Voyageurs National Park
Kab-Ash trail 9:19 AM – 10:23 AM
The sky is a dark gray, but no sign of rain so far. I’m hoping it won’t start raining on me. Yesterday it rained all day, it makes the colors of the plants pop out vibrantly. Mosses are very dark green, lichens are showing in multiple ranges of gray, aspens in between green and yellow. I see yellows, oranges, reds and some browns and a lot of greens.
Behind me a red squirrel is picking a fight with something, I cannot tell what. Squirrels are quickly irritated and always seem to be upset or fighting.
A patch of blue sky catches my eye, will it get bigger or will it be gone soon? I’m trying to locate the red squirrel, but the sound of the small stream passing by me is not so helpful. Streaming water is immensely loud. A maple leaf, turned a bright red because of the approaching winter, floats down to earth. One day it will be soil again and used by a plant as food to grow just a little bit bigger.
Sounds of squirrels are all around me now, coming closer and closer, but I still don’t see them. I see a few birds fly over, no idea what kind they are. Need to learn how to recognize birds by appearance and song. The blue patches of sky keep moving by fast, obviously its very windy up there. Here in the forest it’s nice and calm, I only feel a slight breeze every once in awhile. I hear and see the leave move in the wind.
The forest around me is beautiful diverse. I see white pine, quaking aspen, black ash, maples, some balsam firs, birch, cedar, all in different sizes and shapes. I notice that some different types of birds all start to whistle and kaw at the same time and after a while they are all quiet again. Like they have some type of agreement.
The sun popped out for a split second, making the changing leaves look like they’re on fire. I hear some chatter of a bird I don’t know, it’s hard to locate where it is. First of all because our ears are not of the best quality in animal kingdom, but also because I decided to sit next to this beautiful stream.
Around me I see many different mushrooms growing in the moss, I keep being amazed by the high variety in mushrooms, it’s amazing how they have all these different forms, shapes and colors.
The last few minutes have been really quiet, no wind, no birds, no squirrels, just that happy splashing stream. The sky is completely gray again, time to go.
Moves by Nature 