Cunningham Falls, New Brunswickwhere money fell into my hand

Not far from the city limits and the road north from West Saint John feels significantly less urban immediately.

Harding's Point/ Westfield ferry where I returned from the Apple U-Pick weeks before.  According to AllTrails, I didn't have much further to go so this was an ideal place for a lunch break.

This was not the biggest bike trip I'd been on and I was sure I would be back in city limits before sundown but I had been riding against a wind the whole way and that had cost me some time.

I began to doubt AllTrails accuracy.  I hadn't seen a trailhead and wondered if I hadn't ridden on by somehow.

There it is.  It's not the most obvious place in the world.  There is no sign.

This is what you should see if you look back to the south.

I took those pictures so other people could find the trail more easily and that kept me on the side of the road just enough to spot this in the dry roadside bushes.

It felt real but you know what they say about things that seem too good to be true.  I took it to a bank to get checked before spending it.  I learned that 100 bills are plastic now so this could have been there a while or been blowing across the countryside for years, floating down rivers, blown along by winter storms. 

The odds of anyone spotting this bill, where it blended in with the terrain so well, let alone someone stopping at that exact spot on the road in the first place were pretty slim. Naturally, I looked around those bushes further but didn't find anything else.  That doesn't mean there was nothing to be found.

So, this is Cunningham Falls.  Quite a bit smaller than I expected but nice enough for woodland scenery in its way.

Just guessing by the rock formations, I would say this is a more impressive torrent in the spring and early summer.  

I wasn't even sure if I was I was in the right place so I followed a trail that only led to the highway.  I could hear some intense rapids off the trail but there was no way to push through the brush to get there and  I knew there was a deep bluff hidden in the brush.

Crossing the stream was just a bit tricky.  There were lots of (untrustworthy) rocks to jump on and a doubtful tree trunk.  I made my way but I was super careful.  Falling into icy streams can spoil the fun and it is particularly bad for smartphones.

From the other side of the bridge.

Careful on the way up and down.

 

Frying Pan Lake: Rockwood Park trails

Right in the city center, Rockwood Park has 55 km of trails, perfect for those days you just don't feel up to cycling an hour or 2 outside of town before beginning your hike.   

With only 1 km (in and out) Frying Pan Lake is ideal for late in the afternoon.  With a minimal sense of direction, nobody is likely to get lost in the park for long but I prefer to avoid stumbling around rocks and roots in the dark and make it a point to be out before sundown. 

Like most trails in the park, Frying Pan Lake is geared for cyclists as well as hikers.  Curves and twists are banked to help keep cyclists on their saddles.  I love my bike but it really isn't designed for that kind of jumping horseplay and neither am I.  It will be there when I return.

Peeks at the lake are sporadic.

That is the 0.5 km point where the trail ends.  You can retrace your steps or just continue along the right where it connects to the Corduroy trail for a 1 km loop.

Corduroy trail

Here we are back on the main drag.  I remember blowing bubbles here one day to see far they could make it across the lake before bursting.  Joe brought up that memory one night.  This was the exact spot.