Yesterday afternoon my friend Jan and I went for a PhotoWalk along a new stretch of the Grand River which flows along the edge of our Twin Cities. This particular location is down beside the bridge that crosses Victoria Street North, and we headed North-West along the trail by some ponds. The trail goes around them both, but we didn't fully go the circumference of the pond on our left. When we saw trails that led down to the water's edge, we followed them and saw the ice and other features that were not visible from up on the path.
This is the map that shows where we walked in red. There were also little indents that lead down to the water that are not visible on this particular shot.
Even though it is winter, there was no snow. It was quite cold when we were out there and we had a windchill of about 13ºF/-10.5ºC. There was a lot of ice on the puddles and even the ponds.
Looking down the path to one of the ponds.
This part of the Grand River Trail is called J.A. Pollock Family Trailway.
To my right I kept seeing the bridge over the river through the shrubbery.
And also the pond and a trail leading right to the edge that is used by paddlers as a put-in point.
This is the pond that is shown on the left of where we walked from our starting point.
A better shot of the bridge across the frozen pond.
The pond, that is almost as wide as the river at this location.
Walking along between the two ponds I noticed a bench that is much too low for me to use alongside trailway.
This building has a stone facade. Not sure if it is just stone slab on brick or what, but it is beautiful and fits in with the natural surroundings, minus the truck in front of it in this photo.
This was taken right down by the pond. It looks glassy and if you throw a stone out on it that is what it sounds like. It is actually an icy surface.
Looking back up to the main path you can see the roughness of the trail down to the water. It was a bit more difficult to traverse with my walker.
This looks like broken glass but is actually ice.
A different angle of the pond and building.
While we were there a few gees were flying overhead.
From this point I could see the rocks on the edge of the pond that seem to lead up to the path on the other side of it. I didn't, but should have taken a picture of what that actually is.
Looking through the reeds gives the photo a bit more colour.
Looking up the paths I see the city encroaching on the solitude of the trail.
A shot of the lefthand pond where the bench is sitting at a junction in the path.
A look across the lefthand pond and the evergreens reflected in the pond.
A different aspect of the bridge as we travelled further away from it.
As we were walking along we noticed there is a dip in the path where there has actually been water had crossed, and had frozen over.
A bit closer up shot of that dip.
I'm guessing this is where the pond on the left empties into the pond on the right. I did check to see if they had names but didn't see any online.
Across the pond on the left you can see the city.
Once we came around the top of the pond on the right we found a trail down to the Grand River, and we went exploring.
Looking down a trail that we would later check out.
The sign says "No Swimming"
Now we are down by the Grand River.
As we walked along the path we were able to see the river most of the time.
There were a lot of fallen logs, trees here.
I found the whole scene as we walked very colourful and one I WILL go back to see. Maybe even when there is snow on the ground.
The trail is surrounded by trees that will look beautiful when there are leaves on them, or even wet snow.
There are quite a lot of evergreens here too.
Suddenly the path took a sharp twist to the right and I noticed that there was a swampy area to the left of the path. There was also a bird house on the side of a tree.
This is where the path doubles back on itself. It goes down right to the river.
The swampy area on the left.
Then the path zigs to the left.
The path with the river just beyond.
Another shot of the swamp.
The river was flowing quite fast here and we were right down on the edge.
For some reason I felt queazy down so close to the water. For me that is a strange situation. I don't suffer from sea sickness or motion sickness, so it made me make the decision it is time to return to the car and head home.
On the top side again I began to be less queazy and we decided to go as far as the railway bridge, just beyond that Victoria Street Bridge.
I took periodic photos on our way back.
This huge rock was kinda out of place as there didn't seem to be any other rocks around it.
And then we were back to where we had headed this way.
And then I took a photo of the two ponds we had seen earlier.
And on we go toward the railway bridge.
A tree that was twisted off in the centre.
Then I took a photo of the pond to the right.
This rock pile is actually around the culvert that drains the ponds into the river.
There was quit a bit of graffiti on the bridge.
After I came out from under the bridge I saw a path to the left and decided to follow it. This was where I saw some more graffiti.
And then I spotted the word Ecclesiastes 3:14 on the railway bridge. That is a verse from the Bible and it says "I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him."
And even more graffiti.
There was another path down to the water and I went down it to get a few more photos.
And then we were back by the big pond, and heading back to the car.
This was a different angle of that building and the truck was gone.
Some more evergreens.
A couple more shots of the big pond.
And the trail heading back to the parking lot.
I took this closeup earlier in the walk with my camera. All the ones before this were taken with my phone.
I will have to get back out here again. Especially when there are leaves on the trees and I feel better.
