View of the Southwest Mabou River

From the bridge over Campbell Brook to the river’s mouth, the Railway Trail follows the course of the Southwest Mabou River fairly closely. While trees sometimes obscure the views of the river from the trail, there are also a number of places, like this one, where the view opens up and one can see the river in all of its serene beauty. This day’s blue sky is reflected in the waters of the river; on a less sunny day, the waters are more brown than blue, reflecting the sand river bottom.

Along this section of the trail, bird song complements the river’s gurgles and wild flowers add to the beauty during the summer. The yellow dill-flower-like plant that one sees in the left corner of this photo was everywhere along the trail on this hike; one of the photos I reluctantly left out of this essay was of honey bees actively working these flowers. Along a hillside by the trail not far from this point, these flowers were gathered together in a stand so large that the bees’ hum was loud enough to overwhelm the sounds of the river and the birds—the whole hive must have been out collecting pollen there.