Is this a new boardwalk at the edge of the marsh in Rouge Park? © BCP 2010
Thought I’d see how spring was progressing in the Rouge Valley, so headed out for a quick reconnaissance today. I was quite shocked to see how entombed in winter the whole valley seemed to be. The Rouge River was completely frozen over, even at its mouth. Judging by the amount of ice and snow left at Ashbridge’s Bay and even at the Humber River parks where I ventured earlier this week, I was very surprised. At Ashbridge’s, the ice cover in the Coatsworth Cut has receded by about 50 per cent. Likewise at the Humber. So I didn’t expect to see this at the Rouge.
Under the railway overpass at the mouth of the Rouge River. © BCP 2010
I walked under the railway overpass, right out to the lake, searching for waterfowl, but was disappointed. There was not a duck or gull to be seen right at the river’s mouth. Some distance farther along the lakeshore — no idea why — there were a few mallards and a posse of ring-billed gulls resting on some ice.
It was a beautiful, sunny day with delicate wisps of cirrus clouds painted across a cerulean sky. Before I headed out, it seemed reasonable to believe it might be warm enough for a human, at least, to bask in the sunshine. But walking around in the Rouge valley, there was a bitterly cold wind that reminded me that it’s another two weeks or so until the official start of spring.
I’ll give it another week or two, then head back to this park, to see what miracles have unfolded as the earth tips its face ever so slightly more toward the sun.
© BCP 2010
no comments