Boyd Hill Nature Park

As a child, my dad used to take me to Boyd Hill nature park several times a year. I came to love the place. Even at such a young age the peacefullness of being surrounded by nature appealed to me. It still does.

It's been years since I been back, but today after painting a bedroom, I took a ride out to the 245 acre Boyd Hill nature park, and killed a few hours. I think it's the first time I ever went by myself, and it was nice. It was largely unchanged from the way I remember it.



There was very few people out there lots of "wildlife" noises coming from the bush. I took this picture thinking that "this eerily reminds me of Warcraft", but alas, no monsters jumped out and attacked me.

I did run into this little fellar and a couple of his friends. his friends were on either side of the trail eating whatever gopher tortoise eat. This one was a bit bold and as I approached on the trail, he turned and begun lumbering towards me at an equal pace. I moved to the right, and we passed each other without incident.


MY favorite place at Boyd Hill was was always the steep trail that led up to a cliff that overlooked a medium sized lake. Here, my pop and I would sit and chat, and climb rocks, and wonder out loud(as I smack a mosquito off me) why Mom wouldn't come with us. It was quite clear, to even an 8 year old, that this was man country, and women weren't much capable of keeping up on the treacherous trails. We'd both take a break up here and just talk. He liked to meditate, and this was a perfect place to do it.

Today, I noticed that The Cliff has changed a bit. Here is what I first saw upon approach:



Do not climb the armadillo? Well, this was new. What armadillo? And why can't I climb him? So I turn and pace a few more feet up the cliff and there's my Armadillo:



Just between you and I - I fucking climbed him. With my camera slung over my shoulder, I climbed and conquered!

From my perch I could oversee this



I eventually moved to the other side of the lake for a closer look, but a sideways glance and deep growl convinced me that discretion was the better part of valour. I moved on.

It was a beautiful day and according to the map, I traversed about 5 miles. This little excursion brought back a lot of childhood memories. It was melancholy. And it was a good time.