Another old nature haunting spot of ours returned to after an unbelievably-lengthy hiatus, even though accessing it is far swifter than driving to Gatineau, short even as that drive is.  With the propinquity of the ravine we simply surrendered all those nature hikes that necessitated getting in the car and driving over to access them, reasoning why bother when a leisurely hop-and-a-skip up the road takes us into a lovely natural setting?

Just as the day before when my breath was taken away by the beauty and the vast variations in the geology, forests, streams and lakes that we'd been missing out on for years, so too did my breath escape me in wonder at what we have relinquished so casually closer to home.  Which is not at all to diminish the value of our nearby ravine, merely an acknowledgement and deep appreciation for the variety available to us nature lovers.

 

We returned with our son yesterday to the Mer Bleue trails which we haven't visited in the past decade; a casual overlooking of the riches of nature so readily available to us.  The area is comprised of major and minor hiking trails through a mixed hardwood and softwood forest.  The colours there were somewhat less spectacular than at Gatineau, to our great surprise, for many of the deciduous trees had already been depleted of their foliage, though again, enough had not yet been.

We saw a small garter snake out nestling in the fallen leaves, and that was another surprise because it was a quite cold and windy, overcast day; one might imagine them to be secure in their winter lairs by now.  We saw a raven lifting its wide black wings into the wind and soaring high above, croaking back down at us.  And a small flight of chickadees was flitting about the trees, nibbling at whatever took their fancy.

Elsewhere, further along on the trail just where we recalled them to be, there was a small group of chickadees busy at a feeding station that we recall from the days when we came often to that spot.  And, just as then, though many generations have since taken the place of those who had first been tamed by the presence of curious humans, these birds too were relaxed about landing on an outstretched hand.

While we were out, we were treated to the sun coming through the trees, illuminating the great beauty that lay before us; the confetti-coloured foliage littering the forest floor, the bright yellows and reds still left on trees, the deep dark green of the conifers.  And we were also treated to short bursts of light rain, falling from dark scudding clouds above. We were well invigorated after those lengthy trails, and captivated by the beauty that surrounded us.

We've made a mental note not to forget to return occasionally to a setting that is well worth our deviating from what we now take to be the norm for our daily nature jaunts.