The forest is beautiful, especially the life within.

~500 words

friendly reminder to get outside to nature if at all possible :) The weeks I get outside are better than the weeks I don't!
Anyway this is another story based on a small moment of my real actual life! I love biking through trails like this :3

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Canadian Trail
By: Cheese


The late evening sun bathed the thick Canadian forest in a warm glow; a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees covered the landscape, hiding the rocks ‌scattered among the undergrowth. A trail cut through the chaos of nature, a peaceful, slow-curved meander. Bushes crowded the edge of the graveled surface; fighting for space onto the trail, only defeated by annual trail maintenance. The trail was quiet; nature-ridden.

Overhead, a thick canopy nearly masked the wide blue sky entirely. On the left was a rock wall; mosses and vines covered the dark rock underneath, spots of white and green decorating the cliff. On the right, the bushes thinned out into the forest, opening up to a view of undergrowth and tree trunks, a serene sight to behold. The sight was bliss to a young otter cycling down the trail in his free time. His bike was quiet apart from the odd rattle and click, and he wore nothing professional; just a yellow t-shirt and grey sweatpants. Fitted to the handlebars was a blinking white light, and to the seat post a red one, should his route collide with a car’s.

He rode down the trail with a consistent cadence, gravel crackling beneath the bike’s tires like a fire. The trail was especially quiet on this hot summer day. Not a single person had been spotted during his ride, not even a forest critter. “Shame, didn’t even see much today,” he thought to himself, minutes earlier. The trail curved to the right, the rock wall slowly falling to the wayside as bushes returned themselves to the side of the trail, tightening the feeling of speed.

As the left opened up to a calm lake, with nothing but forest and rocks to see across it, the sight up ahead slowed him to a halt. Up ahead a hundred metres were deer. A doe and her fawn walking along. They were spotlighted by the sun as they stood just where the canopy ended, before the trail would turn to a bridge, crossing the lake onto a forested island. They were beautiful.

He stood there on the trail, watching in silence. Pure beauty was being shown to him through this sight like never before. And just like that, the deer looked at him, standing there, and stared back. It was only a few moments, but it felt like forever that they exchanged stares. The doe pranced off, her fawn following eagerly. He didn’t move for the next minute or so; as if the deer would return. He knew they wouldn’t, and as much as he was enjoying himself, he had things to do that day.

With a reluctant sigh, he planted a foot back onto his pedals and continued. But slowly. His eyes scanned as far into the forest as he could past the bushes, carefully searching for the deer that crossed his sight. But they were nowhere to be found. His eyes could not beat the camouflage and instincts of a deer; they had gone too far. He shook his head and ramped up to a cruising speed; the sight of the deer still burned into his mind.