Saturday: Today, I got to tag along with Jay, Doug and Danielle to the park. At first, Doug was supposed to go by himself with Lily, the beautiful palomino horse that he’s just bought from Jay (I got to ride her once, and I can promise you, she doesn’t only look heavenly). But then Jay and Doug got to talking and somehow I ended up having to get up early this morning to help Jay load Lily, Junior (one of Jay’s horses) and Zena into his trailer, so that we could all go to the park together. Danielle met us by the park.
Because, you see, there aren’t really any trails here around the farm. To get to a forest, you have to drive the horses there. But what a forest! Me and Zena were last in our little trail group, always ending up far behind the others, because Zena isn’t a horse who rushes. But I didn’t mind. I was watching the trees.
It was my first time in a British Columbian forest. And it might not have been a real temperate rainforest, it might’ve been slightly too small and a bit too kept after, but I still couldn’t believe my eyes. The trees were so tall. And the moss! Actually, it’s the moss that makes it. We have trees in Sweden too, loads of them, quite tall ones. But there is always a lot of brown in our forests, from the trunks and the dead leaves on the ground. But here it’s only green, moss everywhere, and so lush.
It reminded me of the Bolivian Amazon, which might sound strange at first, but then not really when you think about it. Both regions are rainforests, with an incredible aboundance of vegetation that is made possible by the humidity. It’s only the type of plants that differ. And the lack of sand flies that bite you into an itching mess here in BC. But I guess once the mosquitos start hatching in June, the biting insects will be here too.
The trail through the park was eleven kilometers and took a little more than an hour and a half to get finish, mainly at a walk. Oh, it was an amazing ride. I know I might start sounding like a record player on repeat, but I do really enjoy my stay here.
Katja Malmborg 