“It emerges from the ground, mindless of timing or conditions. Fresh, spring water wells up from deep underground to begin its long journey to rejoin the sea.” – Ed Lehming

I have stood here many time before. It is the source of West Duffins Creek, a small local creek that flows from the Oak Ridges Moraine and empties into Lake Ontario, many kilometers south. It begins as a series of springs within a thick cedar bog some hundred meters or so behind this scene. The waters well up from the forest floor at the same rate, year round. The waters don’t slow in the heat of summer or the cold of winter. The cycle is continuous and wonderful. It’s like watching the very life of the forest begin before my eyes.

Because the water rises from deep below, there is some latent warm and even with this week’s frigid temperatures (between -25C and -13C) the water flowed forth steadily, with a few ice clumps forming much further downstream as the waters slowly cooled..

It is beautiful to see this creek flowing when everything else is frozen solid. Even the trees along the shore creaked and crackled in the deep cold. Yet the water flows, regardless of the extreme cold.

In the summertime, as mosquitoes buzz and frogs croak, the creek provides cool waters to sustain wildlife along its course.

It really is a thing of wonder, the very life-blood of the forest, the ‘source’ that sustains life, season in and season out. It really is a privilege and a blessing to able to participate in this timeless cycle.

iPhone 12 Pro @ 4.2 mm
1/121 sec, f/1.6, ISO 64