Adventures in the Marsh - Part 2

Hullo again... we are in a flooded marsh and wondering where we are... luckily, I am a beary good navigator bear and I know where we are!

Mama's phone helped too... We identified some clumps of trees and we are good to go.

Next... we found a huge pile of old lumber...

A closer look at the lumber...

...and signs of an old fire pit...

 ...along with some bags....

 ...and a rudimentary water hose in a run-off rivulet...

...all indicate that this was likely a homeless camp at some point. Nobody here right now though...

I did however find more skeletal remains... leg bones...

jaw bones...

and... oooohhhh.... a full on skull with antlers!!!

We need to come back and get this in the dark-of-morning one day... I couldn't convince Mama to take it home this time...

After some more bushwhacking... we found a road/trail of sorts!

Hmmm... more flooded waters... but...

 We are getting closer to the mystery thing... remember, that white square in the middle of the marsh...

 Here's another view... it looks like a roof or something.

Ooohhh... and some snowdrops!

Closer still... and there are a stash of lawn chairs....

 But while we are beary close... the area is flooded and we can't get there... drat!

But a photo zoom-in shows a roofed shelter... maybe a bird-watching place? For the local university??

I tried to convince Mama to go wading but she said she got enough soakers when she was a kid and she's not doing those anymore. Phooie!

 Oh well... at least we know how to get here for next time! We came up the other side of the highway embankment on the way home... much easier!

Adventures in the Marsh

Hullo, Sandy Bear here. Today we are going on a Grand Adventure! This is beary exciting. The snow is gone (mostly) and the winter has been a long one. I am ready to get out there and discover something new. Today, our mission is to resolve a mystery...

There is a big marsh nearby that has a hiking trail at the east end, but the west end is a bit of an unknown. I was looking at it on Google Maps and discovered what looked like a system of trails and... a mysterious shiny object!

See!!? There is some square white thing down there. It is supposed to be park land, so what is that thing? A secret government installation? Military? Some one needs to go and find out. And that someone is me!

So.. we're off... Along the way, Mama said we might see some spring flowers but... I don't think much of these ones. This is Daphne laureola, also known as Spurge Laurel. It is invasive here...

 It has teensy-tiny greenish coloured flowers. Meh...

I want something better!

Hello, apple orchard. Nice to see you again!

Umm... OK... so the first thing we need to do is get across the 4 lane highway. We thought we could scoot under the bridge where the river goes through but... There's been so much snow melt that things are a bit flooded.

See... it's more like a lake than a river!

That's where we want to go... Normally it's a ditch...not anymore.

Oh dear. Will our mission abort right off the bat?

 Are we going to be stymied by a little bit of frigid, fast-moving water?

 What do you think?? Are we???

No we are not!!

We moved upstream along the ditch until we found a fordable point,.. After all... we are Adventurers!

Now we just need to scoot along the highway embankment...

And here we are!

Crouch under the bridge...

Pass some colourful graffiti... That could stand for Alexander's Roar!

And we're through the other side!!

Which is a bit of a wilderness. Luckily, not tooooo many brambles and blackberry plants.

Just... you know... a few skeletons...

Judging by the jaw bone and the skull, this is a deer skeleton. I wonder if it was hit by a car and injured and stumbled down here to die?

 Might have to come back and pick this up later for our garden! If we can find it...

Holy moly... the marsh is flooded!!

 Umm... I wonder where exactly we are... let's pull out the phone and see...

To Be Continued

One month countdown

Sandy's one-year anniversary as a little blogger bear is coming up on December 25... one month from today! That was when Sandy started his year of daily adventures.

Awww... he was such a young bear back then! Still wet behind the ears, a nameless, novice adventurer... and now... well now, Sandy is a veteran adventurer... He's been to England, Germany, Mexico and Winnipeg (many times).

He also has some ideas for the new year...

1. Get some new outfits!

2. Get a pedicure, a manicure, a facial and a haircut! Sandy has gotten kind of grizzled over the last year and feels like he needs some pampering to restore his fur.

3. Slow down on the daily adventures. Adventures every two or three or four days are just fine! (Mama had a wee bit of trouble keeping up with daily adventure postings!)

4. Sandy would like to be able to write some of the postings himself (oh boy...) - like Bob T. Bear and Beanie and Hammie and Sullivan and... quite a few other blogger pals! Maybe he should take typing lessons...

We'll see how many of these wish-items can be fulfilled by Christmas!