Hiking and geocaching in Cape Onion and Burnt Cape

A note about gardens. Vegetables, that is. As you drive along the highway you see every 100m or so a fenced off area that is usually tilled. The fencing varies and can be very creative and scare tactics are usually employed - scarecrows, rags, flags, etc. The strange thing is that there are no homes anywhere near those garden. We found out that since soil - especially good, and not acidic soil - is scarce on the 'rock', people grab a piece of crown land near the highwa, fence it off to protect it from deer, and grow some potatoes, etc. on it. They don't need a permit to do this and there is no issue of people stealing your crop even if it is a few miles from your home with no one to watch over it. Cool.


Brilliant day and we are going on a hike to find the northernmost geocache on the island. It is on top of a hill at Cape Onion.


Gorgeous views climbing up the hill.


Pictures don't do the place justice. It is breathtaking!


Taking a rest. This is very thick moss. Very comfy - I could have stayed longer, but the geocache was calling my name. I can't believe that while we are enjoying this paradise, Toronto are is experiencing some crazy times: an earthquake, tornadoes, and anarchist riots in light of the G-20 summit...


The marker on top of the hill and Tony finds the cache just below it. Scored a compass!


More of the same gorgeousness.


From there we went to a completely different place that is just around the corner. Burnt Cape is a limestone barren and has one of the harshest conditions due to cold weather and high winds. It is home to thousands of plant species, mostly dwarfed versions of plants that are present elsewhere, but also home of some plants that are only unique to this place. It's a narrow spit about 3km long and is a Mecca to biologists.
There are no signs and we drove in not really knowing what we are looking at, but were lucky to run into a guided tour, which we joined.
We followed the tour's van throughout the park.


Trees grow horizontally!!! The juniper below is a few hundred years old and is entirely on the ground. Trunk, branches. Everything. For scale, the entire area is a couple of metres.


Frost polygons are formed through the frost and thaw action where the rocks get crushed smaller and smaller forming distinct depressions in the landscape. The plants take advantage of this slightly protected areas and grow in there.


Carnivorous plant. There must be some insects there.


This plant, Dwarf Hawke's Bear, blooms once in a lifetime and then dies. It is only found in the arctic and in Burnt Cape


A couple hundred years old tree. Natural bonzai!



Caribou and Woolly moss. One of them contains a lot of iodine, so if you cut yourself, you can use it to disinfect your wound. I can't remember which is which though...


The locals use these as naturally heated pools. We started going there, but were deterred by the high winds and the sheep path along the cliff. maybe another time...


A beautiful day. I didn't mention yet the amazing meals that we usually have. Maybe in the next one. Tomorrow we are leaving for St. Anthony and starting out way back.