The Beckoning North

Once or twice a year we take a trip to North Bay to visit our daughter and her hubby. Our most recent trip was this past weekend. For those of us living in the very flat and largely denuded landscape of southwestern Ontario, it is a delight to travel to parts of this province where forests, hills, rocks, and lakes predominate! Not that we are contemplating moving to that more northern landscape any time soon. The biological diversity of our extreme southwestern landscape, as limited as it is, is far greater. So here we stay, at least for now.

We really feel that once we get north of Barrie, and better yet, north of Orillia, we can start to enjoy the north, getting farther and farther away from the hustle and bustle of the south and especially the GTA. We usually make a stop at a little place called Novar, where there is a spring that provides delicious, cold water, and we fill up several jugs. These first two photos are taken at the point where we exit off of Hwy 11 to get to the Novar spring.

While the main purpose of our trip is to visit family, there are a few quite accessible spots that I try and make a point of exploring. For example right within the city limits of North Bay is a 97 hectare (240 acre) conservation area known as Laurier Woods. There are several kilometres of trails that go through forest, across rocky outcrops and across or adjacent to wetlands. Most of the trails are quite easy going, as shown in the next two photos, but there are steeper and rockier sections.

There are quite a few multi-stemmed trees, such as the White Birch in the next photo, an indication of the historical timber cutting that went on here many decades ago.

 Some parts of the forested section are relatively open at ground level, as the previous two photos show. Other sections are covered with ferns or other vegetation.

Bracken Fern

Cinnamon Fern

 There were a lot of Bunchberry plants...

...and we noticed a single Pink Lady's-slipper, a.k.a. Moccasin Flower.

 We were serenaded by territorial Chestnut-sided Warblers.....

 ....and Veerys, as well as various other species.

Some sections were quite open with lots of stunted trees on the bare or moss-covered rock.

 It was in these more open areas where we saw Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, shown below, as well as a few skippers. From what I could tell, all of the skippers were Hobomoks.

There are many wetland areas.

 Of course the presence of Beavers are frequently noted, although the Beavers themselves are seldom seen in daylight hours.

 To control the water levels behind one of the beaver dams, a large pipe was put in place well behind the dam, and going through the top to allow an escape of high water so as to not take out the bridge I am standing on to take this photo.

 One of the most attractive wetland flowers on this excursion was Wild Calla.

The Laurier Woods Conservation Area, as wonderful an asset it is to the community of North Bay, is not pristine. There is a scrap metal recycling depot visible across one wetland area. Another section of the trail system shows a car dealership across the way.

Nevertheless some of the wildlife don't seem to mind, as this log in the middle of the previous photo is being well used by more than a dozen Painted Turtles.

Another section of the trail system has the Trans Canada highway in the background, although it often is not very busy and is far enough away that the traffic noise is not all that bothersome.

Another very accessible location I typically check out is Champlain Park, at the extreme southern extent of North Bay and along the waterfront of Lake Nipissing. There aren't many accessible trails, but a fair bit of water front to explore. This park has historical significance, as the La Vase River empties into Lake Nipissing here. This river connects Trout Lake and Lake Nipissing and was an important part of the route for the voyageurs travelling from Montreal through the various rivers such as the St. Lawrence and Ottawa on their way to points farther west. It was used by First Nations of the area for many years, and it was those First Nations guides that brought it to the attention of early European explorers such as Samuel de Champlain and Etienne Brule. This next photo, which I took on a previous trip in April of 2016, shows the river as it empties into Lake Nipissing.

The water was much higher this year, as is the case for many lakes and rivers in Ontario. The boat launch and adjacent dock were under water, and the shoreline of the river was flooded. Of course that meant a more extensive feeding ground for water birds, such as this Great Blue Heron.

 I didn't see exactly what the heron captured, but this next photo shows it being swallowed.

There is always something to explore and enjoy in the greater North Bay area.

A little more of the north

As mentioned in my previous post, I spent a few days in North Bay recently. It was hardly an opportunity for much exploring out of doors, but the relatively unaltered landscape is all around so I was able to take in the views from afar. I did get out to enjoy one of my favourite locations in the North Bay area.....Duchesnay Falls. It is just off of the Trans Canada corridor at the west edge of the city, and only a short walk from a small parking lot.

This first photo is just a few hundred metres from the parking lot, as one approaches the lower falls.

There was a lot of water flowing this day, due to the spring melt as well as recent precipitation. This next photo is a close-up of the lower falls.

While I was standing at the base of these lower falls, I noticed a medium-sized Snapping Turtle on the rocks nearby. This female had apparently recently emerged from the water, no doubt looking for a place to lay her clutch of eggs. A few moments after I took this photo, she proceeded to crawl through the froth and along the rocks. She had a lot of rocks to climb over before she would get to a place where she could dig, and most places in this immediate vicinity were quite shady, so I don't know how her eggs would develop or even survive. Perhaps their only contribution to the ecology of this area would be as a meal for a local raccoon.

A snapper this size in the north is likely quite a bit older than a similarly sized one in southern Ontario. The season is shorter, with cooler air and water temperatures on average, making the growth and development of such cold-blooded creatures slower in the north. Snappers can live 60 years or more.

I proceeded to climb over the rocks as well, and perhaps had greater success getting to my destination than the snapper. This next photo shows the upper falls view, where the torrents of water come raging through the narrow gorge. Normally I like slow shutter speeds to give a soft appearance to waterfalls, but due to the raging water, it spoke very loudly for me to capture its power and fury using a faster shutter speed.

During times of little waterflow, these main falls are the ones carrying the flow. However during times of peak runoff, there is an additional flow route which is less visible, but impressive due to its gentle setting. While the noisy torrents were passing by a short distance away, I felt I was in another small world with this quiet and sheltered place presenting a calmness, whereupon I promptly reverted to my choice of a slow shutter speed to capture the gentleness I felt here.

On the way to and from North Bay, we usually have a few chosen stops along the way. Sometimes it is to another accessible waterfall, but almost always it includes a short detour off the main highway to a natural spring. Natural spring water is so much tastier, and healthier than what we get from the municipal water treatment sources, so we relish such natural water sources. They contain more healthy minerals that we all need, and fewer chemicals and pharmaceuticals that invariably are not removed by the regular water treatment facilities which focus primarily on removing organic material while adding such chemicals as chlorine and fluoride.

One of these springs is near the small village of Novar, a few kilometres north of Huntsville. On this side trip, I noticed a medium sized Black Bear taking shelter from the heavy rainfall in a copse of poplar trees. I didn't get, or even try for a photo. But I did take a few shots of an attractive lookout along this secondary road.

As was typical during the entire time we were away, the skies were mostly cloudy even when it wasn't raining, which gave nice saturation to the photos, but unattractive skies.

The gravelly roadsides host a few wildflowers which are colourful and attractive, but very few of the ones visible at this time of year are native.

King Devil

Orange Hawkweed a.k.a Devil's Paintbrush

Orange Hawkweed