An Odd Square

Sometimes, I question the punishment I endure in search of something humans left behind. This little adventure took me deep into a terribly tangled forest, along the old derelict Dominion Atlantic Railway line. Most everything in the Annapolis Valley was abandoned in 1990, leaving this the last section running, carrying sporadic freight between New Minas and Hantsport until 2006. Then just over the border into Hants County, the next section fell silent when the gypsum plant shuttered in 2011. Unlike further down-Valley, these rails have experienced no conversation to trails. All ties and tracks are still intact underfoot, though often lost under leaf litter. I came this way from Blue Beach Road, making progress through the brush at the pace of a kilometre per hour — if lucky. Hiking was just shy of a nightmare. It's overgrown within an inch of sanity, can't take two steps without ducking under or climbing over, young growth making a desperate attempt to steal sunlight still unclaimed.

At every hollow, I left the tracks to descend, searching for aging infrastructure in the way of drainage tunnels. The first were tiny culverts, barely enough to stick my head in, until I finally spotted this curious box down below. An odd square sticking out of the earth, simply constructed, enough to slip the trickle of an unnamed stream. Nothing complex in the stonework, no archway to get just right, good for the trainee masons. Would have been completed by 1869, when this section first opened for traffic. I'm sure no one laying these stones expected some future fascination on my part. But deep in the cool silence, I felt the most genuine draw. Slipped under, stayed a while, took a break from constant sweat and biting insects. Ran my hands over what was laid in place a century and a half ago. Before leaving, I caught the fast flash of what seemed to be a dog up above. It barked once, then ran off. Moments later, the yelping started, and I recognized a coyote calling. It echoed accusingly like laughter, all my way back to the present day. I grazed on cloudberry and paid it no mind.

July 9, 2025
Lockhartville, Nova Scotia

Year 18, Day 6450 of my daily journal.