Walks on Whitefish Island/St. Mary's Island

 St. Mary's Island 

Pretty building at the Sault Canal

Cute Squirrel

Young male mallard, just getting in his colors

sunset

duck floating on the clouds

Moon

I love what I call Whitefish Island, but what is really called St. Mary's Island.

It's confusing because the Island is really made up of two separate Islands, connected by a bridge. You have to cross over one bridge to get to the first Island, which is called St. Mary's.  It's a lovely Island that has lots of trails and a boardwalk that meanders over a beaver pond. It loops over to the St. Mary's River and then back through the bush and fields one way, or to lovely butterfly fields the other way.  If you cross the second bridge, you end up on Whitefish Island, which loops around to the St. Mary's River and has a big boardwalk right along the rapids. It's quite lovely as well. 

Depending on my energy levels and the time of day, I either walk both Islands or opt for just the St. Mary's Island.  In my mind, I call both Island's "Whitefish" because the trail along the is called Attikamek, which is Ojibway for Whitefish. Plus both Islands are in the Whitefish Channel of St. Mary' River.  It's a lovely trail, right in the middle of the city, and I love seeing the wildlife.  

Chickadees are tame enough to eat out of your hand, as are chipmunks and squirrels. In the past, I've even had pigeons, a bluejay, and a woodpecker land on my hand and select peanuts or seeds.  I've seen as many as 15 beavers in the pond.  

Cute chippy

Cute chickadee

Albert feeding the chickadees

Me feeding the chickades

The rapids at sunset

Crane or heron resting on a big rock under the bridge

Bridge reflections 

I love this area; it's so beautiful. 

Wow, it's been so long!

Hi Guys,
OMG, I have been AWOL for quite some time.  I blame my bike, lol.  As soon as the snow melted I hopped on and so far have not stopped riding.

I'm having an amazing summer and get out whenever I can, weather permitting.  We've had a crazy hot summer...global warming is real when we have a heatwave in Northern Ontario, Canada!  We had an entire week of temps higher than 100 F, which we are totally not used to.  Some nights it was even hot at night.

I was having to wait until after 7 or 8 pm to ride my bike, which meant short rides as it gets dark at 9:30 PM here.

Thankfully we're back to our normal weather now, and yesterday I was able to leave the house earlier than usual. I spent the entire day on my bike and it was wonderful.

Here are some photos; I hope you'll like them.

This is an abandoned building near the bike trail.  I think it is cool looking.

 This portion of the hub trail is so pretty; it follows the river and I love seeing the blue sky over blue water.

I stopped and had a nice break on this bench.  The wind gusts were up to 40 km/hour so it got super windy, but it was a nice relief from the heat.  I was so hot my clothes were soaking wet and I drank my entire bottle of water and had to buy more. The wind was lovely and dried me off, lol.

The trail runs behind the Bushplane Museum, and it's fun to see the tiny water and bush planes. Some are still in use and it's amazing to watch them take off and land in the river.

On the way home I popped in to see the wildlife on Whitefish Island.  There were several beavers, ducks, geese, loons, squirrels, chipmunks, and redwinged blackbirds here.  The chipmunks were angry because I didn't bring seeds for them.  One tried to climb my bike, lol.

I stayed to watch the sun set and enjoyed watching the clouds and sky change colours.

 My favorite time of day is just before sunset, when the sun casts golden shadows over the treetops.

 Here's my bike on the walkway over the beaver pond.  I sat there for at least half an hour, watching beavers eat.  They float on top of the water and remain almost motionless, except for their little paws stuffing food into their mouths, lol.  It's so funny.

This shot, below is my favorite.  Geese on the pond under cotton candy clouds, which are reflected in the water.

 The geese swam over to see if perhaps I had some food for them.  I felt bad that I didn't, lol.

 I stayed until dark, although it's hard to tell in the photo below. My camera lightens everything up quite a bit.

I ordered a new camera, an inexpensive offbrand GoPro type of deal, and can't wait until it comes in.  I'm planning another bike camping trip for August, but in the meantime, I am thinking of riding out to the beach tomorrow, just for the day.  It will be almost 20 km one way, so a 40 km bike ride round trip.  I'll have to wake up early so I can ride in the morning, spend the afternoon at the beach, and ride home in the evening, before it gets dark.  Yesterday's ride was 25 km and exhausted me, but it was super hot.  Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, so we'll see.

Thanks for popping in. I hope you're having a nice summer too!

Moss Collecting

The dogs and I went for another nice walk at Hiawatha Park today.  The weather was gorgeous; sunny and cool.  I picked a LOT of moss, and this time I found some really cool mosses and lichens.  I even found some with elf cups in them.  We had a big wind storm a few weeks ago, and some trees were down, so I was able to get some branches with moss and different kinds of lichen too.  I bought more jars, and big tupperware containers to store the moss.

I'd be in great shape if I picked moss every day, lol.  I bent over so much it was like walking and doing toe touches at the same time.  Man, is my back sore now.

We came out of the bush just before sunset.  As I drove home, the sun started to set.  It was so beautiful that I walked the dogs again, at the Marina, just to enjoy the light.   I love the light just as the sun starts to go down; it seems golden.  Then the sky turned orange and pink.  I wish I would have brought my camera.  I'll post a picture I took a few days ago, of the Marina at sunset.