Night Hike

Last night, Sonia & I went on the "Night Hike" at Dawes Arboretum. We were accompanied by our friends Bob & Linda Zaborski. On the way there, we joked about not having brought flashlights, but our guide informed us that were supposed to use our "night eyes" and other senses for the hike. Our eyes did adjust. The snow helped reflect some of the light night sky. Since I didn't want to disturb our "night eyes" by using a flash, I was somewhat limited in taking pictures. I was able to use the crusty snow as a make-shift tripod to capture some shots.

For most of the hike, it was overcast but the moon did show up while we were hearing about a 200 yr old Black Maple. While there, the guides had some of the hikers make a ring around the tree to "see how big it was". It was a little too close to tree-hugging for Bob, who couldn't help but start humming "Colors of the Wind" in honor of Grandmother Willow from Disney's "Pocahontas". That's Bob, Linda & Sonia on the far right below, from right to left. Trust me. :-) Along the "Maple Trail", many of the maple trees were tapped for gathering sap for syrup. This "Spring House" was located near the "Sugar shack" where they will boil the sap into syrup during Dawe's Maple Syrup Madness in early March. At the end of the tour, the guide commented about the "order and predictability in nature". For me, nature has God's fingerprints all over it. While we appreciate the "creation", we must not ignore it's creator.

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."

Romans 1:20-21

At the end of the trek, we shocked our eyes back to normal by capturing this shot of the four of us. We thawed out at the local Tim Horton's. Thanks, Bob & Linda, for an enjoyable evening.