Since we began crossing over into the south portion of the ravine adjoining our neighbourhood we hadn't yet been there on a Saturday. Up until yesterday we seldom saw anyone else on the trails. They're quite different than those on our portion of the ravine, less wild perhaps, more groomed by nature. There are the same good-sized pines and beeches but there are also some very elderly cedars, some of a height and girth that we just don't see on the upper ravine portion. Such unusual tree specimens always attract our interest and admiration.

And nor are the trails as long, but they are pleasant. The heights and depths of the ravine on our side are far less pronounced. The peaks and valleys less demanding of physical exertion. At the end of the trail there is where one gains entry to a large park with a baseball diamond and several excellent installations for children; playgrounds that are familiar to us from the time we used to take our granddaughter there for a little social recreation as a break from the more familiar playgrounds closer to the street we live on.

This is also where a bridge had been replaced the year before. It's far more robust than the one that had preceded it. Perched on concrete pylons and the supports being of steel, the upper portion remains wood, but the construction is meant to last, on a forest floor base comprised of clay and sand and given to slumping. This is obviously the prototype for the replacement bridges that will eventually stand along our portion of the ravine to make up for the four that have been dismantled.

Since it was a Saturday we expected to see more people about and there were indeed people walking their dogs there. Among them people we haven't see in quite awhile, people whom we'd commonly seen daily in years gone by. To discover now, years later, that these good people lived across the main street we had to cross to access this portion of the ravine. One couple who had for years walked a lively cross-breed named Sam, doting in him as people do who love their companion animals.

Many years ago someone had dropped off a dog on the far reaches of the ravine beyond even where we were wont to access. It would roam the ravine and was heard barking but no one could get near it for the dog skittered off when someone would approach. Eventually its den was discovered; when the dog had been left there to fend for itself it was left with a wire cage lined with an old blanket and there it returned from its forays, perhaps searching for food. People began dropping off dog food for it close by the cage.

And eventually this couple gained its trust sufficiently so that it allowed them to approach, and take him into their custody. He became a beloved companion for Sam, and they both lived out their lives in their home. When both of the dogs left them they just couldn't seem to bring another dog into their lives. The last time we saw them both several years back they were picking up dog litter that others hadn't bothered to take off the trail when their dogs did what was natural to them.