The crafting itch

I've been getting the urge lately to start some crafts - stay tuned to see if I actually finish a project. (I'm real good at starting them tho!)

A girly post

I forgot to get a haircut. I don't know what to do with it at this length. Trying to learn to curl your hair with a flat iron proves much more difficult than I originally imagined..

I once tallied up 3 years worth of American eagle employee receipts of crap I bought. The numbers were astounding and disgusting. I spent $6000 in 3 years that I worked there. And that's not including anything I would have bought elsewhere in the mall. I must say I've been so good since I quit working full time in the mall. I have spent less than $50 on clothing in the last year. My boyfriend is even impressed! I think I really deserve a small treat or two :). I also justify this small treat with birthday money I will be getting from my mom soon :)

South Branch Oromocto Falls/Ragged Ass Falls

Beautiful! It is located between Hoyt and Welsford and was the first of the three waterfalls we visited on Victoria day Monday.

To get here you take highway 101 from Fredericton heading towards Welsford continuing past the Fredericton Junction until you reach the Sand Brook Road. Follow this road and eventually it turns into a rough dirt road. If you drive down the dirt road just for a minute you will see a clearing where you can park your car on the left and an old logging road with a torn down chain to your right. Take the logging road. After a fairly short walk up we arrived at the top of a cliffside, overlooking the falls. Situated here was a cross (I don't know the story but I can only imagine someone tried to cliff jump?).

After taking in the breathtaking view from the top we continued down the steep path towards the bottom. The falls was amazing but unfortunately it was hard to get a good shot. I would recommend visiting this falls after a heavy rainfall. It's much more spectacular as I revisited this falls a couple weeks later and although still beautiful it was lacking the water volume that made it so impressive.

South Branch Oromocto Falls

When we visited there was a couple local kids there climbing the sides of the rocks to get closer to the falls. I had a difficult time trying to shoot pictures from shore because they kept popping in the way of my shots. In the end i got a couple and decided to climb the sides of the rocks to get closer too. This is very doable in my opinion since I managed to make it without falling in the water and I'm practically a midget at 5'1" (I left my camera on shore just in case hence the lack of photos).

I decided to put Ragged Ass Falls in the same blog entry due to the lack of photos I got since we were running out of time for our full waterfall chasing agenda. (South Branch was so awesome we stayed a little too long). It's also extremely close to South Branch Oromocto Falls. Id recommend walking from where you parked your car for South Branch Oromocto Falls unless you have a car you don't care about or a truck. The dirt road is in pretty rough shape in some parts and although we did drive a bit of it (we didn't know what condition it was going to be in) we ended up randomly parking the car along the side of the dirt road and walking the rest of the way. It's a bit harder to find this waterfall without a gps. I had the gps coordinates plugged into my iPhone but basically you will come upon a clearing where you can park and then you follow the brook upstream until you reach the waterfall. I need to go back here sometime and try to snap some better photos. The terrain was steep around the falls and Amy wore her flip flops here because she soaked her sneakers at the previous falls so we were unable to climb up to get better photos and a better shot. You can find the coordinates of all these waterfalls at the waterfalls nb website.

Ragged Ass Falls

3 more days!

Vacation is coming up fast and I have no real plans for it. I really want to get in some camping, hiking and waterfalling. I'm off from this Friday the 29th until July 8th so if anyone wants to get any outdoor activities in with me, shoot me a message!

I'm worried I won't have anything to do because everyone is going to be at work all day. I don't think Travis is getting any time off that week anymore :(.

River running

The last weekend in May was all about fishing and running the nashwaak river. Justin invited Trav and I to go canoeing with him and a few friends. There is nothin better than drinking beer while floating down the river in the sunshine. Travis also taught me how to throw a fishing line (shhh I need to get my fishing licence still) and caught us two trout. Yummy!!

 


On Sunday, I took him to the South Branch Oromocto falls (which I had previously visited with Amy and Miray but have yet to blog about). The falls was still beautiful but it was much more impressive when I took the girls there earlier this month. The river had started to dry up a little and falls wasnt as wide. We did a little catch and release fishing there- we caught two catfish, two chubs and a bass. Travis then almost stepped on a giant eel, and after that we called it quits and headed back to Fredericton.

Beach day

I took Amy to Mactaquac beach today. It was fairly chilly and overcast when we first arrived but the sun eventually came out and I ended up with a slight sunburn on my shoulders. The water was excruciatingly cold. I didn't make it past my knees haha. We were hoping to be able to take a ride on Travs boat today but we hadn't used it in two summers and it wouldn't start. Whomp whomp. God I miss that boat! Hopefully it isn't something to expensive to fix and I'm crossing my fingers that it will be up and running before my vacation/my 29th birthday. Less than two weeks until I'm off work for ten days!

We brought a few beer with us. There was practically no one at the beach today! I love when that happens! Much easier to sneak down a few beers that way;) By late afternoon the beer in the trunk of my car became unbearable warm so we came up with this idea...

Life is a game of Russian Roulette

I feel like I'm having a breakdown in every aspect of my life. I'm so overwhelmed with choices and I really don't know what I'm suppose to do or what is best. I hope this passes before I make any rash decisions that I'll regret...

It feels like Christmas time!!

I ordered my first e cigarette off the Internet from a company called Happy Vaper. I ordered thursday morning and it was free express shipping. Canada post put the expected delivery date for the next Wednesday but it arrived this morning!! I'm so excited!! I havent had a real smoke since noon! I can do this :). Even if it's all in my head it's worth the hundred bucks I spent on a starter kit! Unfortunately health Canada has temporarily banned the nicotine juice. It allows the e cigs to be sold without nicotine. I found a way around this by obtaining a list of Canadian vendors who still ship e juice with nicotine.

I got a Happy 510 model. The vapor production is satisfying and you still get a throat hit when you inhale. I must say I'm very impressed!!

I plan on slowly cutting down the nicotine content I vaporize, as you can order different strengths (or DIY) and eventually quitting altogether. But hey, for now if this allows me to smoke the "smarter" way and not smell as bad, I'll take it!

Here is the comparison of my e cigarette next to a king size cigarette.

Howland Falls

Located approximately 20km past Mactaquac park off Route 105 is the small but powerful Howland Falls. I couldn't tell you if there is always this much water pressure coming through the crevice of boulders but Amy, Miray and I went looking for this one after receiving three days of rain showers.  I'm sure that had something to do with it.

Howland Falls

To view this waterfall, take Route 105 past Mactaquac and head alongside the river to Bear Island. It's a beautiful drive.  The falls is located on a dirt road leading up the hillside called the Old Scotch Lake road. It's not a very long drive up the road.  Park just before the old concrete bridge.  There is a pathway on your right that leads down the hillside to the falls.

I really enjoyed this waterfall, minus all the garbage.  This was one of the dirtiest areas I've visited so far - garbage, beer bottles, empty shells and gross soggy towels.  Its a shame that people ruin beautiful spots such as this one when it really doesn't take much effort to take your garbage home with you!  Aside from garbage, the falls is beautiful!  The pathway leads down a very steep hill and you feel like there is a canopy of trees shading you from the outside world.

Fall Brook Falls

Can you spot me?

Fall Brook Falls, NB

Fall Brook Falls is reportedly the official highest waterfall in New Brunswick at approximately 100 feet. I made my boyfriend, Chris Travis, do this hike with me on Sunday, May 6th. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny spring day! This waterfall is located near Boiestown. To get here from Fredericton, drive north on Route 8 towards Boiestown and take your left onto Parker Ridge (Route 625). After approximately 4km, take a right onto Bloomfield road. You will cross a bridge over the Southwest Miramichi River. From there continue driving until the road takes a sharp right turn. Do not take the turn, drive straight and this is the County Line Road. Continue your trek until you come to an Irving Forestry gate.

Apparently there is an Irving employee at the gate that charges you ten dollars to use their very well maintained dirt road, but we were lucky and the gate was unmanned! Although we got a free visit, he is suppose to give you directions on how to get to the falls. Trav and I had to solely rely on the directions I found on the waterfalls of nb blog. We had already got that far, I was determined we could find it on our own. While traveling down the dirt road, we spotted a black bear cub running into the bushes beside the road. It was ironic because we had earlier had a discussion about seeing bears in the car on the ride up. We continued along this dirt road until we got to the second bridge crossing a brook. We parked the car along the road just before the bridge. To your left you'll see a logging path heading into the woods. Hoping this was the right trail we started on our journey into the wilderness.

The walk down the old logging road wasn't too long. When you come to the end, there is a steep hill and you can see the beautiful Southwest Miramichi River.

Chris taking a view of the Southwest Miramichi River

 To your right you'll see a sign posted on a tree that says Fall Brook Falls.

Sign at the bottom of the logging road

I jumped for joy when I realized that we were actually on the right route! From here the logging road turns into a footpath that leads you to the falls alongside the bank of the brook. The brook is not deep or wide, but the falls at the end was spectacular and every minute worth the trip out there!

As close as I could get without swimming in the pool of water.  (Also got soaked waiting for the photos to be taken by the spraying water)

Tay River Falls

This particular waterfall is not big by any means, but rather a series of small cascading falls. I found it really difficult to snap a shot without the falls just looking like rapids. (there is no real amazing angle to shoot from). The falls are probably about a meter high but it's a beautiful river for those of you who enjoy taking in the scenery. Mossy covered rocks line the river banks.

To get here, head towards Taymouth along highway 8. Just after you pass Tay River, take the road on your left called English Settlement road. Approximately 3.5km down this road there will be a turnoff for Tay Valley Bible camp. It's a rickety dirt road. Take it, and drive approximately 2.5km until you reach a clearing on your left. I just pulled over to the side of the road to park as someone (I'm assuming the bible camp people?) put chains across the clearing where parking would have been possible. The falls (or should I say "rapids") are located just behind this clearing!

Beautiful, but I probably wouldn't waste my gas and drive all the way to Taymouth to see this waterfall again.  

My summer bucket list

- hike the mountains in welsford and visit the falls
- visit as many waterfalls as possible in new Brunswick
- hike the Walton glen gorge
- hike fundy national park (I haven't done this since in at least ten years)
- try rock climbing
- get over my fear of putting my head beneath water (laugh all you want but this is the only reason I can't learn to swim!)
- learn to run a straight 30 minutes!
(and then when I complete this goal, learn to run a full hour straight!)
- Go visit another province ie. Hike the cliffs in Cape Breton
- day trip driving the fundy coastline from the Hopewell Rocks to St. Stephens, while stopping in scenic areas and beaches to take photos
- learn how to take better photography (because lets face it, I just point and click on auto and the waterfalls I try to capture deserve more respect than that!)
- get my passport
- switch from cigarettes to e cigs (I know quitting in general is better but this goal is good for me for a first step!)
- try kayaking

I'm sure I'll think of others to add to this list but this is good enough for now!

Stay tuned for a few waterfall updates! I have at least 3 to blog about that I've recently visited!

In need of a new back...or amazing painkillers!

Excuse my language, but I am so fucking sick of having a bad back. Everytime I try to do something active it starts bothering me more than usual and I usually give up on my physical activity. I have been noticing it getting worse the last few days and I'm wondering if it's from starting my running program. Argh!! I'm not giving up this time, even if it means I can't get a good nights sleep without waking up in pain. I really hope running will help it in the long run, altho I'm starting to worry that I'm only making it way worse.

Run, Run away little one!

I've never been able to run, ever.  I either get winded, end up with side stitches or excruciating shin splints.  I feel it would be extremely rewarding to make my goal this summer to learn to run!  So here I am!  I downloaded a pretty neat app on my iphone which tracks my progress - its a couch potato to 5K running program that takes 9 weeks.  Apparently, in 9 weeks I'm going to be able to run for 30 minutes without stopping (or 5K equivalent depending on my running speed).  Currently, I don't even think I'd make it to 5 minutes.  I just finished Week One, Day Two last night.  If anyone is interested, you can view the program Here! 

Can a smoker learn to run for 30 minutes, when they have never accomplished this goal even before they took up smoking?  Stay tuned for further progress...

Garden Creek Falls

Fredericton's actual hidden treasure - Garden Creek Falls!  I'm surprised more locals don't already know about this! 

Garden Creek Falls

This place is beautiful, complete with natural forest pathways.

Again, another waterfall situated next to a highway!  I'm in disbelief that the two beautiful waterfalls I located were both beside major highways!  Anyways, to get there take the Fredericton Bypass which connects to highway 8.  Continue along this highway until you come to km marker 1. 

Where to park along highway 8.

If you hit the Trans-Canada high speed merge lane, you have gone just a wee bit too far!  When you get out of your car you'll notice an ATV trail to your right at the top of the bank.  Take this trail and within a minute you can hear the falls. 

A little perspective - Amy at the top of the falls!

Me!

The only problem with visiting this waterfall is trying to get home.  It takes less than 5 minutes to get there when your on the Fredericton Bypass - but more like 15 to return.  I had to hit the Trans-Canada and drive all the way to the Mazerolle Settlement exit before I could turn around.  Nonetheless, ch ch check this waterfall out!  Its within city limits, so no excuses!

E cigs!

I heard about e cigarettes only recently from a friend who tried them. I was curious and met a girl last night who had one! I'm in love. The thought of smoking them anywhere really fascinates me and I love the different flavors you can get! Also you can get nicotine free refills so I am hoping it could help one cut back. I think it's more the action of smoking that I desire, more than the actual nicotine itself. I want one.

Upper and Lower Joslin Falls

I got the idea to start chasing waterfalls because I love hiking and adventures in the forest. I'm a nature/outdoors girl at heart.  But are you really surprised?  I am from the middle of nowhere-ville... I also stumbled across a wicked website containing a list of many of the main waterfalls in NB.  To view it, go HERE!  It gave me the idea to visit these waterfalls, blog about my adventure doing so, as well as try to post better directions to get to the falls. I haven't visited very many waterfalls yet, however, I would have to say this is one of our provinces hidden treasures.

 Saturday afternoon in Fredericton was calling for a beautiful sunny day, 15 degrees. (Thats a beautiful day for April in Canada!) I grabbed my two besties, Amy and Miray to join me on this hunt. We set off from Fredericton heading towards Nackawic on the Trans Canada Highway around 2pm. We were there in no time. I think the drive took around 30 minutes. The falls are located JUST off the TCH at the highway marker 250. Literally, park your car on the shoulder at highway marker 250.

Where to park to get to Upper and Lower Joslin falls

 Lower Joslin Falls (the more spectacular of the two) is located just to the right of the highway (if your heading in the direction towards Edmunston, from Fredericton). We walked down to the deer fence and through the deer gate. (That was my first time entering a deer gate!) Now, there are two ways you can approach the falls. The first is to your right. Be very careful, the falls is literally just around the corner and it is a huge dropoff. I recommend going this way to get your initial view of the falls because it is just out of this world. The sound of the water is so loud you forget that there is a highway literally just above you. My buds and I decided that it would be far to dangerous to try and scale the cliffside from that direction so we turned around and walked back up, past the deer gate and into the woods on what looked to be ... somewhat of a foot trail. This led us around the steep part of the cliff and then over to a small stream running down the hillside. The hillside is much much less steep over here and your able to carefully walk down and get a view of the falls from the bottom. I snapped a few photos and we hung out for a bit in the valley between the mossy cliffs.

 When we had our fill, we climbed back up the way we came (which is way more of a workout than you think for someone out of shape like me) and were on our way.I enjoyed visiting this waterfall so much, that I convinced my boyfriend to come with me to see it again the very next day. I'm pretty sure Sunday was even a nicer day than before. It must have hit at least 25 degrees. This time, I decided to take a different approach at the cliffside. Travis and I decided that since the water level was pretty high due to the recent rain and it being spring in Canada, we climbed up the rocks around the culvert under the highway and made it to the other side that way. We followed a foot trail that led around the rock ledges by the waterfall and carefully made our way down the cliff side.

Lower Joslin Falls

 It looks harder at first glance than it actually is. I thought being a shortie, I might get stuck and not be able to climb back up the mountain but this wasn't the case at all.  I enjoyed all the climbing and boulder hopping.  When we got to the bottom of the cliff, we were closer to the base of the waterfall and there was a conveniently placed pile of giant boulders to perch on. It was very refreshing to sit in this gully as the waterfall was spraying a light mist of water in our direction.

After Travis and I had our fill of Lower Joslin Falls, we set out across the highway to find the Upper Joslin Falls. It is literally straight on the otherside of the highway.  You can't miss it.  Granted, these aren't nearly as spectacular as the lower falls but since you are already there, definitely worth checking out.

Upper Joslin Falls

Don;t go chasing waterfalls...please stick to the lakes and the rivers your used to.

Hi kids! I'm back again! I have been slacking on blogging due to the lack of computer. I have a computer, it's just hooked up to our television so we can stream shows since we don't want to pay for cable. This means it's a rare day where I actually can use the computer other than watching tv...also I'd have to sit on the floor to type.

However, I just got the blogger app on my iPhone. But my god it's so much faster to type with a keyboard!

Anyways, breakie at work is over but I will try to return to write about my waterfall chasing adventures later on. I have decided that my goal for summer 2012 is to hunt down as many waterfalls in New Brunswick as I can. Just call me... The waterfall hunter.