.’s national park amazed us. Our walk along the Brackley Beach shoreline brought us to picnic areas and the photogenic red-and-white Covehead Lighthouse, surrounded by sand dunes and marram grass. In contrast, the Greenwich Dunes Trail featured a meandering floating boardwalk over a shallow freshwater pond. Interpretive panels described the area’s farming history and vegetation, ranging from cattails to cardinal-red bunchberries. Other signs explained how wind and waves shaped a giant sand dune and mobile crescent-shaped parabolic dunes. We couldn’t resist taking photos of the unique formations. 20 | www.snowbirds.org Travel
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