Porcupine Journals - Day 4

"The air this morning is foggy, still and pensive. We've come to the grand escarpment trail above the Lake of the Clouds. Our goal today is to hike an 11 mile loop from here down to the Big Carp River to a place called Mirror Lake and beyond...

Setting off from the escarpment raindrops glisten like jewels beaded on the vegetation. Fog diffuses through the trees creating a ghostly light, and raven croak breaking the silence. Creating ripples in the still air. Their calls echo loudly - the only way I can sense the great openness of the escarpment beside up dropping into open air. Everything, including the enormous views below is closed in and obscured by the fog.

On the rocky outcrops small alpine-like plants grow. All manner of strange, furry lichens cover the rocks and far below you can just glimpse boulder fields chipped off the rock face. Further on we descended the escarpment into a forests of truly enormous maples, birches, and oaks. Grandfathers and grandmothers - I wonder what stories they could tell...

And now the forests has changed again. Tall primeval hemlocks jut out of the misty air. The sound of wood thrush and the tapping of a woodpecker echo like in a cathedral. And mysterious, mossy covered boulders lie prone amongst the trees. The place feels enchanted and I half expect mythical creatures like elves and unicorns to emerge from the shadows and hidden folds of wood and fern.

At Mirror Lake everything is covered in mist. Spiderwebs dangle with rain-drops along the waters edge and a stand of purple lady's slippers smiles up from the pine needle floor. Around the lake are some rustic cabins and at one spot a small rowboat. Sitting there so expectantly on that quite, misty lake I was tempted to take it out but I have to catch up to Christina and Will!

I found them again in a beaver marsh. Floating, rodent gnawed saplings float in-between cattail reeds and marsh marigolds. Amongst the open water of this flooded forest snags we even saw the beaver - just poking his head above the water swimming through his domain with a sapling in his mouth. What a day!"