The morning walk in the woods with Arta

a bed of clover under our feet

This morning, I interrupted Arta in her gardening to see if she had time for a bit of a walk.  We usually just go up and down the road, engaging in conversation.  This morning, she suggested that we check out "The Grandfathers Path", and "David and Shauna's Path".   Both of these would take us through the woods.   

And so we headed off, down the main road until we hit the entry to the Grandfathers Path.   

It is thus named since two of the grandfathers (Glen and Greg) have done the work of clearing trees and branches, and maintaining the path.   

Fungi like ruffles around the edge of a skirt

It is one that, if followed all the way, connects us up with the old logging road that is now part of the trail to Sicamous.

The beginning of the path is full of grasses and plants that make the movement slow, but that also disguise the presence of the pathway's entrance.   

Once you move past the knee high grasses and into the woods, the path opens up somewhat.   Because we have had so much rain this year, the forest floor at this point is like a bed of clover.  It was magical walking over top of the ground that felt like a thick rich carpet.

a forest floor of fallen birch, and a carpet of moss, ferns and more

Old trees lay felled along side the path (some felled by nature, others by those maintaining the path), their decaying trunks hosting another world of moss, lichen, fungi and insects.  

I find myself  thinking about the Secwepemc story that tells us Coyote's first wife was a tree.  

a mossy stump, and a stream in the background

I also myself looking at the highly decorated decaying wood (in one case, looking almost like the ruffles on the edge of a skirt), and thinking about Suzanne Simard's work on the ways trees talk to each other.  

The downed logs seem clearly a part of "the economy", sending their collected wealth and resources back into life of the forest around them. 

Railcars visible in background as train passes by

Walking along the path, you feel in another world.   At the same time, there are reminders that the 'ordinary world' is only a step away.   At regular intervals, the bird song is joined by the sounds of the train: the railroad tracks are close enough that you could maybe hit them with a stone (well... if you could throw a stone much farther than I am able to, and if you had it in your mind that throwing stones was an appropriate behaviour!)

I love the smooth bark of the cedar

We continued to follow the Grandfathers Path until we came to the second of two streams.  
At that point, we took a sharp right to go up the hill, following David and Shauna's path (a steep path that takes them on a more direct route down to the sandy beach).

Along the way, where branches block the path, they have not cut them, but instead woven them back into each other, so that path is clear, and the trees are untouched.   It feels a bit magical at points.  

Sun shining through a group of cedar trees

The path runs along a steep ravine. It is hard to capture the depth in a photo, but it is glorious to walk along.   You are surrounded by medium-growth douglas fir and cedar trees.   And then if you follow the path to the bottom of the ravine, you come again upon the stream.  At the season of the year, it is a small wandering trail along the forest floor.  Given the depth of the ravine, you can imagine a history of earlier times (and maybe times to later return) where the water rushes through this channel.   
 To get a bit of the sense of depth in the ravine, check this photo out.  I am at the top, and Arta is half way down (I think of this as a Where's Waldo/Arta photo) beside a big tree.  You can also see a tree that has fallen, running from one side of the ravine to the other.

The ravine cuts deep into the hill

And here we are at the bottom of the ravine, with a little video of the stream. 

And then, time for the walk up the hill again, and back in time for breakfast!

Time to head back up the hill

I seem to be obsessed today with the moss on the fallen trees

Arta scrambling up ahead of me, with her walking sticks.  Gotta get me some!

Back at the top of the hill, with the view from David and Shauna's place.