Fawn in Field

This is a cute little cardboard print of ‘The Lone Fawn’ by A.A. Auguston and it reminds me so much of some of the winter hiking my partner and I do, especially around the area we live.

We are lucky to be a very short drive or a slightly longer walk to several trailhead openings that lead to the Speed River. The Speed River, or, locally, the Speed, starts up by Guelph Lake, a human constructed reservoir that inhabitants here call a lake despite being created in 1974, the same year the Kinder Surprise and DayQuil were invented, which takes a bit of the mystique away from it if you want some raw honesty from me.

The Speed River flows from ‘Guelph Lake’, with walking, running or cycling trails running along both sides of it the majority of the way, thru Riverside Park, where it eventually merges with the Eramosa River in “downtown” Guelph. From there, it carries further into the West End of Guelph. 

Before traveling through neighbouring townships Hespeler and into Cambridge, Ontario where it joins and becomes part of the mighty Grand River, it passes through an old Quarry, which is where we usually join up with the trail. Despite its accelerated namesake, the trail along the Speed in the West end doesn’t flow too fast and usually seems to be only 3 or 4 feet deep at its max. It's width varies. Sometimes you feel like you could run across it fast enough to avoid getting wet, at other times it’s a good 30 or 40 feet across. We see dogs swimming in it and playing on it's rocky shores most of the time we use the trail. 

In the winter time, it looks exactly like this painting. Some raw birch bark hangs over the embankments of it, naked trees hugging its border. The river at it's narrow points always seems to be in that half-frozen, half-free state. Surely not strong enough to walk upon, yet more like a film like you would find in a yogurt cup. We have yet to come upon a Fawn, but they’re certainly back there. The river brings water and life and nourishment to the many types of wildlife that exist beside it, amongst the odd trespassers following it for exercise or adventure.