Thirteen people came out to hike the trail from the old Duhamel campground going west to Fidler’s Monument.
The trail has a tremendous variety of landscapes, starting with an old spruce forest. Unlike most forests on the Waskehagen Trail, this one lets in much dappled light to support a vast green undergrowth of ferns, mosses, bunchberries, strawberries, and raspberry and elderberry bushes.
Coming out of the forest, we arrived at a pond that was formerly a gravel quarry. With its backdrop of spruce trees, one would expect to see a moose here standing in the water. We always stop at this pond to linger a while on the way back.
Another point of interest is the oxbow lake, formerly part of the Battle River, but cut off from it with continuing erosion and silt deposits at the bow’s ends.
As you would expect in the middle of June, the flowers were abundant. These included columbines, shooting stars, buffalo bean, prickly rose, lungworts, and Solomon’s seal. At the monument, a tree swallow protectively blocked the hole in its nesting box.
Thanks to Elizabeth and Lee for scouting and leading the hike, to Trail Maintenance who put in a lot work to clear the trail, and to the landowners for their continuing support. You can see all the photos on Flickr.
