Songs from the woods....

Today was a lovely spring day and after an hour long trip into the DIY centre,

I came home and knew exactly where I wanted to go.

Destination: Camp Bernard.

The 300 acre boy scout camp around the corner from my house. (a country corner that is.)

When kids are in camp, I stay out of the way but I've been given permission

by the caretaker to walk Griffin here when there's nothing going on.

So up into the woods we sauntered...

The forest is alive with spring!

Birds are singing their little hearts out and everything is busy with the business of new beginnings.

Sword ferns unfurling from a long winters sleep...

From the tiniest of woodland violets to the grand Douglas fir...

The rare and delicate Trillium...

...and the common English daisy are up and raring to go...

Some of my favorite trees are these ones that the grand Pileated woodpecker frequents...

If you don't know of this magnificent bird, it is one of the largest woodpeckers

in the world. About 20" long.Cousin of the sadly extinct Ivory billed woodpecker.

( photo of a Pileated courtesy of Juan A Pons)

Anyway, I love to see the fist size holes they peck out with their huge beaks,

leaving behind what looks like a woodworkers pile of chips below.

Apparently they have massive shock absorbers in their heads to prevent brain damage.

Up near the top of the trail we come across, what I call, civilization...

The back of one of the mess halls, built in the '40s and some of the little cabins where, I'm sure,

many ghost stories have been told!

But why I come here is for this...

The trail down to the creek...

I have always thought of the woods as John Muir did.

A sacred place. And so this sign is so appropriate...

Once when I came down here there was an alter cloaked in white, ready for a service...

Along the way I come across a yellow spotted millipede...

Known also as an almond scented millipede or a more daunting name of

the cyanide millipede.

Yes, they actually produce cyanide. They are considered a 'keystone" species

because of their ability to macro shed debris in the woods.

The cyanide-producing millipede alone eats 33 to 50 percent of all the dead coniferous and deciduous leaves that come to rest on the forest floor.

 It is one of the most critical links in the entire soil foodweb.

If you pick one up, they curl into a ball and give off the smell of roasted almonds.

And we all know, thanks to Agatha Christie, this is the smell of poison!

Over the years, youth in programs here have made signs identifying flora and fauna.

I love how they've aged, as I'm sure the makers have too...

Then...I'm overcome with serenity.

The creek at the bottom of the trail.

Awash in the glory of a new year.

The water singing with it's joy of a new year of life...

So many things in nature astonish me...the colour of moss I wish to be draped in,

the feel of clear, clean water, the tiny things like these water gliders...

Their legs are long, skinny and straight but in water, the reflection produces large polka dots!

Another magical moment.

On the banks of the creek, I find a funny sign which has come from above...

 ...so I set this 'ship' to sail down the creek...

In the heat of a long summer day, this is where I bring Griff.

It's the cold, clear relief he gets from the sun...

For me, this crystal water is absolutely freezing and I only need to dip my feet for a cool down.

Today I find evidence of beavers from, who knows how far upstream...

...trees fallen from winter storms...

 ...moss beginning it's life anew...

and the tiniest beginnings of huckleberries!

So I leave you now with songs from the woods...babbling brook in C minor perhaps...