One day after work I decided to go for a hike at Woodend Conservation Area. Woodend is one of my favourite 'quick & easy' places to hike. It is right beside a major highway and just on the outskirts of St. Catharines in Niagara On The Lake, Ontario, but it still feels like I am in the forest when I am there (minus the sounds of the traffic). The weather wasn't the best, but so far [...]
When you love adventuring and being in nature, it feels like your world is ending when it is taken away from you, even for a short time. As some of you may have read, it's been a huge summer of adventuring for me! Spring and Fall too! I have loved every minute of it and it happened due to many reasons. One of them was that due to a torn meniscus & ligaments in my [...]
At 7am on Saturday, still dark outside, I got up and got ready to enjoy a long awesome day of hiking!!! It was to be a beautiful day out and who knows how many of those we have left before that crappy fall weather hits us. You know the stuff, rain, wind, cold, damp, dark, dreary .... weather. I was dreading it, although giving me time to write posts would be a big benefit of [...]
I have never officially hiked in Parry Sound until this Thanksgiving. My good friend Katies family visits a cottage in McKellar, Ontario, every thanksgiving and last year invited me along. Since I behaved myself so well, they invited me back again this year and I was super excited to be there! This year I had been adventuring all summer and was pretty much away every weekend, or already had plans to do something while at [...]
A few years ago I was driving through the rolling hills of Pelham/Fonthill area and stumbled upon St. Johns Conservation Area. From what I remember, it is a small conservation area, very scenic, with a trail that goes around a pond. When I did research on the park in preparation of my visit, I found out it's much more than that. The park actually has quite a few trails, in addition to the one that [...]
Once upon a time I applied to be the woods explorer. It seems like a lifetime ago, but it was really only about 6 months ago. My application video was different than pretty much every one that I'd seen and I was hopeful this would make me stand out and have a better chance of being picked. Instead of listing all the reasons why they should pick me, I tried to show them, that I [...]
I have been backcountry camping and camping in general for over 15 years. I love being out in nature and preparing cool things to eat. I rarely buy the dehydrated bags of meals as I find them loaded with salt and I tend to get migraines from them, so I do my best to get creative when cooking on my camping trips. I bought my first camping pot set about 18 years ago and have [...]
Every year my mom and I head to Parkway Cottages & Resort for a few days at the cottage. It is located just outside the border of Algonquin Park and we spend lots of time there hiking and exploring the area! I am not a time waster and when I am heading out on an adventure, choose to use all the time I have available, like leaving at 4 or 5am to get up north [...]
I have spent most of this summer in the outdoors. I have camped, kayaked, hiked, cottaged, biked, backcountried, and done everything and anything to enjoy the outdoors that I possibly could. Every minute I have had free, I have been on an adventure and it is has been simply amazing! I have had the good fortune to be given and loaned some different items from my friend Jamie at Outdoors Oriented which is my go to outdoors [...]
On Sunday I had a free day, which is rare for me as I have been on 13 trips so far, camping and exploring nature and have rarely been home! I decided I would ride the TC Trail in the morning and paddle in the afternoon. I was so excited to go paddling here, its been so long, so after putting my bike away in the shed, I got my awesome little kayak up on [...]