Miniature Mushrooms

    While wandering along the trails in the Ancient Forest, I came upon this clump of tiny mushrooms growing on the base of a Cedar tree.  Perhaps you can get an idea of the scale of the mushrooms from the fragments of moss and the brown Cedar needle. 

    As we move closer to Autumn we will be seeing more of the many varieties of mushrooms that grow in the forests of the Robson Valley.  When talking about mushrooms, I always like to tell people that “mushrooms” that you see above ground, are just the fruiting body of the plant, most of which is growing underground, and unseen.

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Ancient Forest: Running Water

    Since the Ancient Forest is an Inland Rainforest, you might expect to see a lot of creeks and brooks running through it.  There are a few, but not that many.  Most of the rain that falls is sucked into the mosses and other ground cover and creates a constant flow underground.  It is that underground flow which has enabled the big Cedars to grow and thrive for a thousand years.  

    Even though there is a huge underground flow, there are a few streams above ground.  These babbling brooks, and rocky creeks are a treat to experience both visually and in the sounds they make as they flow around and over the moss covered rocks.  Here are a couple of photos.

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I Guess It's Time We Picked the Apples

    Yesterday I walked outside and saw this deer brazenly eating the apples off of the apple tree in our yard.  Every year at this time it is always a race between us getting fruit off of the trees and the animals getting the fruit.  I don’t mind sharing, the trees generally produce more than we will use, but all too often we wake up to find all of the fruit gone, and sometimes the trees have been thrashed to pieces.  Bears are the worst vandals, but so far this year I haven’t seen any bears in our yard.

    We do have several fruit trees behind our garden fence and they are more secure from the thievery.  

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Ancient Forest: Music in the Woods

    One of the impressionable memories I have from the Grand Opening of the Ancient Forest was walking down one of the trails, humbled by the gigantic trees and green that surrounded me, and hearing, off in the distance, the music of strings that seemed floating in the forest.  It was the Robson Valley String Ensemble that was playing in one of the boarded overlooks.

    While it seemed strange to come upon a group of stringed instrument musicians in the middle of the bush, the music fit in wonderfully with the verdant garden that I was walking through.  As I watched them they played a song from the soundtrack of “Legends of the Fall” and I have always been a sucker for movie soundtracks, so I couldn’t help but to be impressed.  Hopefully, the video below will work for you and you can hear the song.

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Ancient Forest: Sprites

    Not only did residents from the Robson Valley and Prince George turn out for the Grand Opening of the Ancient Forest, as you can see from the photos, a few of the normally secretive forest creatures also made an appearance and joined in the celebration.  Some skeptics believed it was really just the Robson Valley actors, who had donned costumes to enchant the kids and their parents along the trails through  the dark forest.

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Ancient Forest: Official Opening

    Although the Ancient Forest has been designated a Provincial Park for a while now, and has been open to the public, it wasn’t until yesterday that they had the official opening.  A surprising number of people came for the ceremony, and as you might expect, there were speeches by politicians, booths with information, and food, but there were also some interesting things happening in the forest, which I will blog about on other days.

    The huge parking lot was full and people had to park in an overflow area and be bused to the event.  A bus had come from McBride with locals who wanted to attend.  The trails that meander and weave through the giant Cedars were crowded and people had to squeeze to one side of the boardwalks to allow others to pass by.

    The dark forest of Cedars, ferns, Devil’s Club, and moss, remained an inspiration despite the crowds, and I am always happy to see others share the experience.

More tomorrow.

My paintings can be seen at:  davidmarchant.ca

There's Snow on Those Hills

    The rains we have been getting on the Valley bottom have been falling as snow on the local mountain tops.  We have been getting more and more hints that Autumn is on its way.   The photo shows the dusting of the white stuff that Beaver Mountain got the other day.

Check out my paintings:  davidmarchant.ca