I was hoping to create a unique event that would offer us a rare treat – a trip to Drysdale Falls near Tatamagouche.  I had been there in 2006 and 2007, back before the landowners were forced to close access to the falls across their property. The place is a photographer’s dream – a high plunge of water into a large pool, closed in by woods and a natural rock amphitheatre; an incredibly beautiful spot. However, access to the falls has been cut off since the summer of 2007, and knowing the circumstances surrounding the restriction, I completely understand and support the landowners’ reasons and decision (http://www.trurodaily.com/People/2007-08-27/article-334833/Drysdale-Falls-Keep-out-Thats-it/1). Still, I was wondering if exceptions were made for hiking/photography groups, so I contacted one of the landowners and we had a good conversation about the situation. I originally met him back in 2006 and at that point, he was willing to give people the benefit of the doubt; access to the falls through his property was permitted, all he was asking was that visitors respect the property and abide by perfectly reasonable conditions. Well, he got understandably tired of hauling garbage and broken glass out of the place (90 2-litre milk cartons full of glass before he gave up cleaning it), the theft and property damage, and people cutting his trees for firewood; a fatality marked the end of it. With the support of local police and the fire department, he and the other landowners banned all visits. Understandably jaded, he feels that while there used to be 1 bad apple in 10 years ago, it’s now 1 good apple in 10. The fire department has even been called back to the site to rescue trespassers who get into the upper pool above the big falls; their intent is to make the jump into the main pool, but when they get into the upper pool from where they’re supposed to jump, they chicken out and can’t climb back out (my feeling is that they should be charged with trespassing and billed for the rescue). As for exceptions to the ban, there are none. Nobody is allowed access. If one person/group is allowed, somebody else will catch wind of it and say ‘well if you allowed them, why not us?’ and they just want to avoid that situation. Tourists from Europe have even been turned away (and the landowner said that they all understand the reasons; however, how do we look to tourists when our own citizens’ boorish and disrespectful behaviour prevents access to such gems?). There is some hope that some natural wonders in the province are still safe; the waterfalls that are close to the road and easily accessed are littered and abused more often than remote ones. The yahoos must think it’s too much work to carry their beer bottles and chip bags so far into the woods. I must side with the landowners in the matter of Drysdale Falls. Due to likely MORE than a few bad apples, we all lose.

It isn’t just waterfalls that get marred by humans; look at the roadside ditches – always full of plastic, glass, bags, and other garbage, despite the annual cleanups. That stuff doesn’t just grow there; humans still throw garbage out of their vehicles.

Hayes Cave, the largest bat hibernaculum in the province, is littered from front to back with spray-painted graffiti and empty and broken bottles; c’mon, who goes 1000 feet to the back of a pitch-black cave to sit and drink? The cave entrance was once sealed off to human visitors; the rebar was bent aside and the humans returned. Yes, we’ll be going there in June, after the bats are safe, and we won’t be littering – or lighting fireworks inside, as evidence indicates.

At Amethyst Cove, the steep slope leading down to the beach is littered with plastic bottles, some empty, some not; I can see a bottle occasionally falling out of a pack, but there are too many there for this to be the sole reason. People are deliberately discarding their bottles; why – are empty bottles suddenly too heavy to carry? No need to even mention the shorelines themselves; everyone knows about the garbage that lines them year-round.

Three Pools is another example; youths go in there and drink then jump from great heights into the top pool. Some people come out on stretchers. Broken bottles and other litter are usually left behind (I certainly wouldn’t want to set foot on the bottom of that pool without shoes on). Years ago, two of us gathered about three garbage bags full of glass and litter around the top pool only and hauled them out of there. Near Three Pools was the Swinging Bridge – once it was a rope bridge many years ago, then changed to steel, and then removed completely and the path blocked off by Nova Scotia Power due to misuse and abuse. 20 years ago, I was fortunate to stand on that bridge at 2AM on a quiet summer night and watch the mist roll down the river – it was magical and surreal. Nobody else can do that now; that experience is no longer available, due to human stupidity.

Provincial and federal parks are well-kept, but a lot of the best places to visit and experience are on unmonitored private land; it’s not too much to ask of visitors to respect the property. Pack it in, pack it out. If people keep littering and destroying these sites, we will all lose access to them eventually, and it won’t be the landowners’ fault.

Drysdale Falls, as seen from the now off-limits path

Drysdale Falls, as seen from pool-level

The long-gone Swinging Bridge near Three Pools

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