Despite the wet weather and some extremely dry weather which kept us off the trails for two weeks, we have been able to do some great bumbles this season. How does a group of ATV enthusiasts celebrate Canada Day? We pack up and head to the trails to enjoy nature and each other’s company. The day starts out overcast but by afternoon it is beautiful with a temperature of 26 degrees. With Canadian Flags proudly displayed on some of the atv’s ,we meet at the trail at Hodgson Road and follow Trail 23. The foliage along the trail is so green and luscious with so many wildflowers growing. There are wild pink roses, yellow and orange paint brushes, lupins (pink, white and purple),daiseys,black eyed susan’s and so many others I do not know the names of. Oh, look at the wild baby rabbit scooting across the trail! We bumble on by Debec where Annette joins us at Oak Mountain. Crossing the atv bridge in Benton we see the covered bridge with the water flowing underneath it. Such a beautiful site. When we reach Wright Road, we bumble cross country through Dead Creek and Jigger town to Fry Pan Corner. Stephen and Judy join us at this point. Never a bumble where we do not have mud and water holes to go through. That is all part of the fun. When we get into the North Lake area we come to our destination for lunch-” Gary’s Dinner Hole” (North Lake Community Shelter). It is a beautiful site to see everyone sitting around at the picnic tables or inside the shelter talking and laughing. Smell those onions frying with the sausages and wieners. Everyone has their own lunch. Here come the treats-Ruth has her ginger molasses cookies, Linda (yours truly) has her chocolate macaroons and Janet has mini round donuts with miniature Canadian flags stuck in them. I see we have visitors –two garter snakes curled up on the wood pile. The day is moving along so time to depart and head back home. We meet a few others out enjoying their atv’s. The day proved to be a great one celebrating Canada Day. We were blessed to have 16 atv’s and 29 people join us. There is always lots of laughter with this group. After 149 km and 10 hours we arrived back where we started. I bet everyone in our group slept well. HAPPY TRAIL AND BE SAFE
Canada Day Bumble by Linda McHatten.
