Last Sunday, we switched our headgear from Tilley hats to wool toques for our hike revisiting Middle Battle River.
As the nineteen hikers gathered in a circle for the pre-hike briefing, we were told that a landowner set out a surprise for us…but we would have to watch carefully to spot it. Our only clue was that it was about three quarters of the way toward the lunch spot. Woohoo!
As we are now in mid-autumn, the trail is very easy as the boggy spots are mostly dried up. There were a few downed trees since trail maintenance came through last August, but we got around them without a hitch.
Just before our lunch, many of us continued the extra bit to visit the monument to Peter Fidler (16 August 1769 – 17 December 1822). Fidler was a British mapmaker and surveyor who made important contributions to the mapping of the prairies and the north. Other monuments to Fidler are at Elk Point, Meadow Lake in Saskatchewan, and his home town Bolsover, Derbyshire in England.
It was on our way back that we discovered the surprise—a human-size creature of the woods. What fun we had making pictures!
Thanks to Lee for scouting and leading the hike and to the landowners for their continuing permission and their spirited sense of fun. You can find more photos on Flickr.
