Judy P's Tickle Trunk

On my second last day of vacation a few weeks back in September,  I drove up to Kejimkujik National Park for the day. I had planned to go paddling but I read the wrong forecast – expecting a windy day I left the kayak at home and packed my bicycle. Turned out to be relatively calm and I was annoyed but only until I arrived. I drove twenty-five minutes through the park to the bridge at the eel weir where there is a dirt road which leads to a fire-tower. It looked flat on the map as all roads do!! but it turned out to be hilly to start and until I got warmed up it was a bit of a struggle for me. Thank goodness for low gears. The following shows some of my ride in pictures – click on the photo for a larger version.

 

 

Kejimkujik is affectionately known as Keji or Kej and it is a favourite of mine because of the efforts made to keep it as natural as possible while still accommodating campers and day-trippers.

 The park is only groomed in camping areas and roadways. All the trees which fall are left to decay naturally and provide a natural habitat for a myriad of small creatures. I didn’t see a lick of wildlife on this trip, probably because they could hear me coming from miles around, especially with my squeaky front brake. Indeed, the woods were eerily quiet this day; for most of the afternoon I couldn’t even hear a bird and more than once after climbing a small hill I could hear the sound of my own heart beating.

 Once I got into the pines it became more and more shady and suddenly I noticed mushrooms everywhere – some right on the road. I dismounted to take some pictures and wondered if they were placed by the fairy-folk to lead me astray. It was a risk I was willing to take.

Once my eye was trained I saw mushrooms everwhere in all shapes and colours. There were flat-tops,  as white as chalk

 

 

and round tops of assorted colours and sizes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 and crinkly ones as orange as cheddar cheese:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Some mushrooms were down-right humerous:

Looking at all those mushrooms made me think of the chanterelle omelets we used to make back in Bauline, Newfoundland and I got peckish so I stopped at a canoe portage to eat my lunch. The flat water was very inviting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The biking left me tired but clear-headed and with a longing to spend more time under the big pines.

copyright Judy Parsons 2011