Today I took a new path and discovered a fairy forest!

I consider myself to be pretty adventurous. But we all have a tendency to follow familiar paths. Metaphorically and in real life. Sometimes both, like today. I have been walking or skiing or mountain biking almost daily in the forest behind my house for more than two decades. I know this forest pretty well. Better than lots of my neighbours, even. So I do not know why I never took the little branching path blazed by the town for snowshoers. I have not taken it in the winter. I have not taken it in the summer. I have not taken it Sam-I-Am. But today in the search for my daily #30x30Challenge photo I noticed how pretty it looked.

At first I was just going to take a picture, but then it looked even prettier the farther I went into the woods. The other paths that I usually take are a bit wider, wide enough for a snowmobile or four-wheeler, but this was a thin, winding path, and in the new spring sunlight of the first warm day I was drawn further and further onwards. It was magical. Little meadow-like openings and dips and hills. The other paths are fairly flat and straight, so it really felt like I had entered into another world. 

How could there be this whole other forest hidden in the middle of the forest I knew so well? I had been wondering if there was any snow left in the forest. I had seen patches a few days ago, but it had been warmer and there had been rain, so I was pretty sure it was all gone. But then in the path I saw this:

So of course I leaned down to take a picture. When I raised my eyes to the forest again it seemed like the world had changed somehow. Everything looked different. There was a thick green carpet of moss, and it wasn't flat like the rest of the forest, but hummocky and strange looking. Shafts of light pierced the tall evergreens and illuminated a stack of giant logs.

And as I descended the winding path into a squelching black puddle, I looked up and saw the fairy forest.

Now, this may sound like a fairy story, but it really did happen to me today. Me, who was wondering how I would find something interesting to take a picture of in my forest that is pretty much the same everywhere and all the time. And this fairy forest isn't even close to anywhere. I had gone about 2.5 kilometres when I came across it.

On a tree there is a sign that says (loosely translated from French): "Welcome to the Fairy Forest. My granddaughter and I visit the fairies every week. The fairies, when we arrive, stay still and wait until we leave to run everywhere and take care of the forest. When we are lucky enough to see them, it is important not to capture them because they would never come back and that would be too bad. My granddaughter loves visiting the fairies and bringing them surprises. Thank you for helping me keep the magic alive. Signed: One who believes in fairies."

So when you are feeling like you have seen it all and there is nothing new and exciting, I highly recommend taking Robert Frost's "path less travelled," it really can make all the difference.