A Walk in the Woods

18 June 2019

Spring usually arrives late in southeastern New Brunswick. Cool nights and days persisted well into June this year, slowing the seasonal shift. After a scenic drive across Canada I arrived in New Brunswick ready to spend time at our family’s home in the woods and walk the network of trails blazed by my parents years ago.

On the morning of the 18th of June the humid air was scented with balsam fir. A constant breeze promised to provide some relief from the hordes of mosquitoes and blackflies while the sun filtered through a forest canopy of new green leaves overhead. Ahead lay trails that penetrate the woods over mossy paths on higher ground, under leafy forests of birch, maple and spruce, through tall grasses and ferns in the hollows, and onward to verdent slopes by a seemingly timeless brook.

Along the way the trails twinkle with white flowers: profusions of bunchberries, seven-petalled Starflowers and occasional Canada Mayflowers. Away from the trails in light shade are large numbers of blue-beaded lilies with their upfacing yellow bell flowers. These woods are also home to Pink Lady’s Slippers, among the largest members of the Orchid family native to the region. I stopped to photograph several Lady’s Slippers as dappled light filtered through the canopy above. Mosquitoes rose to the occasion at every opportunity.

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In the heart of these woods the path descends a slope to a brook that carves along through brown sandstone on its way to the Atlantic eight miles away. Fern-covered banks rise steeply under a gallery of trees that includes old gnarled maples and paper birches, occasional beeches, and a number of towering white pines, one of which is centuries old.

Until the next major rainfall the clear water in the brook makes little sound as it pushes past pebbles and rocks and over snagged branches. High overhead among the branches a vireo sings, accompanied by others in the distance.

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