Thursday February 16, 2023

Day 4

We were given the option to go one of two ways. Follow moose tracks, or wolf tracks. One group would trail one, and one would trail the other. I opted to follow the wolf tracks! We drove up to the parking lot for the Spruce bog, that apparently was a good place for Spruce Grouse, exciting! We asked the vehicle and walked up the road a wee bit, where the wolf trail would lead us into the forest. With our snow shoes on, off we went! Its a special thing to follow animals tracks meandering through the forest. You get a bit of a window into their world, I like to think, of how they might move, or maybe how they might think, choosing their path of travel. The tracks them selves were pretty amazing, as the wolf had likely walked through here a day or 2 ago. The tracks would have been made in softer snow, leaving a great impression of the paws, with a rainy wet day following, with colder temperatures perhaps in the evening after that: creating perfect frozen paw prints, all 4 toes were visible in most of the tracks. A gentle sprinkle of snow wold have fallen sometime after that too, as each print had a light dusting of snow in each section of the track.

Wolf track. Based on the hardness of the snow underfoot, the hardness of the snow of the track itself- that was now more like ice, and the light dusting of fresh snow within the pads of the paw print, this track was likely a few days old.

I was measuring about 3” wide, and 4” long, for the tracks. I wondered if I was measuring properly, as I am developing my confidents with taking good measurements. I did not want to be assuming I was right, that 3x4 inches was the general measurement for a wolf print. I hadn’t even determined if this was a front of hind paw. I would confide in my friend Byron. I shared with him the numbers I was getting, he handed me a tracking card he had on him, with measurements of wolf tracks. I read 4” x 4”, and took note of that in my small pocket notebook. This was a number Byron would have referenced from a reliable resource. I trust Byrons work in this area.

We came to a part pf the forest here we found snowshoe tracks, likely from a day or so ago. We lost the wolf track here, as it disappeared once the wolf hit the snowshoe trail. Who came first? The snowshoes, or the wolf? I wondered...
We all took some time to look about for this trail. Its not like a wolf would go up a tree or float into the air, right?! We found something along the edges of the snowshoe trail that looked a lot like a potential track, only not as clear as the previous ones... maybe it was the type of snow in the forest here? Were they less clear due to being damaged from falling snow or precipitation, or the snowshoers trail? We soon realized these prints were merely someones snow shoeing poles! Like that of the print made by a ski poll. A circle, with a deeper dot within the centre. Not a wolf track!

I decided to try walking up the snowshoes trail. I wondered if maybe the wolf came after the snowshoers, and literally walked on the snowshoe trail. I know that coyotes use human made trails a lot, based on what I see of their tracks, and scat location back in Southern Ontario. Wolfs and coyotes are different for sure, and, I figured because they are both Canines, and both predators, essentially at the top of the food chain in both areas, that they would likley have similar behaviour for hoe they would use human made trails. Maybe the wolf tracks are not so easy to see on the snowshoe trail, but maybe it followed the trail down for a bit and there might be a track or something. I continued forth, strait down the snowshoe trail, on a whim, the snowshoe trail turned hard right, back towards the road, and there continuing strait, off the snowshoe trail and into the trees, was canine tracks! These had to be them. Alexis took a look, and agreed. We all continued forth.

We followed the tracks to the forests edge, where it met with the Spruce Bog itself. A big open, flat and bumpy, watery area, with small evergreen trees. It was all frozen over and snow covered. To the left by an evergreen tree I noticed small brown lips scattered on the snows surface. Anything atop the snows surface was of interest, as that likely indicated that it happened recently. I walked over. It looked similar to the scat of the Ruffed Grouse, that I am used to seeing again, back down South. The only different, was that it was darker brown, a little bit bigger, and overall just seemed like a totally different scat from Ruffed Grouse Scat. Alexis was near by, so I called him over. He too took a look. I believe he there in the concept of this potentially being that of the Spruce Grouse. My mind went “Oooooh!” Spruce Grouse made some sense in my funny wondrous brain. Still not fully sure, but there were a lot of reasons why this would be so, I thought to ask Allanah, who is an avid Birder. No one else seemed to be coming this way yet, so I left that as is.

Soon Byron showed up, and the 3 of us went forth following the wolf track out towards the water of the bog. The tracks led strain onto the frozen water, but then vanished. Likely they had been wind swept in this large open area. Us humans had no business trying to cross this ice. It was not a safe thing to do. Looking out there were a few spots where it looked as though there were potential passable areas through the bog,, where the land was raised up with plants, shrubs and grasses under the ice, a land bridge of sorts. Byron and I would venture out to investigate this potential land bridge to see if it was in fact safe to walk across for the whole group. It felt like Guelph Outdoor School, Maddie-Byron moment, level up!!

We didn’t know this bog, but we did have a good friendship and years on our belt of working together and traversing the winter with kids, and an absolute desire for adventure. We came to this potential land bridge, and realized it was likely a small beaver dam. Byron went first, crossing slowly and cautiously, it held his weight, and I too, followed. It held my weight too, on we went. The land bridge worked! We continued to look for the wolf trail, hoping that by crossing over here we could pick its trail again. We weren’t seeing much, but a fox trail here and there, yet we wanted the wolf trail. A few others soon came across the land bridge, to where we were. Byron would go back to the other side. Half the group would stay on this side, hugging the forests edge where it meets the open scape of the bog, due west, while the other half would traverse the other side of the bog, without crossing over, also due east, and both groups would meet up at the other side, in hopes of locating that wolf trail.

There was not much to be seen, an old fox trail, several snowshoe hare scats, and then, something really cool!! I believe it was Allanah who noticed, 4 amazing wing prints in the snow! They were large. This was no song bird. Right away I think a lot of us, I know I can speak for myself, thought Turkey! Who else has a wing span that big?! There were 4 major prints, beginning further back from the tree line, as though touching down with its wings for a landing, creating lot a belly imprint of sorts, a big hop or jump, where there was no track, and then that same sort of wing print again in the snow a few feet up towards the tree line. Like I said, there were I believe 4 main prints just like this, one after the other. Wing print-hop-wing print-hop-wing print-hop-wing print, and that was it. We thought it was peculiar that, if it was a turkey, there was no tracks, prints, or any sort of impression from the talons. Same of that with the body print itself. Turkeys are big birds. Surely if this was a turkey, there would have been more pressure and weight visible in these wing prints... but there was no such thing evident.

1 of the 4 wing prints found at the edge of the Spruce Bog just before the tree line. It measured about 41” across, from wing tip to wing tip.

All of a sudden from the Eastern side of the bog, emerged... Byron. During this time, everyone else was still directly across from us at the other side of the bog. I imaged there must be something really neat over there. Byron arrived at the wing prints, and began throwing in some of his own ideas about these tracks. I opted for a snack break for myself. Listening to the conversation, it was determined for sure, that the wing span here was too small for turkey. Which supported our thoughts about the lack of breakage in the snow and ice, due to it not being heavy enough, like that of a turkey. Byron had knowledge around how ravens take off. He said that they need to do a hop hop hop hop takeoff sort of thing, to get going, that they don’t simply take off from the ground, by simply hoping up once. It was worked through, by taking some more measurements, and it was concluded that these amazing wing prints were most likely, made by a raven.

We carried forth, and finally the whole group came together, not far from the wing prints. The other group shared that they found Turkey tracks at the other side! Crazy and cool, considering we were thinking about turkeys on our side, but saw no true tracks. Amazing to know that they are around us!

The crew decided that we would find a spot for lunch. Into the forest we went, heading up hill slightly. We all chose a fine little spot of snow covered ground, to park oneself for a glorious lunch! I had leftover soup, pepperets, chocolate banana bread with a lot of butter on it, and hot tea.

Food always tastes way better I find, when you’ve been moving your body lots, outdoors, and breathing in good fresh air! My appetite goes up, and I kind of just start eating everything and anything, as I am burning so many calories and my body and spirit just want to keep going!; A hunger, for adventure! You just gotta eat a lot to have a good adventure!

30 or so minutes later, folks finished up their lunches, and we bags looking at the map, were to next? Looking at the map, I studied the topography lines, and noticed that we were essentially at the base of a great, big hill! I shared aloud that I would very much like to go up that great big hill. No one was opposed to that, and I think some may have been in favour in fact. Up the hill we went!

As we snowshoes along, our bellies full, the folks in front of me soon came to a complete stop. All of a sudden I felt everything change. You could feel something was happening. My senses turned up and on, and I peered to the right, and saw that folks were watching a fine Spruce grouse! I got out my binoculars. This would be my first time ever, seeing a spruce grouse! It appeared black to me, it was a bit of a distance away, with trees in between us. How cool to be graced with this opportunity.

Several moments later, the line of snowshoers began moving again. The major assent up the giant hill began! With great vigour, Byron would cut the snowshoes trail for us all, taking the first steps in the snow up this wonderful hill!

As we went up, I slowly began to have this feeling that made me very happy. This hill reminded me of being in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec. My family on my mothers side have owned land in Gatineau for generations. A place I grew up visiting, with big great rolling hills! They both had a similar sort of feeling. Here going up this hill, brought forth a feeling of comport, awe, wonder, and a sense of home, like that of the Gatineau hills. I thought of my mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and extended family, and took a photo of the view, to show them.

Once at the first plateau, which was almost the top of this hill, we were in an entirely different environment. The trees up here were primarily Beech trees. Then, we spotted it, bear signs. These beach trees, were very marked up with claw marks and scratches, all the way from the bottom of the tree, all the way up. I had seen this type of sign before the previous year on this trip, about an hour from this location in a forest in Dwight, also on a beech tree. This whole area, was full of beech trees, and most of these trees had claw marks on them. Alexis shared about what’s called a bear nest. When bears climb up the beach trees, to reach the beech nuts they enjoy as a source of food. Once at the level of the branches, a bear will grab at the leafy branches, and pull them into the centre of the tree, creating a bit of a nest, bear sized mind you, where it will sit, lay back, and each beech nuts. Looking around I imagined a bear climbing up on of these trees. These Beech trees would have been no more than 2-3 ft in diameter. A big creature like a bear climbing way up those, boggled my mind. I had tree-climbers envy. Further still it boggled my mind to imagine the amount of trees that must be marked from bears in this area. That these trees might get visited every year. This sense of amazement, wonder, mind boggling-awe, and ignorance, to the vast world of life, and really, in the grand scheme of things, feeling like I really know nothing. I was happy.

Looking around and up, I spotted a tree with a bunch of beech leaves up top. Just as Alexis had described. Wow, a real life bear nest!

My wondering eyes then spotted a shelf-fungus growing on a beech tree beside that. I walked over, not being able to ignore a good bit of fungus.
It was a polypore mushroom. Looking closer at this mushroom, I noticed a very small and fascinating type of track, on the mushroom. In fact, this type of track we had been shown on Tuesday evening, in a slideshow that Alexis put on for us about tracking. The slide had an image of this same tracking, and we were to try to guess who made this track. I had seen this track before. It was super amazing. I called the others over to come see the mushroom. It was snail feeding sign. Ever thought about that? That a snail leaves a track, from eating!? It does.

Once the snail sign was well analyzed, photographed, and speculated, the hype died down and we went forth!
We would pass the frequent Moose Maple tree, or Stripped maple, often being a smaller younger tree than the large beeches. Moose maples are a beautiful tree, who’s bark looks stripped, with 2 shades of a lovely dark forest green. We don’t have them in Guelph, so Im always happy to find a moose maple. We finally reached the highest point of this giant hill. Now, the decent! We approached the edge of this hill, in a spot that was a lot steeper than where we hiked up. The type of steep, that doesn’t feel scary, especially since it is covered in snow, we have on snow gear, snow shoes, gloves, we have have the spirit of adventure in our sails, and it wasn’t that long of a drop anyway. Cautiously, everyone kind of slid on their snowshoes, kind of like snowboarding, and some on their butts a bit, grabbing from tree to tree, gliding down this snowy downhill. It was vey fun!

We were still quite high up, in comparison to the spruce bog itself, and the highway. We had dropped down only bit, and continued to slowly move on a gentle downhill. To my right, I spotted a birch tree with a large dark mass growing out of it, chaga! It had been years since I had found wild growing chaga mushroom. The last time had been years ago, in Quebec in the Gatineau Hills. It was like seeing an old friend, way out in the middle of a forest I’ve never been in.

Continuing on, we came to a low area, where a small creek rain through. Here we found a spot where a Grouse had been, there was a bunch of scat, but this scat was lighter in colour, smaller, and resembled to me of what looked like the Ruffed Grouse scat that im used to back home. We pressed on. I noticed a few more birch trees down here that also had a mass of chaga growing from it! 2, 3, 4 trees! I told Byron that I had my chaga radar on, and he shortened it to chagadar! Activate, chagadar!

The snail tracks are circled here in black. Apparently snails like the type of lichen that grows on this polypore mushroom, as well as the lichen on birch trees, and I imagine many other types of lichens too.

A mass of Inontus obliques, or Chaga mushroom, growing on a paper birch tree.

Next, that funny thing happened again, where everyone stops walking and everything feels different all of a sudden. You can feel it. My senses kicked in and up. It was another spruce grouse. We all stood respectfully in silence, and watched this beautiful bird mill about. The idea hit me, to do a sit spot. I mentioned it to a few people, and soon as a group we decided to do a 15 minute sit spot, in hopes to watch this grouse for a bit longer. We all went off to our own location, and sat down, in silence. What would happen next, is nothing, but sitting still, listening, and observing. Byron signalled to me about something... I could not tell what. I soon realized he was trying to tell me that the grouse was essentially right in front of me.

I watched it, in silence. Then realizing I did have binoculars, I got those out, and tried to locate the grouse to get a closer look. I couldn’t find it with the binos. I brought them down from my face, and there was the grouse, admits some evergreens, strait in front me, bit still a safe distance away.

I brought my bins back to my eyes. Looked around, and could not find the grouse. I looked back to where the grouse had been, one more time with my eyes, and it was gone. All that fuss trying to find it with my binoculars, and I missed it! This reminded me that one does not always need binoculars, or fancy gear to see and witness wildlife. We already have 2 amazing eyes, we can just use those too.

With the grouse on its way, so were we.

This would be the final stretch if this day. We followed the small creek that ran along side us since the first chaga tree. With Alexis, and Brendon in the front, leading the way using maps, and GPS systems if needed. This place had a certain type of feeling to it. It felt wild, untouched, alive, and mysterious. As though I was reverting into creature- mode, by effect of the environment I was in. The sun broke through the clouds, I was happy.
The terrain was up and down, over the frozen creek that grew bigger and wider, the evergreen becoming thicker. The thick trees opened up, and we walked through a stretch that had giant boulders.

I had to take a picture of the giant boulder.

With the sun getting lower and lower in the sky, the tree cover began to become less and less, and I could see clear open sky ahead of us. We came out to a large frozen pond, that looked rather familiar. This was the same pond that we had walked over years ago the first time I did this trip, following an otter slide. Its so fascinating to me how our bodies can recall places that you’ve been to before, how we can feel that sense of familiarity of a place, when you are actually there, again, like seeing an old friend.

Alannah looking out to the sunset sky.

Alexis, Brendon, Matt and Todd to the left, and Alannah and Danielle to the right. Taking a moment after getting out of the forest, with the power lines and highway to the far left.

We took a moment to stop at the edge of the pond, along a big ol beaver dam. Looking to the setting sun, with a feeling of great accomplishment!
We were back at the highway. With our snowshoes off, in hand, or straped to a backpack, we all made the final walk down highway 60 back to the Spruce Bog parking lot, to head back for dinner.