Exploring Southeast

After moving to Southeast Placentia it didn't take me long to climb that hill I could see from our upstairs windows.

One of my new favorite spots

And after hiking up the hill a few times Wayne showed me how to operate the Quad and now I take that for a spin as well sometimes.

Stream easily crossed on the Quad!

It's built for two riders, but for some reason Wayne trusted me to take off on my own after a five minute lesson...

Not knowing how far the trail went I ended up going a little too far and having to turn around out on the bog. My heart was pounding when I got stuck for a few minutes and had to rev 'er up to get out of a sloppy spot.

Messy me, messy quad

After that I stuck to the gravel, lots to see, no need to get stuck in the muck an hour walk from home!

Hills to climb, and old roads to nowhere to explore...

Though road may not be the right word, more like rotted boardwalk over a bog.  Must have been a cabin near that spot once upon a time.

After going to the same spots a few times I struck out last week through the woods to try to find some new ones.

Following a moose path up the hill I was disappointed to not find any berry patches, but I did see a wide variety of fungi.

I didn't see any wildlife, but I wonder if they saw me?

 Eventually I returned to a trail someone had made to drag their wood down, noting that each cleared area seemed to have its own personality as different things grew in to fill the gap.

I saw more reindeer lichen than I've seen since the weather warmed up, and tucked away the memories of red berries against white lichen for winter days ahead.

Of course all roads end at bogs up here...so without rubber boots I had to turn around.

It's good to have a reason to turn around though, otherwise I might never go home for supper.

Though some days this month I had my supper straight off the bushes!  And to answer Linda's question about whether wild lowbush blueberries in Newfoundland and huckleberries might be the same, the answer is they are "cousins" but botanically there are some slight differences. If I ever get out to Oregon during huckleberry harvesting time I'll taste for myself and find out which one tastes better!

Baby spruce growing up through a blueberry patch-
Good time to use a rake instead of picking!