Thursday, September 30, 2021

A NEW FOREST TRAIL

We have lived in this Bayfield area for nearly nineteen years now and I have walked most of the trails at one time or another.  However, there is a trail not too far from us that although I had been aware of it for years I just kept forgetting it was there.  A local blog reader left a comment a few months ago wondering if I had ever hiked the trail just west of Varna Ontario.  Well, that jogged my memory and I had kept that thought on my radar screen until this morning when Pheebs and I, after our country road morning walk headed the short distance over to Varna Ontario.  

MISTY MORNING
 OUR DESTINATION THIS MORNING WAS THAT DISTANT FOREST AT TOP RIGHT
I knew where to look for the trailhead so didn't have any trouble finding it.  Without further ado and after checking the trail map board we struck off heading in a northerly direction.  Figured for starters we would do one of the shorter loop trails and another day we would come back and do the longer loop trail all the way to the Bayfield River.

WE DID THE TAYLOR TRAIL
 A RESTING BENCH ON THE EDGE OF A RAVINE
I liked this trail right off the bat because it was well maintained and it wandered its way through several sections of pine forest.  I particularly liked it because we had the whole trail to ourselves and never ran into anyone else the entire half-hour we walked ourselves around the Taylor loop.

There has been a number of bear sightings in our region this past summer so of course that is always on my mind whenever we are out and about on these forest trails.  Bears were never a concern around here until these past few years so I don't know if it's one bear making multiple appearances or a whole herd of bears hiding out in the woods.  I sometimes wonder if there are any bears at all.  Might be just squirrels dressed up in bear suits scaring people.

Forests are particularly nice this time of year with no bugs in the air and lots of little toadstools and mushrooms dotting the forest floor.  Autumn is when the magic is in the air and I can always sense that and especially so in the darker parts of the woods where the fairies and elves live.  We never see them of course but we can hear them giggling at us sometimes as we pass:))

 IT WAS DEFINITELY A NICE TRAIL
Our Autumn is very slow in coming this year.  Usually, by now we have a lot of color beginning to appear along the bush lines but so far forests are still very green.  I checked back in my blog to a year ago right now and there were lots of Autumn colors happening.  It all depends on weather I guess and we haven't had any freezing cold nights or frost yet.  It takes that first hard frost to really kick off the change in the leaves.  I'm not complaining, I'd be happy if it would just stay like this until next April.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A drunk guy goes horseback riding.  It starts out slow, but then it starts to gallop.  The guy is enjoying himself. All of a sudden he slips off and his foot gets caught in the reins.  The horse doesn't stop and the drunk is still being dragged upside down.  He doesn't know what to do. Finally, the Wal-Mart manager comes and unplugs it.

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Men are like fine wine...They all start out like grapes, and it's our job to stomp on them and keep them in the dark until they mature into something you'd like to have dinner with.

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A six-year-old comes crying to his Mother because his little sister pulled his hair.
"Don't be angry," the Mother says, "Your little sister doesn't realize that pulling hair hurts."  A short while later, there's more crying, and the Mother goes to investigate.
This time the sister is bawling and her brother says..."Now she knows."

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10 comments:

  1. That's a nice find, I'm sure you'll be back. The trees in many of your photos look to be in a straight line - were they planted?

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    1. I think they were Jeff. There are a number of pine tree reforestation projects in our area. In fact, where we live here in this pine forest is actually a reforestation project planted about 40 years ago or so.

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  2. Glad your memory got jogged and you struck out on the trail. Lovely. Thanks.

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  3. That trail made my shutter finger itchy. Thanks for the tour.

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  4. Wouldn't put it pass those tricky squirrels to dress up in bear costumes. LOL. Beautiful forest are that you and Miss Pheebs enjoyed today.

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  5. I wish we could find that perfect place where it is fall all year round! Looks like a great place to walk!

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  6. Looks like a great trail! Was that Taylor loop actually wheelchair accessible? If so it's one of very few. Outstanding first photo of the teasel!

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    1. Well, it says wheelchair accessible but you would need some good balloon tires and spongy shocks to get around the trail in any kind of comfort. Having driven a wheel chair van for a few years and being familiar with wheel chairs I wouldn't recommend doing this trail. Yes it can be done, but.....

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  7. That's a really neat trail complete woth a tunnel like you made in your park, Nice that it is close by.

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    1. Nice to hear from you Jean. Hope all is going well for you guys out there in that British Columbia place.

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