Three weeks ago
I was going to post a bit entitled………… Summer’s Over!
Well, it really is now. A couple of weeks ago, the swampy area in the canyon began to transform. The symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage) begins to wilt and the change is very noticeable. It’s the obvious sign of the fall season.
It’s remarkable because the skunk cabbages are also the first thing you notice in springtime. Initially, they are the first major growth in the park, they are giant and very green. In the spring they are vibrant and just jump out at you. It’s a good thing to see but not so great to smell, they aren’t called skunk cabbages for nothin’. They have a bit of an “off” odor and is only overpowering if you are right in the growing area.
So, summer is over and there are many changes about to take place. And it’s all good. The cool, crisp fall evenings when a campfire isn’t just needed but welcomed. The blue sky days when a couple of clouds float by and the giant white pines make a daytime silhouette. The need to make firewood (we know for sure that it will get even cooler!) for the comfort and security that it will provide. Even the fall rains are welcome, it can be so cold and miserable that all you can do is sit by the fireplace and rest.
Fall is probably the “best” season, it’s the weather and changing colors. Winter the most beautiful because you can see the entire canyon from one vantage point. And then it’s spring, again.
1 Comment so far
Leave a reply
38 years ago……..
We used to camp @ Canyon Park with my cousins. I was 14, my cousin was 13 and my brother was 12. We would always have the 2 campsites at the end of the road, by the little stream. My dad would always put the beer in the stream to keep it cold.
Being a kid, I never realized the beauty that the park had to offer. We just though it was cool. We would explore the park all day long, visiting Diana’s mirror, climbing to Pine point, or viewing the vista from the the cliff that was about a quarter mile from the cabin. There was a building by the big old white pines that was used as a “nature center’. I recall that ther were showers in the basement of the cabin that you could use. Walking down the road was easier than the path in back of the cabin, but we were young and the path was a lot faster.
I have been trying for years to get back to revisit “Canyon Park”. Most of my cousins still live in Dodgeville and Mary Murn just told me that you have opened it up as a rental. I can’t wait to visit again, if not this fall, next spring for sure. Thank you for preserving the canyon and now for allowing me the opportunity to visit again. I can’t wait!!!!