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Pine Grove Pocket Wilderness

elke

By elke

12 comments


In Canada, although we have federal, provincial, regional and municipal parks, we don’t have the National Trust, so any bit of public land here is precious, especially when it’s waterfront.
Bowater Mersey in Liverpool, NS, saved a few acres of tall pines on the Mersey River and turned it into a pocket ‘wilderness’, where we can walk and enjoy the trees and plants. We walk there several times a year, and there’s something new to see each time, depending on the season.
This time we caught the last few rhododendrons in bloom, and also the Lady Slippers, a protected plant in Nova Scotia.

Here are some of the magnificent pines:

The lake – I like the bench.

Looking skyward.

Lady Slipper orchids

More Lady Slipper orchids

In places, the ‘wilderness’ lives up to its name.

A rhododendron still in bloom:

Clintonia – berries have replaced the blooms

A sunbeam catching a fern leaf:

These pine trees have made their roots in a bed of pine needles:

Shadows of ferns on another wooden bench:

A miniature forest of ferns:

We’ve reached the River Mersey:

Pine cones forming:

The path along the river:

A beautiful rhododendron bloom:

Some more plants rooted in a rock crevasse:

The riverfront:

Another path through the tall pines:

At the far end of the lake:

Young long-needled pines amongst the birch trees:

This wilderness is quite well managed!

A rustic seat for tired bones:

Quite a civilized spot by the lake:

Reflection in the water:

That was our walk on Thursday, June 25. I’ll add some photos taken at different times of the year, so you can see why we go often:

Bluets (May)

Azaleas (May)

Trentalis borealis:

Rhododendron

This one is still hanging in there…

Galium triflorum

A young maple catching the sun in the depths of the forest:

Tree lichens

Maple leaves in the fall:

Possibly a home for something wild…

Hope you enjoyed the walk too!
elke

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Comments

 

Yes!! I certainly DID enjoy the walk, Elke. Terrific photos, full of colour and atmosphere. Oddly enough, I felt quite relaxed after I'd browsed through. I think I'll go through again later. I particularly liked the one of the path through the pines, and also the sunlight shining through the fern.
Keep 'em coming!
Bbb

28 Jun, 2009

 

WOW

it makes me want to build a cabin and live there

thank you so much for sharing your pictures
thay really are beautiful

x x x

28 Jun, 2009

 

Elke....what a fantastic place.....It looks absolutely beautiful, no wonder you love it....Thanks for sharing you lovely deay out with us through some brilliant photography.....

28 Jun, 2009

 

Thank you for the tour, Elke.
You've taken some wonderful photos :o)

28 Jun, 2009

 

So glad you all enjoyed it too! Nature certainly can be soothing.

28 Jun, 2009

 

What a lovely place to visit, looks better than our river mersey in liverpool over here.

28 Jun, 2009

 

That looks so peaceful, it must really enable you to recharge your batteries. Thank you so much for allowing us to go with you.

28 Jun, 2009

 

We were glad we chose this location for our walk that day. As you can see, the sun was bright, and yet just a couple of kms away on the coast there was thick sea fog, so a beach walk would have been chilly and damp. Nice to have this as an alternative.

28 Jun, 2009

 

Lovely blog Elke...thanks for treating us all to this!

28 Jun, 2009

 

So glad you all liked it.
Here's a link to a map of the park's location, and an older photo of Patrick at the entrance, on my Panoramia site (for Google Earth): http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4765023

28 Jun, 2009

 

Lovely Elke! We keep promising ourselves a return trip to Canada - just waiting to win the lottery!

29 Jun, 2009

 

What a beautiful place and such wonderful photographs. Thank you so much for this. I truly could live there without the need for anything else in life.

1 Jul, 2009

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