Nature Walk ~ Puntledge Watershed

This last week seems to have just zipped by so quickly and I'm finally getting a chance to post some photos about our last nature outing with our neighborwoodie friends at the Puntledge Watershed :)

The park starts with this great bridge leading in along the river...

and down to the waters edge where you can find these magnificent old trees with their giant root systems above ground. I'm assuming that it must be due to the high volume of water that rushes through here during the wetter winter months and the current has stripped away the soil over the years exposing their roots.

In fact while we were there the sirens went off signaling that they were about to increase the flow of water coming into the river so we were careful to not let the children go into the water while we were there as it was moving quite fast.

Nothing like using a giant root system as a make shift jungle gym *grin*.

I love catching photos of my boys walking down the trails together :)

The eagles are very active this time of year and we were able to watch a couple sitting atop the trees again that afternoon.

One very exciting find for the kids was the perfectly intact backbones from last years salmon spawning that takes place here. My oldest did most of the fishing for them as he could reach further out into the stream.

They had quite a pile of them collected by the time we left :)

There are some great old fish ladders out in the back of the trail to. They are large logs buried into the stream at regular intervals with their centers notched out creating a series of sort of steps to make it easier for the salmon to swim upstream during spawning season.

We always have so much fun exploring and despite the lengthy travel time it takes to meet up with our friends the kids always claim that every week was the best one ever!

Hugs,
Rosina

Nature walk along the Puntledge

I know our daily nature sharings are over but that doesn't mean that our outdoor explorations have ended :)

Today we trekked along the Puntledge River with a small group of homeschoolers to find a marshy area where we could search for frogs & salamanders.

After flipping over rotten logs, collecting worms and seeing lots of little wood or sow bugs we finally came to a good wet spot to search for frogs but there were none to be found. There was a brief sighting of a tree frog hopping out of a skunk cabbage but other than that we came up empty handed :(

Check out the size of that skunk cabbage! It's just about as tall as M *grin*.

There were lots of native plants to be found. This beautiful pink Salmon Berry bloom...

Trillium flowers...

I'm not sure what these are but they had the most interesting blooms that looked like they were ready to explode...

and loads of pretty Bleeding Hearts :)

As the rest of us scouted out the area for salamanders and other critters M and daddy stole a quiet moment by themselves and watched the river rush by :) It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

~ Rosina

Fossil Hunting ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 2

Today we joined a small group of kids at the museum and headed out for a morning of fossil digging :) It was quite the drive as we headed through locked gates, narrow gravel roads and eventually hiked in by foot along the muddy and sometimes slippery trial. Don't worry though, we all made it there and back in one piece *grin*.

We found ourselves on a narrow little strip of beach along the Puntledge River that was just covered in flaking layers of shale. Very cool! It is also the spot or very near where the very first fossilized skeleton of an Elasmosaur was discovered here in BC.

Here's my 3 fossil hunters in their protective goggles as they hammered away at their chisels. It was quite a rewarding day to! They found clam & mussel shell fossils, fossilized vegetation, a tooth was found and even a seed. The tiny little seed was an especially exciting find as apparently they are hard to come by so that was neat that they got a chance to see one :)

K was particularly interested in finding egg shaped fossils like the one he's holding above. When he found one he would take it to our guide and she would crack them open to see what was inside. Sometimes you can find fossilized stuff and other time it ends up just being fossilized poop. Yup, poop! *grin* This one was just a lump of poo. LOL.

By the time we had finished each of them had a couple of fossils to pack home and we were quite wet from all of the rain :) Good thing we packed along lots of extra clothes!

Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players: lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, renee, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen