There is a local trail located on the outskirts of Woodstock and its a nice walk through the woods, along an old railway, then it ends along a nice river. It has huge trees and lots of foliage. We have spent a lot of time there going for walks as a couple, as a family.
That is until last year when Ash Borer hit. The city decided that the best thing to do to protect our forests would be to cut down a lot of trees. I had heard about their plans on the local radio station but didn't think much of it, didn't even think it might affect our trail. That is until I drove past it one day. The beautiful trail that I once knew was covered in huge working trucks, huge trees were cut down and logs were everywhere. The sight was terrible, it was like a bomb had hit one of my favourite places, I started crying at the sight of it.
It took them a long time to fix up the trail again and we went back at the end of the season last year to see what they did. We were disappointed of course, huge trees were gone, little saplings had taken their place. It was a huge muddy mess.
But this past Sunday we decided to give it another try, it had been a year so hopefully things looked better. And they had, its still not the same and John says it probably won't be for 30 years but it is an improvement. The trails have changed and there are more paths to take, the nice walk along the river is now cut in half...
We did find the bench along the river where we have always taken a family self portrait. So even though the trail is not what it was, it might be one day and we can still keep our tradition and enjoy walks together.
Here are our pictures from that bench from the past:
2011- look how young we look, my little Owen!
2012
2013: we missed cause of the shutdown :(
2014- our tradition continues
we were excited to see that our favourite tree still stands!
do you have a spot you love to spend as a family?
