Trail Tools
- Scope (instructions)
- Rubbish bag (plastic bag)
- Rainbow chips (instructions)
- Stew pot (2-litre plastic bucket)
- Knight’s satchel (stuff sack/bag, tied to belt)
- Vision blocker (bandana/cloth for a blindfold)
- Adventure Journal
This is a magnificent seaside trail traversing small beaches and headlands. This trail is part of a longer (10 km) trail that you may want to explore as it continues along the coastline. This area is part of Pennant Point Provincial Park.
From the Armdale Rotary, take Herring Cove Road (Route 349) to Sambro. Drive through Sambro and turn right at a stop sign. Go 0.2 km and turn left at a convenience store. Go 1.4 km and turn left. Go 0.2 km and again take a left. Turn right after 0.7 km onto a gravel road and stay left, heading up the hill and park in the parking lot ahead overlooking the ocean.
Start on the viewing platform below the parking lot with stairs that lead to the beach.
Become a Knight of the Stone Table. Prove thy skills, worthiness and loyalty to the Queen of Crystal Crescent. Seek the kingdom’s lost treasures. Come to know Crystal Crescent’s common folk and challenge the villains who are harming the kingdom.
Stand on the ramparts. Kneel down on one knee and repeat the Knight’s Code of Honour as it is read out loud:
“This I promise:
To love the creatures of the shore
To defend and champion the weak and those without a voice
To be courteous and generous to all.”
Go down to the water’s edge.
Search for thy knight’s pennant (a flag). It is the longest piece of seaweed thou can find with a root handle and a leaf flag. Perform the Loyalty Ceremony to the Queen before setting off on thy adventure:
Place a small piece of seaweed in thy satchel (sack). Take out thy scope and scan the waters for Selkies (seals). They are mystical creatures that sometimes help noble knights. Can thou see any?
If thou find a feather, place it behind thy ear as thy knight’s plume.
Knights must be fast too. Take off thy shoes and challenge the waves by chasing them and daring them to touch thy feet. Race down the beach and back.
Search the sand for footprints and draw them in thy Adventure Journal. Knights must be able to track creatures.
Thou hast discovered two of the lost treasures: the sand and sea. The sand hides life beneath it and the sea gives life to all. Place a pinch of wet sand in thy satchel.
Now walk along the beach to the right, then continue across the rocks to the next beach. As thou go, use thy keen eyes to search for:
Walk along to the second beach. Return to the main trail at the ramp. Turn left and walk across the boardwalk behind the second beach, take the grassy path to the left. Walk on the rocks behind a smaller extension to the second beach.
Search for Crystal Crescent’s small folk on the rocks as thou perfect thy skill of stone walking.
What creatures did thou find? Find a tiny piece of a shell and place it in thy satchel.
Keep on the path next to the water. The path follows along the edge of the beach. Partway, the path crosses the rocks, then continues as a grassy path. After about 180 m, stop next to a huge, square boulder standing by itself on a flat rock to the left. Be careful of rogue waves and high surf under stormy conditions.
Shorebirds, especially seagulls, are the Queen’s guards who help knights keep watch over Crystal Crescent. Take out thy scope and scan for shorebirds. If they move suddenly, it may signal that intruders (villains?) are nearby.
Legends say that the Queen placed this boulder here with a special symbol on it, though no one knows why. Look for a small gray circle in the boulder.
Walk along the huge crack on the flat rock where the boulder sits. Some say that this crack is evidence of where the earth opened up and swallowed one of the Queen’s enemies long ago.
From the last stop, do this activity along the flat rocks near the water for 75 m and then continue for 75 m on the path, stopping at the collection of big boulders lying in the grass on the left of the path.
Knights of the Stone Table must appreciate all the colours that Crystal Crescent offers. The Queen hast hidden a rainbow of colours. Search for it along the rocks and then back on the path:
When everyone has their colour samples, go to the group of large boulders. Place thy samples on a boulder and arrange them in an arch. Thou hast found another of the lost treasures of Crystal Crescent: the beautiful colours of the rainbow! Place thy colour samples in thy satchel.
Are there signs of the villains here?
Go down among the collection of large boulders to the left.
This ancient Gathering Place is where knights learn to trust nature and each other. Thou must dull one of thy senses in order to improve another.
Were thou able to find thy boulder? Did thou trust thy introducer?
The rocks are lost treasures that protect the lands from the wind and weather. They slowly break down to create soil. Place a small beautiful rock in thy satchel.
Walk for about 350 m until the tiny path meets up with the wider main path at the final large beach. This beach may have nude swimmers on a warm summer day.
Enjoy a knight’s delicacy. Smelly Stew gives strength and appreciation to the Queen’s knights through smelling rather than tasting it. Find the ingredients for thy stew in the nearby bed of seaweed. Here’s how to make it:
Smelly Stew
When thou have finished, empty thy stew pots onto the bed of seaweed for other creatures to enjoy. Take thy stew pot with thee.
Walk to a boardwalk on the path behind the beach. There are signs of villains here who have gone off the main path and trampled some of the delicate dune grass. Dune grass keeps the sand from blowing away and gives cover to small creatures. How can this be stopped?
The path forks at the base of a rocky hill at the end of the beach. Take the right path up the hill. Walk about 70 m crossing the rocks, keeping close to the forest. Stop at the small path into the forest.
Look to the sea and watch the patterns and foam of the waves splashing against the shore. Some say that the Queen creates symbols and pictures with the foam. Can thou see any?
Now, venture into the Enchanted Forest and stop at the circle of stones.
Legends say that magical creatures like elves, fairies, and gnomes, who assist the Knights, meet here at night to tell stories. Gather the following items and leave them as gifts in the stone circle for them.
All of these gifts break down to make another lost treasure of Crystal Crescent: life-giving soil. Pick up a pinch of soil and place it in thy satchel.
Look at the gnarly old trees around the circle of stones. They hold many secrets and may also be the Queen’s guardians. Find thy favourite guard tree and whisper a secret to it.
Go back onto the rocks and continue along the shore about 75 m. Stop at two lone boulders sitting on a green carpet on a large section of rock.
Thy last test is to prove that thou work well with other knights.
Teamwork is the final knightly skill. Thou hast succeeded in thy quest to find the lost treasures of Crystal Crescent symbolized by the contents of thy satchel. These treasures give life, strength and beauty to Crystal Crescent. But hast thou found the villains?
At the stone table.
The villain is in each of us when we do things that harm the earth. Thou can fight the villain inside thee by doing Earth Steps. Thou are ready for thy dubbing, the official ceremony for becoming a knight.
“I dub thee a Knight of the Stone Table
To obey the Knight’s Code of Honour
To defend the small creatures
To serve the Queen of Crystal Crescent
All for one and one for all!”
As a knight, thou art the official protector of Crystal Crescent and places like it. Give yourself a gallant knightly title and name. Who is the Queen of Crystal Crescent? Mother Nature!
One last challenge remains. As thou return, use thy rubbish bag to pick up litter. Take a beautiful picture along the way and upload it if you choose. Once you return, just below the parking lot, search the wooden ramparts closely to find the hidden plaque and mystery creature. Use the side of thy pencil or crayon to make a rubbing of it in your Adventure Journal. Congratulations!
The plaque symbol is: