Nov. 9, 2005 - A day in the woods.
"Look at this bear footprint! Over here! See... the paw and this claw..." I brushed away a few leaves with my boot. Some of them were imbedded in the mud. I pulled them out. It was yesterday afternoon, sunny, a perfect day for walking through the woods. But where were we?
We had been trying to get up north for months, but so much stood in the way: schedules, no 4x4 vehicles, and also not quite the interest on my dad’s part. Finally though, we found out Monday morning that we were going to be renting a truck and going up. At last... nearly three years since our last trip there. My parents quickly planned what to do with the little girls... deciding they would go over to the L’s to enjoy a day with their family; then we went and picked up our truck – which turned out to be a brand new 2006 Dodge Ram, minus a few weeks and miles. But where were we heading?
30 years ago my dad bought 700 acres of pure wilderness about 4 hours north of here in the Muskoka region. Situated among innumerable lakes it provides a wonderful quiet place right ‘out of this world’. That’s where we are heading now.
Isaac and I were up at 4:30 and milked the cow, then came back and got everybody up. Finally around 6:00 we were ready to roll away. We piled into the comfortable spacious quad cab and closed the doors. The lights faded precociously, making me feel like a concert was about to begin. "What would the day hold? What would we see? What would we discover?"
We had hoped to miss traffic in Toronto by starting early. Poor luck – 7:30 found us facing an 18 lane traffic jam. We felt like action so we bypassed the main routes and took to the city. Right through the area where there have been too many people shot in their cars while driving down the road in the past month. It felt great to finally be out of the city and facing open country again.
2 hours later found us turning onto the Olde Wagon Road – the name suits the road to perfection. The unmaintained forest access road was fun going after mostly freeway driving. We met some hunters on the road and my dad leaned out and asked them how it was going and if they had seen any bears? Hunting was great, and no, they hadn’t seen any bears. My mom sighed in relief, I groaned in disappointment. We wound along through the forest, uphill, downhill, this way, that way, over rocks, through mud, twisting, turning, and then down a hill with 3 foot ruts on either side and finally up our lane. We were there!
We drove around a bit and checked things out and then came back and had lunch. After loading up some logs and rocks we wanted to take home we decided to go and walk down to the ‘Old Clearing’. After some trail switching and taking a look from the top of a cliff out onto the clearing, we were back on the right trail. We hurried on down through the pines and came out into the clearing minutes later. Around that tree, that same tree I remember seeing since I was a little boy. It has grown, I have grown. The dried grass looks the same. The green carpets of moss and clumps of frosty lichen are what they always have been.
When we got to the ‘Old foundation’ we clambered in and got some pictures of ourselves. The ‘Old Foundation’ is the remains of some settler’s cabin. Years back I had discovered a piece of a Sears & Roebuck catalog from the early 1900’s in a little cedar shack nearby. It had listed canoes for slightly more than a dollar and ladders for mere cents. We are left to imagine what life might have been for him. Maybe he went off in war and never came back. Maybe he was lured out of the frontier to the big cities. Maybe, maybe, maybe, but here are the remains of history. Nearby stand the row of great cedars that have stood out in my memory for years.
We hear water so we go looking for the beaver dam pushing into the forest towards the river. That’s when I saw what I thought was a bear footprint. After studying it a little more we decided it was just a moose print. There were traces everywhere of moose and deer. And then we see it. Nice and fresh, a good 25 foot dam across, the water running through it, splashing down and flowing on in a much more stagnant way.
Finally we head back to the cabin. We had only been there for a few hours, but it was great, we had enjoyed a day out in the woods. I wished we had been able to stay and see the stars again, but weather and time would not allow. We packed up and headed out, bringing us to the main road half an hour later. I leaned back in my seat, the pavement hummed below me. Then I reached down and pulled out my notebook to recount the day’s happenings. There is a lone plane circling overhead, the moon is visible, white against the blue sky. I turn back to my paper. I wanted to share a little bit of our day with my friends.
It was a wonderful day; the time was totally worth it, every bit! I wish you had been there!
Comments
Nov. 9, 2005 - Cool!
Posted by Lindsey
That sounds really neat! I love the forest... Btw, I linked to you on my blog, and commented on your other post with some other names of teen homeschool bloggers. Your blog looks very nice! Keep it up!
Nov. 9, 2005 - Untitled Comment
Posted by writingdown
Thanks for linking! I appreciate the comments.
Nov. 11, 2005 - Nice to meet you!
Posted by ScoutBlog
Hey man!
WOW! That sounded like a ton of fun. :-) It has been a long time since I have been camping. (Even though I am a Boy Scout) I look forward to reading more of your blog in the future!
The Blogging Boy Scout,
Travis
http://travis17blog.blogspot.com
I am a homeschooler, I just happen to have a blogger blog instead of a HB one. :-)
Nov. 11, 2005 - Untitled Comment
Posted by writingdown
Oh my, that place could hold so much fun for boyscouts. :)
Glad to meet you. I have a blogger blog too, and I've been debating crossposting myself over there. It seems like that's the place for people anyways. :)