Into the Valley - A Familiar Refrain

I went into the valley yesterday and wandered a little further along the path than I've been before.

Mungo Says Bah!
There is a terrific view, high up on a bluff over the river. If I had taken this photo a minute later, I would have caught a few shots of a heron making its way along the course, twenty feet below me and twenty feet above the river. It looked like a pterodactyl.

Mungo Says Bah!
I'll explore this region more in the coming weeks - there is a lot more of it.

Mungo Says Bah!
After slipping and sliding my way down a clay and mud embankment to take some photos, I looked carefully at the debris that had been exposed by the rains.

Mungo Says Bah!
Perfectly exposed, and still attached by a finger of mud was this little fossil of a bivalve. Beside it was some organic matter, it felt like a piece of charcoal.

Mungo Says Bah!
A little higher up, I found this coin - corroded and pitted, I can't figure out what it is. It was about 3 feet down, so I am guessing it is from the 1800s.

Mungo Says Bah!
In the forest below, I sat and had a hot chocolate with some biscuits and sat in my folding, legless camping chair, and listened to the birds.

Mungo Says Bah!
Next time I am going to bring some heavy-duty garbage bags down with me. An accumulation of plastic and beer bottles and mosquito-repellent candles and general garbage is making it a mess. I have no words.

Mungo Says Bah!
The woods are overgrown and thick and green.

Mungo Says Bah!
This berry reminded me of a gooseberry, but I think it is not.

Mungo Says Bah!
I had a quick fire started with my ferrocerium rod and a small handful of roughed up birch bark. It was hot out, and the wood was dry and fire was without smoke.

Mungo Says Bah!
Along the way I found little tiny fungi, but the rains from over the last few nights seem to have melted most of them away.

Mungo Says Bah!
This one was small, but tough, and resisted my attempts to peel it away from the fallen birch branch.

Mungo Says Bah!
These bright berries are white inside, with a seed. They taste dry like a partridge berry. I spat out the small piece I tasted immediately though. Just to be safe.

Mungo Says Bah!
I left these ripening blackberries alone for another day.

Mungo Says Bah!
There are so many of these Daddy Long Legs spiders on the forest floor, looking for a bite to eat.

Mungo Says Bah!
Burdocks are ripening.

Mungo Says Bah!
These blackberries ended up in my mouth - I picked a large handful of them. No black bears about, luckily. After all, I'm still in Toronto.

Mungo Says Bah!
I think this is a wild rose.

Mungo Says Bah!
The plantains are huge - each leaf is larger than my hand.

Mungo Says Bah!
Each time I go down into the valley, I find something new. I could spend every afternoon there.

Cheers,

Mungo

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