on the trail #1

After the first two hectic days of our trip to Toronto, we were left to our own devices on the third day. Why not explore the neighbourhood where we were staying? So that’s what we did. A quick survey of Google Maps showed that the Moccasin Trail Park was nearby. As you can see from my first photo, it appeared to be a typical park:

However, as you can also see from the photo, the path divides a short distance ahead. We decided to turn right and soon found ourselves on a road that descended a steep hill through a thickly forested area:

At the time, I had no idea what Paula was attempting to photograph, but I soon discovered the reason:

Black squirrels like this one turned out to be extremely common, and we did see quite a few during the remainder of our stay in this remarkable city, including several in the residential neighbourhood where we were staying. I even saw one as I sat in the window of our room!

At the bottom of the hill, we found the start of a trail into the forest:

It isn’t obvious from the photo, but you can just see a small lake through the trees on the right. This lake doesn’t appear to have any amenities, but it’s certainly scenic:

The trail quickly contracted to a mere footpath:

I took several photos of wildflowers as we followed the path:

I’m still trying to see whether I can identify any of these flowers, although the white flowers in the first two photos do resemble cow parsley. And the yellow flowers alongside the path in the next photo look like golden rod:

Shortly after I took the last photo, Paula said that she wasn’t feeling well, so we turned back. But we did see another squirrel before leaving the area:

This was our first experience of a forest trail in Toronto, but we walked two more during our visit, which I will be describing in due course.