February 11, 2009

Connecting the Dots
Liz and her friends from Sudbury snowshoed the Sky Bear trail loop this past weekend.They reported that the snow now has taken on some structure after the recent thawing and refreezing. Powder is still part of that mix, but snowshoes don't sink quite so deep anymore.

As you complete the trail on this side of Wolf Mountain, several vistas open up to the west. Directly across sits the saddle, located near the centre of the Wabos North Wilderness Area. These 500 hcts. were set aside by the Crown back in 1999 and we enjoy snowshoeing there as well. From that vantage we can look back east upon Wolf Mountain. Between these pre-Cambrian bookends, we read the terrain of the Wabos Valley with its idyllic homesteads, some of which reach back to the turn of the previous century. At that time, Finnish settlers cleared much of this rare level and fertile oasis . Today as the forest has returned, one must strain to see where the hand of man had intervened. Somewhere, out there, a railway, a roadway or a waterway still connect the occasional dots of human activity.
A hiker to these high places is left with the impression that here, in this landscape, the laws of nature still predominate. The multi-billion year old granitic rock is covered with a multi-hundred year old wardrobe of tolerant hardwoods sprinkled with cedar, spruce and pine. A pattern of tracks in the snow, reminds us that we share this piece of ground with others, numerous and varied. The surprises of wind, sun and snow reign supreme. The sudden snap of a twig or a returning silence captures our attention.
We turn up collars or step back and listen. We are a part of the mix, not apart, after all.