~ submitted by John Robertson
November 11, 2019
The original plan was 2 mountains in one day. Summit Maple first, then Mount Richards in the afternoon. Time commitments for a few members of our group prevented them from committing to Richards. So, as we got our gear together in the Osborne Bay Road parking lot, we dropped Richards from the plan, and decided to explore Maple Mountain only.
A couple of the trails on the agenda were new to me. One was, in fact, new to all of us. And a bit of “navigational creativity” found us on a trail that none of us even knew existed! Although we started in drizzle, the sun made its appearance as we hike up on the southern side of the mountain. We stopped at the summit for a snack, enjoying the
sunshine and the view, then descended via the trails on the northern side.
At 11am, we paused for a minute’s contemplation. The horror of war seemed so far away from the woods where we stood quietly. We then continued to discover more of the mountain’s beauty as we made our way back to the cars. Rain began to fall again just as we approached the parking lot. Although the time in the woods was shorter than originally planned, we were quite satisfied with the peaceful adventure of the morning.