The weathered planks of the boardwalk creaked gently under our feet as we stepped out from the dense growth of birch which separates the bog from the encroaching agricultural land surrounding it. I felt as if we were standing on the edge of another world. Stretching out before us was a carpet of vibrant coloured moss, sedge, and low lying shrubs, interspersed with drops of fluffy, white cottongrass bobbing their heads in the cold wind. Tamaracks just beginning to change into their fall colour were the tallest and most prevalent trees standing ,at most, about three meters high, their gnarled branches protruding as if they had shot out from the trunk in one spastic movement.
The location almost commands that you breath deep and relax your shoulders, every thought that exists outside of your immediate surroundings causes anxiety or unnecessary confusion. Knowing that we were seeing just a portion of the nearly ten thousand acres designated as the Alfred Bog, and that it has been reduced to one third its size since farms have started to cultivate the surrounding area, one couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe.
Sitting quietly on one of the few benches along the boardwalk I tried to imagine the inflow of carbon dioxide and resultant exhalation of oxygen continuously happening around us. The great balance that allows life to survive on our planet. What I think is important about the preservation of the bog is not only it’s peculiarity to the area, that it’s particular inhabitants would have nowhere to go if we were to continue harvesting the peat merely to put in our flower beds, but it’s closeness to us, it’s accessibility, when we actively place ourselves in real observance of nature, we become fully aware of our connectedness to it that we are unable to experience in any other way.
You can get to the Alfred Bog from Ottawa or Montreal within an hour, and drive through some beautiful countryside to get there. The boardwalk makes it accessible for those with wheelchairs, and can be walked in it’s entirety, if desired, in about ten minutes. But my suggestion would be to bring a picnic lunch and forget about everything else for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. You’ll thank yourself for it.
If you’re somewhere else in the world, I’m sure it wouldn’t take you long to find a place where you can anchor yourself in the presence of nature. A drive in the countryside, a bench in the park; remove yourself from what distracts you from your humble reality, that we are part of something much, much bigger than what our lives usually center on, ourselves.
Click on any of the images to view a slide show.
For more info or donations for the preservation of the Alfred Bog visit The Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club.
View Alfred Bog in a larger map
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