Terry Fox Run
We did it, but we did it backwards.
Sunday morning we decided to take our little forest path in the other direction and see where it took us. A few people passed us, but that's normal enough. It was, after all, another gorgeous fall day and perfect for a walk in the woods. I'm grateful our walk was considerably shorter than Bill Bryson's walk in the woods.
The minute you step onto the forest path, you're in another world. It's so quiet. All you hear are the leaves shivering in the breeze an the pebbles shifting under your feet. All your senses perk up. In the cool shadows of the trees the air is so crisp you think it will shatter if you flick your fingers. But when you step into exposed sunlight, it changes. Waves of fragrant warm earth spiced with the sweet smell of decaying leaves prick at your nose.
We saunter along in no particular hurry, and see more and more people heading our way. They are all wearing blue ribbons with "25" on them, the 25th anniversary of the Terry Fox run. We said hello to everyone.
"You meet a lot more people walking the other way," Hans pointed out. That's certainly true. I'm sure we passed 100 people, and that was only the tail end of the stream. Many would have passed while we were still enjoying our late morning breakfast.
Many people brought their dogs, generally big ones. We even saw one wearing bright red saddle bags. Probably carrying his own water dish.
In this direction the path makes a big loop and I quickly lost my bearings. Even if the path were completely straight I could lose my bearings but luckily, both Alethea and Hans don't share this flaw so I just follow blindly along. There are lots of roots and other trippy things on the path, so I spend a lot of time looking at my feet. I don't want to trip. As I was tiring I glanced up and there, at the far end of the path, was the comfort of Safeway. We were nearly home.
As in the other direction, the path has benches everywhere and many have been donated in memory of someone. The one I remember best was in honour of a couple from Scotland married 65 years. They moved to Canmore in 1988 when they were 70 and 75 years old. They died there in 2002. I hope they know that someone loved them enough to put up a permanent marker in their memory.
Sunday morning we decided to take our little forest path in the other direction and see where it took us. A few people passed us, but that's normal enough. It was, after all, another gorgeous fall day and perfect for a walk in the woods. I'm grateful our walk was considerably shorter than Bill Bryson's walk in the woods.
The minute you step onto the forest path, you're in another world. It's so quiet. All you hear are the leaves shivering in the breeze an the pebbles shifting under your feet. All your senses perk up. In the cool shadows of the trees the air is so crisp you think it will shatter if you flick your fingers. But when you step into exposed sunlight, it changes. Waves of fragrant warm earth spiced with the sweet smell of decaying leaves prick at your nose.
We saunter along in no particular hurry, and see more and more people heading our way. They are all wearing blue ribbons with "25" on them, the 25th anniversary of the Terry Fox run. We said hello to everyone.
"You meet a lot more people walking the other way," Hans pointed out. That's certainly true. I'm sure we passed 100 people, and that was only the tail end of the stream. Many would have passed while we were still enjoying our late morning breakfast.
Many people brought their dogs, generally big ones. We even saw one wearing bright red saddle bags. Probably carrying his own water dish.
In this direction the path makes a big loop and I quickly lost my bearings. Even if the path were completely straight I could lose my bearings but luckily, both Alethea and Hans don't share this flaw so I just follow blindly along. There are lots of roots and other trippy things on the path, so I spend a lot of time looking at my feet. I don't want to trip. As I was tiring I glanced up and there, at the far end of the path, was the comfort of Safeway. We were nearly home.
As in the other direction, the path has benches everywhere and many have been donated in memory of someone. The one I remember best was in honour of a couple from Scotland married 65 years. They moved to Canmore in 1988 when they were 70 and 75 years old. They died there in 2002. I hope they know that someone loved them enough to put up a permanent marker in their memory.
Comments