Magical forest

It was a 25 minute drive to the nature reserve. But it was worlds away. I loved the admonition at the entrance - If you're silent, the mountain will sing. Sing she did. I kept looking everywhere for "something", anything different or special. Serge kept saying, "It's all the same. Trees, trees, trees." I said no, everything is different, there's not one tree or leaf or rotting log that's quite like the other. No, nothing is the same, in fact, everything is one-of-a-kind. And then "poof" Serge started seeing all kinds of things that I missed. He was particularly good at spotting mushrooms, of which there were some marvelous finds. (you can click the photos for screen filling versions)

There were lots of mushrooms like this, yellow, gold, white, brown and beige.

I have never seen such a bright orange mushroom. (It's about a foot across) It's probably a warning as to its poison level. It would not have been out of place on the sea floor.

It was a nice payoff at the top, an unfettered 360 degree view of the surrounding land. You can see the Montreal skyline in the background. While we were up there, we saw a peregrine falcon. (This is the fastest bird on earth, by the way) They like to nest on the steep cliffs on the west side of the mountain.

We both oohed and aahed over the sunlight playing with spider's web.

Finally, we stumbled upon this amazing work of fungal art. It reminded me of a limestone cave formation. I had to touch it. Spongy.

Today my legs are noodles. We did a little over 6 miles, and then ate lunch by the lake. Afterwards, we visited an apple farm and bought some cider.

I'm putting the video I took at the top here. My camera is fucked up, there's something inside on the lens or something that makes spots on the image. Still, you can get an idea of the lay of the land.