Spring has sprung and the stay-at-home father of a ten month old needs to get out of the house. We’re not taking the stroller across the world, by any means. But, we are discovering and rediscovering overlooked places close to home.
Of course, in spring time, everything outdoors looks awesome. After months of dreary black, white and shades of gray, it’s such a pleasure to the senses to see colour emerging everywhere.
Here’s a little of what we saw on one of our local quests last week.
Ken Whillans Resource Management Area is located just north of Brampton, Ontario. In other words, this is a park located just minutes from millions of people in the Greater Toronto Area. This was not quite our destination. It was the blue bridge beyond the sign.
The Caledon Trailway is a rail trail that runs through several communities north of Brampton. The blue walking bridge was built just a few years ago as crossing highway 10 became nearly impossible.
A note to visitors: there are many places to park along the trailway for free. At Ken Whillans, there is a fee for parking. However, to the left as you drive in, there is a separate parking lot for trailway users. This lot is free.
Reminding me of the Florida Everglades where we tramped around just a few months ago, this would appear to be a permanent wetland. It is not. The area is still recovering from recent rain and snow. This is a typical sight this time of year.
This is a permanent swamp. Along the Caledon Trailway, going east from highway 10, this is the first real wetland area you will come across.
There is a large population of painted turtle in the wetland. They are timid little buggers and with the 300mm lens fully extended, this was as much of a closeup as I could get.
Normally, I would never take a picture of a Canada Goose. They are annoying and have an issue with shitting everywhere. The reason why I was intrigued by this one was that he was alone and sort of in a natural state. Normally, they’re in huge flocks and normally they’re being fed by people who should know better than to feed them.
When seen in this state, the Canada Goose can almost be appreciated.
That’s the work of one eager beaver! He didn’t make it all the way through, but that tree is as big as any I’ve ever seen a beaver try to work through. Obviously, he chewed through enough to kill the tree as it had to be cut down.
I’m not sure the image does this beaver lodge justice. It’s huge! Surely, it’s near the size of one of the condos just a few minutes away.
Just when your imagination convinces you that you’re in the wild, civilization rears its ugly head. Well, maybe not ugly – I’m a big fan of aircraft. Thanks to FlightRadar24.com, we can determine a ton of info from this image. The registration number on the underside of that left wing is HL8250. This is a Korean Airlines Boeing 777 getting near its destination after flying from Soeul, Korea. Toronto Pearson International Airport is just a short distance away.
Manitoba Maple are nothing but a weed tree. The one in my backyard caused great grief last year when it dropped a rather large limb onto our vegetable garden. However, as I said above, everything outdoors has a way of being beautiful in springtime.
