Sometimes you just shouldn't go back!

I am up visiting my Dad for a couple of days and yesterday we decided to go visit the woodlot that he and my mom used to own to take the dogs for a nice walk.

My Dad and Mom bought this woodlot about 30 years ago and it is just outside of the village of Pakenham, Ontario.  Its about a 10-15 minute drive from their place.  It was bought so that they could cut the wood which would be used in the wood furnance that they had in their house.  The house at that time was soley heated by wood, either the wood furnance or the fireplace and later on by a wood cook stove in the kitchen when they completed renovations that they did on their house.

I was still a teenager at the time and wasn't really sure what to make of it.  I didn't mind the hike through the bush but I wasn't keen on the work that was involved in getting the wood from the lot to the house and the splitting and stacking but we had to help out.

Later on as we got older, they had a road built in to a beaver pond that was on the property where they wanted to build a small cabin later on.  This road also made it much easier to get the wood in and out.  As they cleared out some of the bush, they made trails throught out the 97 acres.

Road as seen yesterday that goes to the cabin and pond, its pretty steep!

We used to have a truck with a slide on camper that eventually got too old to use and it leaked. Rather than scrap it my Dad brought the slide on camper to the clearing that they made by the beaver pond and set it up there to use while they would be up there working on the wood.  A roof was built over it to protect it from the rain and before you knew it the camper was enclosed and then made into a cabin of sorts built around it along with a small wood stove.  They had done a nice job with it and it was nice to go up for the afternoon, sometimes they even stayed over night.

Cabin as it looked in the fall of 2003.  Can you believe there is a slide on camper under part of that cabin!

View of beaver pond from the cabin, 2003

My Dad picking up wood chips for his garden at home, 2003

My Mom, Whiskey and I on one of their trails, 2003

Old log cabin, 2003.  The old log cabin is still there and still untouched, but this picture was prettier than the one I took yesterday.

The trilliums were just starting to come out

My Dad sold the woodlot about three years ago when it just got to be to much for him, having to look after my Mom, their house and the woodlot.  It was sold to a guy who has now made it into a hunting camp and has also done some logging in there over the past year or so.

Going up there yesterday sort of ruined the memories that I had of the place.  The old camper has been completely removed from the cabin and the cabin enlarged.  They did at least keep the addition the same as the orginal part of the cabin, but it is now very messy up there.  Junk is strewn all around and garbage is scattered throughout.  There used to be a nice area in front of the pond where you could watch the ducks, turtles and beavers.  They had seen deer around and even one time saw a bear.

We did have a nice walk around the property, although there has been quite a bit of logging done and damage to the trees when the logs were skidded out.  One area was cleared so much, it just didn't look nice.

I am glad that I have pictures from earlier times and think to myself that maybe sometimes you just shouldn't go back to favourite places because they always change and not always for the better.  A couple of the pictures that you will see here are from yesterday, but the rest are older ones as I just couldn't face the sight of the woodlot as it was seen yesterday.

Had to stop in Pakenham for an ice cream at "Scoops".  Believe it or not this is considered a single scoop $2.69CAN

Not sure if my Dad didn't want this more than me!

A brand new baby just up the road from my Dad's, only a few days old.