Hybrid Black American Duck at Bluffer's Park

Well, one of the first nice weekend days we've had in months last weekend, we went out for a planned hike/photo taking venture. It's not quite the same as the areas we grew to love in Whitby but it still is enjoyable to get out for a healthy walk and see what there is to see.

 We had wanted to explore the Doris McCarthy path and chose that. I lasted all of about 10mins as I kind of suspected may happen. We were walking down the incline, lots of devastation and clean up has occurred since the ice storm one can tell. We get about 10 mins down the path when there bounding down a hill up a head is a large, scary black dog :-( I went cold, terrified, and I turned. All I saw to protect me was trees, less wide than I am. I braced myself accepting that it may run at me, it may or may not be a stray, it may be nice (hopefully) and its owner ahead somewhere. It disappeared off somewhere. John never saw it. However, there was NO Way I was continuing. I'm outta here. I felt like I was going to die, faint, gawd knows what else feelings, I was shaking and terrified, but I walked back and I never looked back. Not sure if there are black coyotes but I was even hoping John was right, it may have been one, because it'd run Away from us, not at us like people's off leash Shepherds, etc. that I have but do Not want to run into on hikes anymore. One reason I will never set foot in Greenwood ever again. People treat that Conservation park like the whole park is off leash, not just the very top north west corner which is the Actual legal off leash area. Being terrified of dogs, it's just not possible for me to go to places where one is pretty sure to run into many off leash all over, even in the parking lot. I know if I owned a dog, I'd not have it running through a forested area. Years ago, an acquaintance I know lost their dog when it flayed itself open on a sharp branch on a fallen tree trunk, chasing some small animal it spotted and by the time she carried it back to her home, it was gone :-( I feel it is not safe to allow dogs to run through forested areas, never mind that it is not respectful to others who use the area and do not expect to encounter them, families with little kids, or who are terrified of dogs (like I am as are many others) because I cannot force myself to take for granted that a dog is safe just because its owner has it off leash around people.

 I may need to steel myself to try to handle the possibility if I ever want to go to the Doris McCarthy path. And I do because down by the lake, where it leads to, there are rocks with fossils in them and I really really want to see those. Not sure what the solution is, I guess to have some faith that if we do encounter another loose running, terrifying dog, that it is harmless because I would have no defense against it if it wasn't. C'est la vie eh?! lol! So, we ended up going back to Bluffer's Park. Kind of cool because we saw an American Black Duck which was actually probably a hybrid mix with a Mallard. We walked along the shoreline and it was enjoyable. Saw lots of cool things. You definitely know it is spring when you spot pussy willows :-)

Doris McCarthy trail