After a little while, Laura went back into the tent and retrieved her jacket and her winter weight tights and got bundled up in them. That did not bode well.
All of our neighbours moved away yesterday. We have the whole street to ourselves. Oak Grove is nice and quiet. No sounds but the squirrels and the blue jay and the wind in the trees. A gentle sunlight filtering down through the oak canopy onto our cosy day bed.
I tried my best to keep Laura warm. I believe that she really did want to give me a nice rest today, but Laura believes that the best way to keep warm is to keep moving, and our campsite is so far away from the water, and the dog beach beckoned...
Laura snuggled into her bed for a little while and read her book while I had a nice nap, but it wasn't long before she snapped the book closed and said, "Well Kendal. How about that beach?"
*SIGH*
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Kendal's First Camping Adventure - Day 4 - Lazy Day
We had already covered all of the hiking trails in Rondeau Park and today was supposed to be our Lazy Day. On some level I knew that doing "whatever we want" wasn't going to translate into spending the entire day in bed, but a puppy can dream.
The day got off to a good start when Laura brought my bed out of the tent and onto the blue tarp so that I could have my breakfast in bed. (Yes, I know I am a spoiled puppy when Laura bakes me homemade cookies for breakfast and brings them to me in bed. What of it?) Then Laura sat down beside me to have her own breakfast. (The garlic had worked so well at keeping the vampires at bay yesterday that Laura had pesto for breakfast again today.) Then Laura brought her bed out of the tent and laid it down on the tarp beside mine. Naturally I gave up my own bed and moved across onto Laura's to warm it up for her.
Laura's bed is so cosy...
The day got off to a good start when Laura brought my bed out of the tent and onto the blue tarp so that I could have my breakfast in bed. (Yes, I know I am a spoiled puppy when Laura bakes me homemade cookies for breakfast and brings them to me in bed. What of it?) Then Laura sat down beside me to have her own breakfast. (The garlic had worked so well at keeping the vampires at bay yesterday that Laura had pesto for breakfast again today.) Then Laura brought her bed out of the tent and laid it down on the tarp beside mine. Naturally I gave up my own bed and moved across onto Laura's to warm it up for her.
Laura's bed is so cosy...
Kendal's First Camping Adventure - Day 3 - Spider Web Trail
After the Deer Enclosure, we hiked our last trail of the park, Black Oak Trail.
The park's guide book calls Black Oak Trail a "pleasant jaunt" and "an excellent trail for watching songbirds". We found it to be neither.
Black Oak Trail was an interesting enough trail, but we didn't see any birds or stop to take any pictures. The lack of birds, again, may have been due to the storm blowing through. The lack of pictures certainly was. The sky had darkened such that the lighting wasn't good for taking photographs with our minimalist equipment, and it had started to rain. Laura loves the rain, as some of you may know, but we were in a thickly forested area and the skies were threatening to rain hard. We wanted to get off the trail before that happened.
As for the "pleasant" part, let me say this: If you are an arachnophobe, Black Oak Trail is not for you!
Laura and I have nothing against spiders per se. We've seen some interesting ones here in Rondeau Park and even taken a few snapshots of them. The problem with Black Oak Trail was that it obviously hadn't been as well travelled by humans in recent days as the other trails had been. I was short enought to pass beneath most of the spider webs that crossed the path, but Laura grew tired of constantly breaking them with her face and took to waving a stick up and down in front of her as she walked to clear our passage.
Maybe someday, when it is sunnier and we are well rested and have more time to devote to exploring, Laura and I will give Black Oak Trail another go, but on this trip, we were glad to be rid of it, scrape the spider silk out of our hair and eyes, and head back to Oak Grove.
The winds were still raging when we made it back to camp, so Laura didn't even attempt to start a fire. We had a cold dinner, Laura taking her pesto with whole wheat pita bread and Lancashire cheese, and went to bed.
The rain clouds blew over quickly but the high winds continued to rage well into the night and long after we had fallen asleep.
The park's guide book calls Black Oak Trail a "pleasant jaunt" and "an excellent trail for watching songbirds". We found it to be neither.
Black Oak Trail was an interesting enough trail, but we didn't see any birds or stop to take any pictures. The lack of birds, again, may have been due to the storm blowing through. The lack of pictures certainly was. The sky had darkened such that the lighting wasn't good for taking photographs with our minimalist equipment, and it had started to rain. Laura loves the rain, as some of you may know, but we were in a thickly forested area and the skies were threatening to rain hard. We wanted to get off the trail before that happened.
As for the "pleasant" part, let me say this: If you are an arachnophobe, Black Oak Trail is not for you!
Laura and I have nothing against spiders per se. We've seen some interesting ones here in Rondeau Park and even taken a few snapshots of them. The problem with Black Oak Trail was that it obviously hadn't been as well travelled by humans in recent days as the other trails had been. I was short enought to pass beneath most of the spider webs that crossed the path, but Laura grew tired of constantly breaking them with her face and took to waving a stick up and down in front of her as she walked to clear our passage.
Maybe someday, when it is sunnier and we are well rested and have more time to devote to exploring, Laura and I will give Black Oak Trail another go, but on this trip, we were glad to be rid of it, scrape the spider silk out of our hair and eyes, and head back to Oak Grove.
The winds were still raging when we made it back to camp, so Laura didn't even attempt to start a fire. We had a cold dinner, Laura taking her pesto with whole wheat pita bread and Lancashire cheese, and went to bed.
The rain clouds blew over quickly but the high winds continued to rage well into the night and long after we had fallen asleep.
Kendal's First Camping Adventure - Day 3 - Secret Trail
On Bennett Avenue, on route to Black Oak Trail, we saw a raccoon crossing the road. We also saw another trail -- one that isn't marked on the map!
Of course, we had to hike it.
The Deer Enclosure Trail is just a short little walk into the woods and around the perimeter of the deer enclosure.
We didn't see any deer -- which is actually the point! The deer enclosure doesn't enclose deer -- it keeps them out.
What it does enclose is a small patch of Carolinian forest on which deer have not been allowed to graze since 1978. The Rondeau peninsula has a higher population of deer than the forest there can sustainably support. Inside the deer enclosure, the forest is regenerating and the area is thick with bushes and sapplings. Outside the enclosure, the forest has been overgrazed and much of the undergrowth is just grasses and flowers. (The open area didn't look as bad as on the photos on the Deer Enclosure sign, however. We couldn't find recent numbers on the deer population, but it looks as if park management practices have started to bring it under control in recent years.)
Sustainable ecosystems are a delicate and complicated balance!
Of course, we had to hike it.
The Deer Enclosure Trail is just a short little walk into the woods and around the perimeter of the deer enclosure.
We didn't see any deer -- which is actually the point! The deer enclosure doesn't enclose deer -- it keeps them out.
What it does enclose is a small patch of Carolinian forest on which deer have not been allowed to graze since 1978. The Rondeau peninsula has a higher population of deer than the forest there can sustainably support. Inside the deer enclosure, the forest is regenerating and the area is thick with bushes and sapplings. Outside the enclosure, the forest has been overgrazed and much of the undergrowth is just grasses and flowers. (The open area didn't look as bad as on the photos on the Deer Enclosure sign, however. We couldn't find recent numbers on the deer population, but it looks as if park management practices have started to bring it under control in recent years.)
Sustainable ecosystems are a delicate and complicated balance!
Kendal's First Camping Adventure - Day 3 - Spice Bush Trail
The Marsh Trail is a super long trail that just ends in the middle of the marsh. There is nowhere to go from there, save hike back along the same path that we took into the marsh, so that's what we did. Before we left the marsh behind, I made sure to have a good roll in the marsh's scrumptious tall grass!
Then we were back at the entrance to the Marsh Trail. The day was still young and we were feeling good, so we decided to hike down to Bennett Avenue and complete the final two trails. (Laura said that if we did all of the trails in two days, we could do whatever we wanted on the next day!)
Spice Bush Trail was pretty with lots of ferns and wildflowers on the forest floor. It was pretty easy to get around that trail too. I think it should be marked as a "barrier free" trail like the Tulip Tree Trail is. My Dad would like this trail.
We didn't see any animals on the Spice Bush Trail, just lots of plants and bugs. (Laura thought the birds may all have taken shelter as a wild storm was blowing up as we hiked this trail.)
None of the bugs bothered us. Even the mosquitos stayed away today! Laura's pesto with lamb and rice meal did the trick! (Laura had her pesto with whole wheat rotini pasta.)
Then we were back at the entrance to the Marsh Trail. The day was still young and we were feeling good, so we decided to hike down to Bennett Avenue and complete the final two trails. (Laura said that if we did all of the trails in two days, we could do whatever we wanted on the next day!)
Spice Bush Trail was pretty with lots of ferns and wildflowers on the forest floor. It was pretty easy to get around that trail too. I think it should be marked as a "barrier free" trail like the Tulip Tree Trail is. My Dad would like this trail.
We didn't see any animals on the Spice Bush Trail, just lots of plants and bugs. (Laura thought the birds may all have taken shelter as a wild storm was blowing up as we hiked this trail.)
None of the bugs bothered us. Even the mosquitos stayed away today! Laura's pesto with lamb and rice meal did the trick! (Laura had her pesto with whole wheat rotini pasta.)
Kendal's First Camping Adventure - Day 3 - Nap Time
The sun came out along our Marsh Trail journey, and you never would have guessed that a thunder storm had ravaged this peninsula just hours earlier.
Laura and I took a rest on the side of the trail to soak up some rays and rehydrate.
This was the view looking straight up from our resting place:
As we were resting beneath the shade of the tall blue grass, two little frogs came and sat with us for a while.
Back on the trail after our rest, we finally got some good photographs of a Red Admiral.
See how good his camouflage is? With its wings folded up, this Admiral looks just like a bit of tree bark!
Most of these butterfiles were very shy and flew away before Laura could get our camera focussed on them, but this little guy was so friendly, he actually alighted on Laura's shirt!
Laura and I took a rest on the side of the trail to soak up some rays and rehydrate.
This was the view looking straight up from our resting place:
As we were resting beneath the shade of the tall blue grass, two little frogs came and sat with us for a while.
Back on the trail after our rest, we finally got some good photographs of a Red Admiral.
See how good his camouflage is? With its wings folded up, this Admiral looks just like a bit of tree bark!
Most of these butterfiles were very shy and flew away before Laura could get our camera focussed on them, but this little guy was so friendly, he actually alighted on Laura's shirt!
Kendal's First Camping Adventure - Day 3 - The Marsh
To tell the truth, I would have been happy for today's adventure to have been sleeping in bed, but I knew it was important to Laura to hike all of the trails in Rondeau this week so I went with her.
Walking along Water Street, we were escorted by a friendly monarch butterfly. Then, on the trail itself, more Monarchs as well as Cabbage Whites, Clouded Sulfurs, Pearl Crescents
and Red Admirals.
We saw lots of birds too: little brown birds, a whole flock of black birds resting in the bullrushes, a couple of swallow-tailed birds near the north end of the marsh, more raptors circling overhead
(watch out little brown birds!) and lots of dragon flies. We saw bullrushes and tall blue grass and thickets of raspberry canes and grape vines and those white berry bushes,
pretty orange flowers, golden rod, tiny white asters, tiny buds of purple, and white & pink morning glories.
We hiked along a couple of boardwalks out into the marsh. At the end of one there was this cute little shelter, just the right size for me! It sure was nice of the Rondeau Park people to build this for me!
At the end of the other boardwalk there was a lookout tower into which we climbed. We could see water and marsh for miles around from up there, and it was super windy!
a>
Laura really liked it up in the Marsh Trail Tower, looking out over Rondeau Bay, the wind in her hair -- but she said she was glad she wasn't out on the water in a canoe that day!
 | Laura said we could hike a little more slowly today since we have less ground to cover but, once we got onto the Marsh Trail, there were so many interesting things to see and smell that I soon forgot I was tired. Before we even got to the trail itself, a huge bird of prey flew overhead. He swooped down so low, right over our heads, I was glad Laura was with me lest that enormous raptor took a fancy to me as a nice light morning snack! |
Walking along Water Street, we were escorted by a friendly monarch butterfly. Then, on the trail itself, more Monarchs as well as Cabbage Whites, Clouded Sulfurs, Pearl Crescents
and Red Admirals.
We saw lots of birds too: little brown birds, a whole flock of black birds resting in the bullrushes, a couple of swallow-tailed birds near the north end of the marsh, more raptors circling overhead
(watch out little brown birds!) and lots of dragon flies. We saw bullrushes and tall blue grass and thickets of raspberry canes and grape vines and those white berry bushes,
pretty orange flowers, golden rod, tiny white asters, tiny buds of purple, and white & pink morning glories.
We hiked along a couple of boardwalks out into the marsh. At the end of one there was this cute little shelter, just the right size for me! It sure was nice of the Rondeau Park people to build this for me!
At the end of the other boardwalk there was a lookout tower into which we climbed. We could see water and marsh for miles around from up there, and it was super windy!
a>Laura really liked it up in the Marsh Trail Tower, looking out over Rondeau Bay, the wind in her hair -- but she said she was glad she wasn't out on the water in a canoe that day!
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