Days are getting shorter, but working hours are getting longer. I don’t know how long I can convince myself saying that it is because the project is new!!
The much-awaited Friday night is here, and I see that I am still working.!! The usual questions came running across and my eyes got stuck at the bike at the corner of the room. There you are - my answer! I shut down the laptop and started searching in my phone for “fall colors near me” and ‘ended up’ in Darlington Provincial Park, which is about 10 KM from my home. This is it, decision made, good night!
“I
Overslept!” – that’s a phrase that I would never get bored with. Yeah, I
overslept. Got up at 9:30, quickly had breakfast, got dressed and packed
everything. With everything, I meant – a big apple and a knife to cut it,
wallet, light-weight spare clothes (just in case I decided to extend the trip...
yeah, I know over planning :D), fall jacket (it is the 2nd week of
October, you fellas!), a bottle of water(hot), notepad and pen (if I feel like
writing something, obviously), and an umbrella (It might rain...)
And I sat on
the chair, waiting...!! Yeah, the ‘might rain’ just thought of changing the
status to ‘is raining’. I called up home and talked to my little munchkin and
learned two lessons from his social textbook – “Work We Do” and “Its Raining”.
Irony, thy name is.. :D
Finally, by
around 12:40 PM, I started. I rode past the traffic to the less busy inner
roads of Oshawa. Fallen leaves every where, green, yellow, orange, red..
sometimes when it is windy, I could see all these leaves dancing in the air as
in a chorus. Maps showed the way ahead and I kept on riding… Half way through,
there was a straight road that connects to the WaterFront Trail. Oshawa’sWaterFront Trail slither through the shores of Ontario Lake for a stretch
of 11KM. That’s not just it. It is the part of the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail
that comprises of the trails associated to all the great lakes in Canada. Okie,
now, let’s get back to our road from the magnificent Great Lakes’ Trail. I
noticed a board that said Second Marsh. Second Marsh is home to a large
variety of plants and animals. Tripping from the route, again huh?? :P
So, there I
was riding through one of the most beautiful trails, with marshes or sometimes
thick trees at one side and a railway track at the other side. These, along
with a deep blue sky embossed with extremely dramatic (or I could say - dramebaaz)
clouds painted a mysterious palette. I couldn’t take my eyes off the horizon.
I passed the
GM’s building and entered the ‘not-so-main entry’ of the Darlington Park. It
felt a little eerie at first as there were nobody around, and both sides of the
trail were decked with tall trees and thick bushes. I kept riding and there was
an adrenaline rush (something like that), as if I was doing something dangerous,
big or may be even awesome. After riding an adrenalated 800 meters or
something, I saw two folks walking ahead. My legs were tiring, and I stopped
near a beautiful maple tree, yellow leaves, but glazed with a golden hue in the
bright sunlight. The “folks” took a left turn, and I was alone again. I thought
of taking a moment there, but then noticed a shed by its side that was
screaming “Scary...! spooky...!”. While the logical part of my brain(I know,
there’s one!) was telling me that it is a campsite in the Park, the other part
that was weirdly imaginative and spoiled by all those crazy stupid movies kept
telling me to run..
You know who
would win such a feud! Yeah, I started riding again.
One of the
best things about a ride through a trail like this is, you will meet a handful
of people, almost like-minded. A guy, might be in his sixties, rode past me, he
was all smiles and wished me and I returned the wish with a wave. I felt good,
hurdled over the eeriness and went ahead.
There was a
sign board saying that the Burk Trail starts there. It is a short hiking trail
of 2.25KM. Another day buddy, today is dedicated to my borrowed bike.! I saw
the camp office in almost 10 minutes. The camping area seemed big enough for a
sizeable camping party. I saw the ‘folks’
again! This time, closer that I could see them clearly. We waived at
each others and moved on.
Near the parking area, there was this notice board. It had a map of the Park, then some activity lists among the other things. The other side was adorned with 3 maple trees sumptuously flashing the fall colors. The one big tree in the middle was in a transitioning phase to being nude, to being deprived of its beautiful leaves with each gust of the wind. I stayed there for couple of minutes thinking how to capture the transition, where to place my trip partner (the bike, of course) and so and so.
In a matter of that time, 5-6 cars trailed by a
white limo, entered the parking lot. Shoot!!
People started pouring in. They were awed by the place just as I was. Here a
click, there a click.. everywhere a click, click..!!
I thought of starting back, gathered my
backpack, helmet, water bottle, and shawl. A guy came to me, said hi. And to my
surprise, he started talking about Indian weddings!! Long story short, that’s a
wedding party, and they came here for post-wedding celebrations, and he is
covering the function. I said goodbye to him, set the map to home and started
riding in the opposite direction from where I came. ‘Exit’ arrow is pointing
that side.
Wait a
minute! The map is showing opposite way. But that’s the exit! So, I went ahead.
I rode up a ‘somewhat-steep’ road, went past the ‘actual’ entrance of the Park.
I had to stop and wear gloves as it started getting cold with the winds. Soon,
I could see the cars passing through the 401 highway.
A lot of
trees were there on the right side of the road and upon a closer look, I could
see that they are all apple trees and that it is an apple farm. I took a detour
into the farm. A section of the farm had trees full of apples and the other
section was harvested. I came back as I couldn’t find anybody around there.
Now, I can’t
ride a bike through 401! The road was splitting into 2, one to the highway and
the other to Courtice. Courtice won unanimously. Well, I could go there, get a
bus back to Oshawa. I called up Deeps and told her my plan so that somebody
would know where I am. She offered a back up plan that they could come and pick
me. Nah… I had to know how I could fit the bike in front of a bus.
First 5 minutes in the road to Courtice was nice. Post that, there were no cycle pathways. I got down and walk a long 5 KM to reach the nearest bus stop.
Phone is almost drained out. In 5 minutes, the bus arrived. With the help of
muted expressions from the driver, I pulled the bike rack down and locked the
bike in it. Yay! Another accomplishment of the day!! 10-15 minutes in bus and
reached Wentworth @ Ritson. Rode again for 3 Km to Deeps’s place. It was almost
sunset when I reached there. I felt
recharged after a strong tea and some food (I didn’t had lunch. So unlikely of
me!!).
2 hours of
bragging and they decided to drop me back at my apartment. :D
Once I
reached, I unpacked all the stuffs took a hot shower and decided to sleep. But
then, I didn’t brag enough and decided to resolve the matter by typing it in…!!
After all, a weekend is the time to explore and brag about it...!!
The End
PS: I had only a handful of photos taken and all of 'em looks incomplete and could not depict the fall colors properly..
No comments:
Post a Comment