The rain can get to you after a while.
The flooded basements, those last few sticks of wood that refuse to dry, washed out bridges and culverts, soft rutty roads. Closed roads and trails. It can start getting a bit depressing, the grey clouds, the mildew, the mud.
But since there is nothing we can do about the weather, I just wanted to point out there is a bright side too: waterfalls.
Whenever I’m out at Point Prim, I always look across the mouth of the Gut to see if the Mary Pisser is flowing.
In the summer, if we get a dry spell, there is no water there. But lately, the Mary Pisser has been painting a big white gash on the Fundy shore out beyond Victoria Beach.
Last weekend when I was at Point Prim, I was surprised to see a second waterfall on the same beach, but closer to the Gut.
This warranted a special trip. Victoria Beach is both so close and so far. I would love to own a little boat so I could just run over. Some day.
As luck would have it I had to go the city this week and on the way back I made a little detour round Victoria Beach. I had forgotten how much I love that drive. The winding little roads, the steep cliffs and at this time of year the trees are a gorgeous blanket of colour. There are two or three great cascades right beside the road in Victoria Beach, not to mention the view of Digby Gut and Digby itself.
To get to the Mary Pisser you follow the paved road through the community and go about a kilometer on the gravel road. Just after a little bridge the road widens into a turn-around which someone (probably several someones) have filled with garbage and brush. The GPS coordinates are N 44.70265682 and W 65.74721978.
After the turn around, the road becomes a rocky puddle-strewn mess. The difference is noticeable.
At the turnaround a little trail, marked with a bundle of green rope, leads through the alders to the beach. The last bit is washed out, steep and muddy. The rope, tied to alders, helps.
The Mary Pisser was roaring out of the cliffs and yes there was a second one farther down the beach. I was a bit nervous. There wasn’t much room on the shore, maybe 20 feet, between the cliffs and the waves. I hadn’t checked the tide and didn’t know if it was coming or going.
I ventured a ways and noted soon enough the tide was falling. Good news.
The going is rough: big slippery rocks in big awkward piles. As I approached the second wispy waterfall, about 300m west of the Mary Pisser, I discovered there was a third waterfall, another 200m west.
Some people stop and smell the roses; I sit on slimy rocks and gape at waterfalls. It was amazing out there. It seemed like the waterfalls must just go on forever.
I would have loved to push round the point to see if there are any more, but I had to get back to work. Some day. Preferably just after another terrible rainfall.
jriley@digbycourier.ca
