Autumn Adventure
View of Blackwater River valley.
October is my favourite month of the year. I love the beautiful Autumn days when the sun hangs low on the horizon and shines with a soft golden light, and the sky is a pale robin’s egg blue. A few golden leaves cling to the deciduous trees and many more carpet the ground. These days are all the more precious because of the certainty they won’t last. Winter, with its cold, snow, and darkness, looms in the near future.
This week I went for a bike ride along the Alexander McKenzie Heritage Trail (also called the Nuxalk/Carrier Grease Trail). The trail has been used for thousands of years by the local Indigenous people as they traveled between villages and traded oolichan, a small greasy fish. The explorer, Sir Alexander McKenzie, followed this route in 1793, in his search for an overland route to the Pacific Ocean.
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We started our ride in the frosty morning air and cycled for several hours, enjoying the magnificent views. The trail winds through an ancient Douglas fir forest along a ridge overlooking the Blackwater River. It’s been awhile since I’ve been on a bike, but I ignored my aching butt and bumped over roots, squeezed between tall trees, and steered around piles of bear poop.
Memories of this perfect day will keep me warm in the cold months to come.
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An old grave along the trail.
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The end of the trail.
