[ferreinm]

Take a Walk on the Wild Side
BY NICOLE FERREIRA, MACINSIDERS

With the cooler temperature comes the new season. Autumn at McMaster is absolutely gorgeous! The campus has a ton of greenery that is beginning to turn into a brilliant orange, red and yellow. So grab your camera and your coat and venture off into the forest behind your campus!

Cootes Paradise is an 840 hectare beauty owned by the Royal Botanical Gardens. It’s definitely not something you can walk in a short amount of time. If you ever need a nice day off, go off and explore! There is an entrance next to the President’s Residence, one near Brandon Hall and one next to the soccer field. If you’re short on time you can walk from the President’s Residence to the Brandon Hall exit. You’ll have a chance to walk on the tire bridge. It moves a lot and sometimes water comes onto the bridge since it’s not high at all. The tire bridge is fun to jump on. Warning: if too many people are on at once your shoes will get wet!

There are several things to see while you’re there. Since it is a forest, you will see tons of plants! There are your average oak, maple and pine trees. Yet, Cootes also has tons of exciting rare plant species like the sassafras tree, Kentucky coffee tree, and tulip tree! You’ll find a lot of really cool animals as well. At times you’ll find deer walking by your residence, they come from Cootes. You’ll find the red fox, raccoons, beavers, rabbits, squirrels, the swan and the black bear. Yes, apparently Cootes contains bears since the Ontario Spring Bear Hunt closed. There are woodpeckers and other really cool birds in the gorgeous wetland as well! It is even known as one of the best bird watching places in Canada! If you’re into fish, Cootes’ water contains carp, the white perch, pike, salmon, trout, and many others. If you’re a city girl like me, Cootes is a cool place to check out since I’m definitely not used to seeing so many different types of trees, animals, birds and fish.

Unfortunately, a lot of trees in the forest had to be cut down back in 2005. A child was out on a nature walk in Cootes and unfortunately died because it wasn’t as safe as it is now. Be sure to stay on the designated paths in the forest. Do not explore far beyond the path because your safety may be at risk. One time I thought I’d explore beyond the path and let’s just say I got stuck in a giant tumbleweed. It took me quite some time to get out of it and had tons of branches stuck in my hair and scraped knees. The paths at times are also very narrow! If you’re running and you end up tripping you might end up in the water. If you don’t know how to swim or how to climb out, you could be in some serious danger. It’s not always the best idea to go to Cootes alone either. The path contains a lot of random metal pieces as well that people trip over regularly. In summary, check out Cootes Paradise with a friend, not in the dark and be safe! It’s a beautiful place to explore yet there are still some limitations to how far you can go!

[katie_batt]

great article! clearly our brains are on the same wavelength, I just started a thread today about cootes cause I was thinking how nice it would be to explore, since its so sunny today! thanks again!