Fran was keen too, but still on the gimp, it was only to be the two of us.
On the road by 8am and an easy drive down to the park. I'm trying to drive with maximum fuel efficiency. As we drive by Bennett Lake there's a couple looking for a drive. I instinctivley put the brakes on (by instinct I mean it happens once every 15-20 years). They are heading to Moncton, but will accept a lift of 5kms into Alma instead. Kooper gives them a traditional "stay away from the car" welcome. Turns out they are from the Czech Republic and travelling around before going to Quebec City for a friends wedding. I drop them off at the Irving, which is good as they haven't eaten because someone stole their cooking pot at 5am in the morning! Come on! Whoever did that should be ashamed.
I back track to the trail entrance for Upper Salmon River as the plan is to hike that to the end of the Black Hole and then do that trail in reverse. By this time Kooper's really keen, even if he's not showing it.
It's a beautiful day.
Everything is going spiffingly. And then this.
No problem, I've come prepared. Off with the boots and on with the flip flops. Off with the flip flops, dry feet, on with the boots. Off we go.
Like I said, I'll be the judge of that. Now where's that river crossing?
Right, let's get to it. Boots off, flip flops on. It's a bit wider than the last one.
Err, hang on a minute. How deep is this? Why's the rope in the water? O.K. decison time. Wade through up to my armpits and get everything I have soaked or Plan B it. I decide it's probably just as nice a hike from the other end of the Black Hole Trail to the Upper Salmon River anyway. Oh, there's that brook again, boots off....
Well we go in search of road 45 and the entrance to the Black Hole trail. Road 45 is a cracking hill (must find the strava segment when I get home and bike up it some time). Finding the trail head is a bit tricky, but here we are.
The Trail is an old road and downhill to the river which makes it easy going for the most part. This was unecessary.
Big Beaver House.
Kooper found himself a nice piece of wood. What a happy dog he was. As we near the steep decent to the river, Kooper can hear the water and gets increasingly further ahead. Walking along the river, without stopping to go in it is torture for any Retriever. Sometimes the trail was the river bed, but still no time to paddle.
At this time of year the colours take some beating.
We continued to wlk along the river hoping to make it to the Forks. Some of the trails were narrow ledges and quite slippery. Then when down on the river bed, there were some large rocks to be climbed. Kooper is not equipped to climb rocks, so we had to bushwack around. Finally, with the Forks in sight, we were asked to scale this:
The Trail is up and over that rock. In mid-summer, you could likely walk around it. Kooper, could have swam around it, but like most retrievers, he suffers from separation anxiety and isn't bright enough to figure out that he can go around if I go over. So this was the end of the trail for us. Not a bad spot for lunch.
I brought food for Kooper, but he was equally interested in mine.
He really wanted some.
While walking back, I noticed that the federal government has been conducting genetice experiments in Fundy Park for 40-50 years. Even Kooper looks puzzled.
When we arrived back at the car, my Garmin said we had done 19.6kms on the Black Hole, Upper Salmon River Trail. So close to 20kms that we walked up the road for another 200ms to earn a round 20kms. Then a pleasant drive home. Unlike the drive down, Kooper slept the entire way back.
