Paddling the Saugeen

The Saugeen River is the best paddling in this part of southern Ontario, with bits of gentle (class 1) white water that make it a lot of fun - or a good learning experience for a family.  So we reached out beyond the valley and headed toward Hanover, Ontario, to catch the upper part of the Saugeen.

It was just an absolutely beautiful paddling day, with bright blue sky and a fair breeze - which both kept it cool and kept the bugs away!

We started at an old unused iron bridge upstream of Hanover (at access point 2, since access point 1 apparently doesn't exist).  There's a great paddling map for Grey County which shows details of all the popular canoe opportunities.  After doing the car shuffle to leave one downstream, we headed out.

On this trip we had two other friends in their own canoe, who feature incognito in a few of these pictures ('cause they were usually ahead of us).

There were numerous sweepers (fallen trees at water level) which narrowed the channel, one of which was recent and a little tricky to get past.  But of course I'm paying attention to paddling at that point, so all the pictures you're seeing are of relatively placed stretches of the river.  But this tree looks like it will be a sweeper soon, and narrow the channel dramatically.

A few Mergansers and Canada Geese, here a group of four adults with a few young that have grown beyond their yellow fluff.  I learned through an earlier blog comment that such a multi-family group of geese is called a creche.  There's a fourth adult out of the picture, and a few goslings already hidden in the grass.

And we paddled under two old railway bridges, the train tracks and trains long since gone.  This is part of the Wellington, Grey and Bruce Railway built in the 1870s, now a walking/biking/etc. trail.  It appeared that the cement pillars are original, but the bridge itself is new - nowhere near large enough to support a train!

The weather was simply gorgeous, and the greens along the river almost fluorescent.  Several times we said to ourselves that 'you couldn't have a better day for paddling'.

 We portaged around the dam in Hanover, and enjoyed lunch sitting on a log in the shade before continuing downstream to find the other car, simply a great day for a paddle.

The upper half of the stretch we paddled had some interesting gentle whitewater like this, taken looking upstream at the bridge where we started.  But of course going through these stretches the camera is in its dry bag, and my hands are on the paddle.  At times it was quite exciting, though the pictures don't capture that.

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Mosquito Season!

I know we all usually post pretty pictures of flowers or beautiful landscapes at this time of year, but it wouldn't be a true reflection of the seasons if I didn't acknowledge the mosquitoes - millions of them!

Mosquitoes appear to torment us every year in June.  They don't bother me as much as they bother some other people, including my wife, who reacts to the bites.  But they're a nuisance when you're outside, and they're a plague if you try walking in the woods!

And it wouldn't give you the right impression of the season if I gave you only one photo, because they appear in swarms, so much so that it's not uncommon to give up and run away, waving your arms madly about your head in the hopes of surviving the attack!

But there are pretty flowers around too, like this Batchelor's Button, one of my favourites for macro shots, with the contrasting purple and white.  I was lined up to shoot this one when a bumblebee zoomed in.

And the first of our large peonies are out too, attracting a horde of buzzing bees.  You can clearly see the bag of yellow pollen on this one's leg.

Just for interest, this is the plant where that single bloom had opened.  We have a group of large peonies that are the result of a cross-breeding program at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, where they were being sold as 'extras' many years ago.  So they're un-named, and perhaps unique varieties, but they do have lots of flowers.

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Juvenile Song Sparrows

I was out in the garden the other day, and heard a constant chirping.  I looked up to see a Song Sparrow sitting on an old iron sculpture we have.  And then there were two!  They came and went for several minutes while I snapped some pictures, a few of my rare bird pictures where the bird is close enough to see!

They gave the impression of being two young birds just off the nest, which was in some cedars near our deck.  They made virtually no noise in the nest, but one of these must have been missing its parent bringing food, because it kept up a constant chirping for a long time.

One briefly sat on an old raspberry twig within camera range, giving me a chance for one more natural-looking picture.

I recognize the Song Sparrow mainly through its song, which is repeated frequently throughout our small neighbourhood.  But its also recognized by the cluster of dark feathers forming a spot on its breast.

I was surprised by the result of this picture, which shows quite a difference in feather patterns on the two birds.  Just natural variation, but I've never noticed a Song Sparrow with the 3 dark patches that the one on the left here has.

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June Skies

We've had some beautiful blue skies with spectacular clouds recently, and I've been taking pictures when I can.  So today's post is a selection of sky pictures taken in and around the valley over the past week or two.  And I'm linking to 'Skywatch Friday' where you can find skies from around the world.  Try it if you've never checked it out - see the logo at the end of this post.

An old barn along County Road 12 on the way to Walter's Falls.

 

Skies from the back yard the other night.

One of our favourite short cuts, a road between concessions that had a large patch of Marsh Marigolds two weeks ago.

Taken looking over a hayfield on the Bruce Trail hike that I wrote about yesterday.

A little southwest of the valley approaching Swinton Park from the south.  I was struck by how you could see the church on the corner from a long distance away.

A closer look.  It's quite a large and architecturally interesting church for a very small village, but I forgot to get a closer shot.  Maybe some day.

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Bruce Trail Hike

I joined a 'new members hike' on the Bruce Trail last week, along with several other executive members.  We walked around the Margaret Paull Side Trail for those of you who may know it, and then through the Sly property, forming a large loop.  The Sly property was one of the early acquisitions by the Bruce Trail Conservancy in this area.

The hike started off down an old road allowance and we had a distant view of Georgian Bay from a viewpoint I've never see before.  You're looking northwest here, over the town of Thornbury.

It was simply a beautiful spring day in the woods, though there were a few blackflies.  The most interesting part of the walk here was through the forest overlooking a deep ravine leading down to Indian Brook.

The leaves are pretty well out, and still that vivid bright green of spring.  Some nice trees in this forest too!

A small tributary wanders over the bedrock through the forest, and then over the very thin layers of the Manitoulin dolostone, before tumbling down into the ravine below.   I was able to fill some of the new members in on the interesting geology of the place.

All along the way the trail was beckoning.  This is my kind of hiking trail, and this walk was at a reasonably slow pace, so I actually kept up with the group.  

We were out on the hayfields again when we ended, looking west over the Carr Observatory run by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC).  It has overnight accomodation for enthusiastic amateur astronomers, and a large telescope, in the garage on the right (the entire roof rolls off for night viewing.  I'm told the smaller domes are private personal observatories.  I've seen similar ones in several other locations around the valley, this being a good region for dark skies.

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Apple Blossoms and Crops

These pictures aren't as beautiful as yesterday's flowers, but apple orchards and farms are an important part of 'seasons in the valley' too.  Farmers have been busy for a month getting out on the fields, and during the past couple of weeks the apple orchards have been in bloom.

These are taken in a friend's small orchard which I've been in many times over the years.  I just think the blossoms against the blue sky are beautiful.

The Beaver Valley region is known for it's apple crop, which reflects both the soil available for orchards, and the presence of Georgian Bay and the Niagara Escarpment.  Together they moderate the climate slightly, enough to reduce the risk of spring frost.  So the area especially in the northern end of the valley has become an important apple production area for Ontario.

On the other hand, the sad looking small trees were not looking good!  They suffered a lot of damage from the extremely long and cold winter.  There will only be a small crop this year.

A week ago, some of our hayfields looked like this.  Now they are decorated with white dandelion seed heads, and in another week or two they'll be green, and haying will start. Hay is the largest crop by acreage around here.

With winter over you also see cattle out on the pastures, at least on the beef farms.  This is a herd of Charolais I drove past going to get some wood chips at the local sawmill.

And a lot of fields are looking like this, a grain crop, probably spring wheat, just coming up.  Wheat is planted early, as it's a cold weather crop, and can handle some frost.

But other fields are still like this, in this case just lightly chisel plowed to knock down last year's stubble.  This field, just down the road has already been seeded (I saw them doing it), but the crop, probably corn, hasn't emerged yet.  Corn and soybeans don't handle frost, so they get planted quite late here.

And that's my seasonal update on farming in the valley.

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Early Summer Flowers

After the Fernleaf Peony I featured last week burst into bloom, suddenly other early summer flowers are following suit.  It won't be long and the riot of colour over the next 3 months will be well underway.  In the meantime, here are a few favourites already blooming.

We only have a few of these Alium, but I wish we had more.  There are many varieties, but I prefer this compact one with the rich colour.  Obviously the bee likes it too.

Then there are the irises, of which we have several.  ours are all the short variety, and early bloomers (for this location).  You'll quickly get the idea that purple colours and variations are my favourite (well along with orange when it gets to daylilies)!

Unfortunately the iris blooms don't last long, but they're beautiful while they're here.

The part I like best is the 'beard' on each of the three main side petals.

Had to lie on the ground to get these pix.

We also have two patches of White Anemones which are usually swaying in the breeze too much to get a clear picture.

Meanwhile many of our primrose are still blooming along; they're long-last bloomers at this time of year.

Perhaps my favourite flower in the garden is this Shooting Star.   They also come in a range of colour, but this deep pink appeals to me, and it provides such a bright splash of colour at this time of year.

There'll be more flowers soon, but that's it for now.

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