Trail Tools
- Letters (one set for the group)
- Frame tool (instructions)
- Music sheet
- Third eye (magnifying lens)
- Vision blocker (bandanna/cloth for a blindfold)
- Letter locker (margarine container with lid for the group)
- Adventure Journal
This is a beautiful wilderness trail loop. The trail climbs through mixed forest and skirts a small pond. It is rocky with roots. Good footwear is important. The first half of the trail is uphill and the 2nd half returns back down.
From Highway 107, take Exit 19. Travel north about 1.3 km to Highway #7 at the community of Porters Lake. Turn left (west) on Highway #7, then almost immediately, turn right onto Myra Road. Travel north on Myra Road. After about 8.5 km, watch for the trailhead sign and parking lot on the left (west) side. The trailhead is roughly 30 km from downtown Dartmouth.
Go 100 m up the trail and stop where it levels off just before a steep uphill stretch. Looking uphill from here you can see a 5 m tall towering boulder with 2 small spruce trees growing on top of it.
Rollads are curious fun-loving creatures that use all of their senses to explore in nature. They are alphabetophiles. That means they love letters. To reach Rolladhood and receive a Degree of Letters, all young Rollads must use their senses to unscramble nature’s hidden message.23 Do you have what it takes to earn your degree and become an adult Rollad?
Stay here.
Rollads like to look at things upside down using their big, bulging eyes. To help your eyes focus, make binoculars out of your fists and look through them as you assume the upside-down position:
You earn a letter at each stop by finding things that have something to do with the letter you are to receive. At the very end you can arrange the letters to unscramble the hidden message.
Using the upside-down position, earn your 1st letter by finding things that are:
When you find each item, share it with someone else. Which letter did you earn? [Hint: the words above have something in common.] Take this letter from the letter locker and put it safely in a pocket. You are excited about earning your first letter. Roll over on the ground three times.
Look for more C words in nature as you walk to the next stop.
Continue 200 m. to where the trail flattens out and then as you go downhill there is a giant boulder (5 m high) to the left. Turn off the trail behind the boulder and find a small sitting area.
Rollads sit here to listen to nature’s music.24 Can you write a Rollad song on your music sheets?
Earn a letter by carefully looking around for things that are:
Share each discovery and take the proper letter.
Continue 100 m to a trail junction, passing a small pond. Turn right at the junction and go 120 m uphill to a series of rock stepping stones that cross over a small trickle of water on the side hill. Stop just past the rocks where the trail divides briefly.
Rollads focus in on things by using a telescope. Make a telescope with your fist. Find things that are:
Share each discovery and take the proper letter.
Rollads have large noses to help them smell cool things. Try some Rollad sniffing:
Gather in a circle and have each Rollad describe their favourite and most yucky smells.
Continue 135 m until you see through the trees a giant boulder (5 m tall) on the left up the hill. At this point there is a small trail to the right leading to a giant fallen and broken off pine tree with an enormous, tall, dead trunk. Go up to the trunk.
Rollads love trees and give them hugs with their extra long arms. Hug the huge dead tree stump to thank it for everything it does for other creatures like providing homes, cleaning the air and ultimately decomposing to make new soil. Earn a letter by finding things around the tree that are:
Share each discovery and take the proper letter.
Now return to the main trail and head up to the big pine tree on the left of the trail, just past the giant boulder. This pine tree is a child of the dead pine you hugged below. See if you can spot any other children of the old pine in the area.
Continue 140 m to a flat spot along the trail where the forest floor is more open. There is an old pine tree on the left edge of the trail.
Rollads have keen eyesight and are good at picking out details. Try this sharp-eyed challenge:
1) Find several different kinds of needle trees.
2) Look at the length and shape of each needle.
3) Look at how they are positioned on the stem.
4) Feel and smell each one.
Rollads see every tree as unique and can even see faces in their trunks. Can you find a face in a tree nearby? Use your frame tool to help.7 Hold it at arm’s length and look through it at the tree trunk. Find these faces as you walk to the next stop:
• Happy
• Angry
• Scared
• Sleepy
• Sad
• Scary
• Silly
Continue 135 m to a trail junction. Turn left and go 20 m onto a series of flat rock ledges with a view to the east. Stop at the prettiest view (the middle ledge).
Rollads aren’t very tall, so they often stand in high places to get a bird’s-eye view of things. Stand in a spot with a view. Find things that are:
Share each discovery and take the proper letter. You love the view. Do a Rollad call three times.
Continue along the ledge on the trail and go 210 m. Stop on a gradual uphill where there is a large old spruce tree on the left side of the trail and a four trunked birch tree about 5 m to the right.
Rollads are always looking for letters in nature. Search for them in this big old Alphabet spruce tree.9
Earn a letter by crawling around to find things that are:
Share each discovery and take the proper letter. Look for more letters in the trees on the way to the next stop.
Continue along the path 120 m until there are two giant boulders next to each other on the left of the trail on a downhill section through a mossy area. The boulder closest to the trail has ferns growing on top. No one should climb on the boulders as it will destroy the beautiful plant life.
Rollads like to look at small things, like the cool things growing on the sides of the boulders. Use your third eye and earn a letter by finding things that are:
Share your discoveries and take the proper letter.
Count the number of different things growing on one boulder. Can you find more than four? If so, roll on the ground as an excited Rollad.
Look for more hard-to-see places along the trail. Rollads are good at finding hidden animal homes. As you go, search for:
Walk 210 m to a moss-covered boulder (1.5 m tall) on the left edge of the trail. Porters Lake is visible through the trees.
Rollads have a neat way of seeing in all directions. They spin slowly in a circle as they look all around. Earn a letter by finding things while you spin that are:
Share each discovery and take the proper letter.
Rollads like to imitate another friend of theirs, the slug. Slugs have poor eyesight. Instead they “see” things by touching them with their antennas. Try being a slug:
What were some neat things you felt?
Do a touch scavenger hunt as you walk to the next stop. Find something for each touch word:
Walk 270 m to the trail junction and turn right. Go 55 m to the bench at the small pond. Don’t leave the boardwalk. On the way, at about 200 m, see if you can find the sweet grass on the edge of the trail.
On your way to the pond, before the trail junction, look for sweet fern, a very important plant for the Mi’kmaq. Try smelling it if you find it!
Once you are at the pond, realize that Rollads like to look for neat things near the water. Lie on the boardwalk and look down off it for things that are:
Share each discovery and take the proper letter. You’ve earned your last letter. What do they all mean?
Place the 9 letters on the boardwalk and unscramble them:
Congratulations, you have earned your Degree of Letters by discovering the Rollad’s most important skill! Use this skill to explore other natural areas with all of your senses.
Celebrate by doing the Rollad greeting with the person next to you.
What letters are left over in your letter locker? Unscramble them for a clue to finding the hidden plaque with the mystery creature on it:
Use your pencil or crayon to make a rubbing of it below.
Right behind the bench are ferocious insect eating plants… called Pitcher plants. Do not touch them, just look!
Take and upload your best picture from somewhere on the boardwalk. Be creative, look up, look down and use your sense of discovery.
The plaque symbol is:
Return back to the parking lot, retracing your original route.