Saturday Bog Walk

Not far from our house there is a beautiful bog that stretches for miles and miles along the floor of a valley...to make it even better, there is an ancient railroad bed, without tracks, that passes through the bog, making a delightful walk or ski or bike at any time of the year...we went out for a couple of hours along the railroad bed this afternoon...Gail and Ben and Miles and I...it was wonderful!


There's still snow on the railroad bed, but it is in the process of melting away...


Ben and miles loved exploring both ahead and behind us, and being able to see for a long way makes it easy to keep an eye on them...


Some of the material used to create the railroad bed came from right next to it, which created a canal/stream that runs alongside the trail, and Miles went for a swim to explore the other side for a bit, enjoying the big splash that he could make trying to leap across the canal...


There were lots of beaver dams, and tons of beaver sign along the way, Miles and Ben loved looking at (and sniffing) the chewed sticks and mini-canals that the beavers dig to facilitate their logging enterprises...


It was a nice day for a brisk walk along the railroad bed...cool and cloudy, but not windy...


Miles loves the sights and smells and sounds along the way...we saw and heard and smelled lots of wildlife on our walk...including some ducks...


On our way back, we came across this beaver-chewed birch tree...they had felled the tree, and then limbed it to take advantage of the tasty bark and twigs...just the stem of the tree was left lying on the ground next to the trail...

We have no idea what this official-looking sign means, but went home hungry after our walk...maybe a liminal message...