Spruce Bog

We spent the afternoon walking the Spruce Bog trail at Algonquin park. A boardwalk winds through two separate bogs, allowing you to get a close up view of the plants, grasses and mosses growing. A bog is a poorly drained area that typically has a lot of spruce, evergreen shrubs such as heather, peat moss, etc. growing. These particular plants cause an acidic environment and therefore micro organisms in this area don't grow. The layer of moss and soil lay on top of the water.

The kids, being the brave explorers they are were walking on top of this layer. To look at it, you would think it is the same as the forest floor or an open space in the woods. There are beautiful red plants and green and brown grasses growing. When they walk on it, the ground is a little squishy. The kids quickly went from walking to jumping on this spongy layer (while I held my breath expecting them to fall right through). The earth rolled like waves as they jumped up and down. It looked almost like an earthquake rippling out from where they landed. Watching them and the reaction was amazing. And no one got wet!

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