Clearcutting on the Ford Creek Trail

The Ford Creek Trail is one of my favourites, sliding through old growth forests as it climbs away from the Little Elbow campgrounds. Earlier October had temperatures running around the 15-18 degrees mark and a mild breeze, perfect - ! And, then, from subtle shafts of angled sunbeams round a corner and wow, bright blinding sunlight and acres and acres of clearcut. The Apache-horse stopped dead, seriously perturbed and then actually craned his neck right around, looking behind him and then looking across the stripped hillsides. No doubt at all he had trouble wrapping his mind across the two landscapes - and which one he preferred. I've written about clearcut before, noticeably in the COCHRANE TIMES in the weekly ON THE ROAD HOME column which generated a storm of email comments. Selective logging I can get my own brain cells around, this kind of massacre is old-style thinking and way outdated - for anyone wanting a seriously deep book on the subject, try accessing the beautifully descriptive and photographed book of forestry biologist Herb Hammond. The trail higher along just running along treeline, where the fall-line is way steep, is still gloriously thick with mosses, lichens, the bright reds of frost touched strawberry and wild geranium leaves, cinquefoils and juniper pungent in the mid-afternoon sunheat. Mountains are snow tipped now, underfoot crunchy in northly pockets and where a keen eye is needed to work out frost-slide potential.