Trail Tools
- Scope (instructions)
- Small mirror
- Frame tool (instructions)
- Snack
- Butterfly cutouts (instructions)
- Scooper (strainer or margarine container)
- Adventure Journal
This is a flat gravel trail on an abandoned railway that runs along a beautiful stream and passes by Hubley Mill Lake.
This trail is accessible for wheelchairs and strollers but a number of activities will need to be done along the trail rather than following the directions to go down short side paths. Stop 8 is the only non-accessible activity.
From Halifax Metro, travel 18 km on Highway 103 to Exit 5. At the end of the ramp, turn left onto Highway 213. Go 2 km and turn left onto Foxhollow Drive before an overpass and across from Tantallon Elementary School. Go 0.7 km until you see yellow markers on both sides of the road before a set of guardrails. Park 20 m before the bridge and take the trail on the left.
Stop at the beginning of the trail.
Mother Nature is filled with riddles and Brother Nature thought up most of them. He’s a trickster who thinks he can outsmart folks like you. Test your skills by trying to solve his riddles along the trail.
Try these for practice:
Who is the forest’s jolliest resident?
What stays in one spot but always moves to the sea?
Now find a neat natural item and create your own riddle for it in your Adventure Journal. Try to solve each other’s riddles.
You need sharp eyes to find riddle clues in nature. Search for these natural items as you walk to the next stop:
Walk about 160 m on the trail to a “Slow Children Playing” sign. Go 15 m further and turn down a small path to the right to a flat area by the stream. [The accessible option is to do this on the trail.]
Quick Riddle: How are the letter “A” and a flower the same? … A “B” comes after them.
Many creatures, such as bees and butterflies, depend on plants for food. They suck nectar from flowers. Find a flower nearby, or a bud or a seed (this means it has a flower at some point in its life cycle). Now figure out what action the butterfly is doing in Brother Nature’s Action Riddle:
I land on the colourful flower,
Though delicate, I have great power.
Into the flower my long tongue is sinking,
It is nectar that I am …
To survive, some butterflies use camouflage to blend in and hide from their predators. Can you spot camouflaged butterflies?
Which butterfly colours are easiest to find? Does the background colour where the butterfly is placed make a difference?
Stay in the area overlooking the stream. [The accessible option is to do this along the trail. Follow this pattern for the stops ahead as well.]
Quick Riddle: Though a knight may try to slay me, I can fly too fast for her to see. Who am I? … Dragonfly
One ferocious butterfly predator is a dragonfly. They can fly over 100 km an hour! Can you spot a dragonfly near the stream? Here’s the dragonfly’s action riddle:
That butterfly was a sweet snack.
I came from behind to attack.
My wings, how they flutter with speed,
To take me wherever I need.
Around my wings the air does sing,
With great speed I am …
Dragonflies seem to dance and hover in the air as they fly. Create their hover dance:
On the way to the next stop, search for dragonfly prey such as butterflies or insects.
After 125 m there is pile of boulders and a flat spot to the right overlooking a pool in the stream. Move down over the pile of boulders and to the right. [The accessible option is to do the activity along the trail.]
Quick Riddle: What did the frog say to her visitor? …Welcome to my pad!
Frogs and toads love to warm up on the rocks near the edge of the water on a sunny day. They look out at the mini-moss forests nearby:
Hungry frogs in this pool would love to eat a juicy dragonfly! Figure out the frog’s action riddle:
I try to catch the speedy dragonfly.
A hop from my legs sends me high.
As I go up my heart is thumping,
Don’t you know that I am …
Try to spot a frog in the stream. Don’t try to catch it as a frog is easily injured.
Did you find anything a frog or toad would eat? Do a frog hop to the next stop.
Just before the bridge (60 m), turn down a small path to the right and head to the edge of the water.
Quick riddle: Where do fish sleep ? …On a river bed!
Mi’kmaq have been fishing in places such as this for thousands of years using weirs. Reflect for a moment that people have been living in this area for 1000s of years. See if you can build a mini weir for trapping fish here on the stream bank like they do, although they would build it in the water. Here’s how…
• Collect lots of small, short sticks (about 15 cms) and poke them in the ground in the formation of a “V”.
• Weave thin tiny twigs or dead grass or plants in between the sticks to create walls on the sides of the “V”. These walls hem the eels and fish in where they can be trapped and caught.
Consider how different your life would be if you were a Mi’kmaw youth helping to build weirs and living here many years ago before European settlers took this land.
From the bridge back on the trail, continue 110 m to just past a giant pine on the left where a small path with some gravel at the top goes down to the water’s edge path. Do the first activity near the pine tree.
Quick Riddle: Where do frogs keep their money? …In the stream bank
As a frog, watch out for bird predators above you with a special eye in the sky :
Continue to the edge of the lake, use your scooper to sample the bottom in the shallow area. What could a frog eat?
Oops, the frog jumped in the lake and was eaten by a fish. Solve the action riddle for the fish.
After having a frog for lunch,
I would like to rest a whole bunch.
I take oxygen from the lake,
My gills work without a break.
With no lungs like you for heaving,
Still I do lots of …
Return to the main trail. Go 100 m along the trail and stop 10 meters before an interpretive sign where you first have a view of the lake. Go down just off the trail to a flat spot.
Quick Riddle: Which birds spend all their time on their knees? …Birds of prey
Too bad that fish didn’t have an eye in the sky. She would have seen the osprey coming. Solve this action riddle for the osprey.
I grabbed that big fish with a splash,
And gulped it down in a flash.
It slid down my throat so yummy.
Now the fish fills up my tummy.
You know that I am not jesting,
The fish inside is …
The osprey often sees deer in this area. Look for deer signs as you walk to the next stop:
Walk about 60 m and take the path on the left, going down the bank, leading to the water’s edge (about 55 m).
[This stop is not accessible.]
Quick Riddle: I look a little nutty hanging up in a tree with a cap on. Who am I? …Acorn
Now search for food that the fish eat (that’s what in turn gives the osprey its food):
Here are some things to look for as you scoop…
Take a picture of the coolest thing you scoop up and upload it at the end if you choose.
Oops, the osprey has to hurry to its nest. Solve its action riddle:
My nest has two white eggs,
Which I cushion under my legs.
So that my population does not reduce,
More young I must …
Stay here.
You’ve encountered many creatures and solved Brother Nature’s action riddles. Figure out what they have in common and use this as a clue to his final riddle:
Created or destroyed I cannot be,
Only transformed you see.
I’m none other than …
Now see if you can create an energy poem in your Adventure Journal. Here are the creatures that have been featured in the riddles: butterfly, hawk, dragonfly, flower, fish, frog. Write them in a list of who eats whom. Then put the action riddle word for each creature next to its name. Use the creatures and the action words for the poem along with any extra words you need.
Find the hidden plaque on your return. It’s near the bridge around the guardrail. Use your pencil to make a rubbing of it’s mystery creature in your Adventure Journal.
The plaque symbol is: