This is the first day of the crab season and lots of people were up to see the boats head out at 5am including John and Carol. Everyone who knows Ed won't be surprised to know that he was sound asleep in bed at 5 am --- he thinks it's still the middle of night if he has to get up at 7am.

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By 8 am boats were returning to the harbour and loading up with ice. This evening the habour is full of refrigeration trucks waiting to whisk away the first day's catch of crabs. The crab fisherman we spoke with said a lot of crabs are shipped to Japan.

We decided to do some hiking today. The first trail we did is called Skyline and is the most popular hike in the park. Here's some photos from the hike.

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There's a lot of stairs before you get to the final viewing platform. The photo shows a small portion of them.

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This is very similar to one I posted but it's such a pretty view.

The French Mountain Bog has a really nice boardwalk trail. There were lots of pretty flowers along the trail. Here's photos of some of them.

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White Fringed Orchis and Cotton Grass.

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A google image search thinks this white flower is Labrador Tea, Dragon's Mouth

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Bog Buckbean, Pitcher Plant

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One of several small ponds. I loved the clouds.

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The water is very dark, almost a red brown colour, great for reflections.

The last walk in the park today was Benjie's Lake. It's a 1 1/2 km walk through a bush, then through fields filled with ferns.

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The lake. Again, this lake had a very dark red brown colour.

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On the hike out we came across this Ruffed Grouse (according to google image search) and some chicks.

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Cheticamp Island is just off the shore from Cheticamp. There's not a lot on the island --- a few houses, a great beach, a lot of telecommunications equipment, a lighthouse and some cows.