The Magic of the Forest

We took a break before lunch yesterday to go for a walk in the forest. We went to a nature trail not far from Charlottetown. We hadn't been there before and only had a small amount of time to explore. Still, it was enough to know that we will come back again.  

Celeste, Andre, and I love going for nature walks. Andre walked up ahead and decided which paths to take. Celeste went back and forth between him and I.

We stopped often to look at different things. The two photos above show the roots of a tree that must have fallen a while ago. It looked like tunnels underneath, and we thought maybe a forest animal might live there. 

We saw goldenrod, mushrooms, lichen, and fungus. Informal nature study! I loved how we each pointed at different things and shared our discoveries with each other. 

We noticed this fungus, which might be Artist's Fungus on a fallen tree: 

Many of the trees had roots exposed. Celeste told me she liked them, they were like little steps.

After a little while, we started hearing water and finally we saw the little river. There is something magical about water. It is mesmerizing and the little rapids in this thin part of the river begged us to stay and watch the flow of water and the sunlight playing on the water through the leaves of the trees. 

There was moss and lichen everywhere in the forest. I love moss and pretty much squealed every time we saw more! One area of the trail was carpeted with moss. 

Andre asked me why I get so excited when I see moss. I thought about it, and I realized it reminded me of my childhood summers spent at my grandparents. They lived near a small forest where I used to go walking by myself. There was a lot of moss there. I remember the texture and the bright green. 

You think my kids were tired of me taking pictures? Still, look at that moss!!

We noticed several old tree stumps covered by moss. This one made me think of a fairy castle with its peaks...

Do you see a frog shape from this moss covered stump? 

We had a wonderful walk through this woodland trail. I think we walked mainly along the Queens County Wildlife Federation Trail.  Next time, we will try to walk along the main Winter River Trail. 

Everyone is happy after a nice walk, fresh air, and seeing the beauty of nature around us (nature study!). It's magical, I think..

I am linking this post to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Carnival hosted by Barb at Handbook of Nature Study.