A walk along the river

The Strathgartney trail from the Bonshaw Provincial Park in Prince Edward Island  goes under the Trans Canada Highway and follows the West River to the Northumberland Strait.

This area is popular for water sports such as paddle boarding, kayaking and canoeing.

My husband and I walked the first part of the trail, which goes along at river level initially. 

Then the bank rises from the river and you can look down through the trees to the water. We walked in silence, taking in the setting. Periodically, we heard kayakers on the water, their voices carrying through the river valley. Sometimes, we could see them through the trees.

This forest had less undergrowth than the Parkside Trail due to the density of the trees, but there were interesting things to see. 

Yellow bellied sapsuckers had a good time on this trunk.

The shelf fungus was enjoying the tree stump!

A riding park in Strathgartney has trails and a jumping circuit parallel to the hiking trail.

One tree trunk in particular caught our attention. What caused this unusual growth?

There were numerous holes in the earth for creatures to inhabit.

One old trunk was split down its length and showed the rot which takes it back to the earth.

Many tree trunks appeared to split at ground level into multiple trees. In the photo below, the trunk appeared to grow along the ground to the right, and another tree grew upward, seen here in the shade.

We had already walked another trail so we turned back when this trail divided. To misquote Yogi Berra, When you come to a fork in the road, don’t take it.