December 2016

Paddling on Big East Lake – Living Life With No Regrets

By |2016-12-13T18:56:59-05:00December 13th, 2016|Categories: Adventure, algonquin highlands, alone, animals, backcountry, backcountry camping, camp, camping, campsite, Canada, Exploring, gloves, ice, Ice trail, inspiration, kayak, kayak portaging, Kayaking, moosehunting, Muskoka, Ontario, Ontario Trails, ontarios highlands, Outdoors, paddle, paddling, portage, portaging, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, solo trip, sunrise, sunset, tangii, tent, tentcamping, texting gloves, Uncategorized, Up north, water, waterways, winter|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

It is a time of year when one must be really careful going out on the water.  I often receive comments of concern, people calling me brave,  and others blatantly stating I am unsafe, careless and should not be doing what I'm doing.   What if you fall out of your kayak?  You will freeze instantly!!! I have been kayaking for over 15 years of my life.  In that time, I have never, not once, [...]

October 2016

Turkey Day at McCrae! -Cooking in my new Dutch Oven!

By |2016-10-18T18:43:59-04:00October 18th, 2016|Categories: Adventure, backcountry, backcountry camping, Bear Barrel, Bear vault, bearproof, camp, camping, camping tips, campsite, Canada, canoe camping, conservatationarea, Conservation areas, conservationarea, cooking, creek, creeks, Exploring, fall, fallcolours, falls, food, Food storage, hike, Hikers, Hiking, hiking trails, hikingtrails, homemade, learning, leaves, Lookout, Nature, Ontario, Ontario Trails, outdoor products, outdoorproducts, Outdoors, paddle, paddling, portage, portaging, sunrise, sunset, tarps, tent, tentcamping, Trails, Uncategorized, water, waterfalls, waterways|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Since meeting my friend Jason last year, he has been going on about this place called McCrae Lake.  I had never been there and according to him, it was a gorgeous place to spend a weekend camping, fishing and enjoying nature.  The Thanksgiving long weekend was approaching and as I hadn't had any plans yet, I decided it would be a good weekend to check the place out.  It was also the perfect weekend to [...]

September 2016

Portaging a kayak to Scorch Lake – Algonquin PART 2 & Re-Hydrating eggs

By |2016-09-27T17:09:21-04:00September 27th, 2016|Categories: Adventure, Algonquin, Algonquin Park, Algonquin Provincial Park, backcountry, backcountry camping, Bear vault, camp, Campers, camping, camping tips, campsite, Canada, Exploring, hike, Hikers, Hiking, hiking trails, hikingtrails, homemade, kayak, kayak portaging, kayak rack, Kayaking, loons, malone, navigating, navigation, Ontario, ontario parks, Ontario Trails, outdoor products, Outdoors, paddle, paddle canada, paddling, Parks, portage, portaging, Provincial Park, River, scorch, scorch lake, sleep, sleeping bag, sleeping matt, sleeping pad, sunrise, swimming, tent, tentcamping, Uncategorized, walking, water, waterfalls|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A CONTINUATION POST FROM Portaging a kayak-3x2 at Scorch Lake - Algonquin Park PART 1, PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THAT POST! It had been a very long day yesterday,  starting at 5am for me and earlier for Joyce. We had spent yesterday taking 9.5 hours to portage and paddle to get to our site on Scorch Lake, one that was clearly the worst site on the lake, even the privy was [...]

August 2016

Kioshkokwi Lake – Algonquin Park aka Kiosk

By |2016-08-23T21:08:30-04:00August 23rd, 2016|Categories: #frog, Algonquin, Algonquin Park, Algonquin Provincial Park, backcountry, backcountry camping, Campers, camping, camping tips, campsite, Canada, Exploring, kayak, kayak rack, Kayaking, Kioshkokwi, kioshkokwi lake, kiosk, learning, malone, Nature, Ontario, ontario parks, paddle, paddling, Provincial Park, rack, rack system, summer tent, sunrise, sunset, swimming, tarps, tent, tentcamping, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I had not camped in Algonquin Park since February when it was minus 42.  It was time to change that.  My roommate Molly had been asking me to take her on a backcountry trip with me since we'd met, and this is the weekend we decided on.  As Molly has never backcountry camped previously, I didn't want to do anything too difficult, plus we only had 2 days and one night to spend somewhere. After [...]

July 2016

Phillip Edward Island backcountry kayak trip!-Level 2 with OSKC

By |2016-07-12T21:46:56-04:00July 12th, 2016|Categories: animals, backcountry, camp, Campers, camping, campsite, Canada, Exploring, fish & chips, Fun, georgian bay, harmony inn, inspiration, instructors, kayak, Kayaking, killarney, Killarney Provincial Park, learning, mapping, Nature, navigating, navigation, Ontario, ontario parks, ontario sea kayak centre, Ontario Trails, outdoorproducts, Outdoors, paddle, paddle canada, paddling, sunrise, sunset, tarps, tent, tentcamping, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Last month when I took my level 1 Sea Kayaking Course, I had no intention of taking my level 2.  If you read my Level 1 post, you would've seen that I had an amazing time at that course!  The instructors were full of knowledge and tonnes of fun and I learned so much!  I gained confidence in my skills, refreshed some of them and learned quite a few more. And, I met some extraordinary [...]

June 2016

Massasauga solo – Feeling ill in the backcountry

By |2016-06-28T21:37:47-04:00June 28th, 2016|Categories: Adventure, alone, backcountry, backcountry camping, beach, Bear Barrel, Bear vault, bearproof, brucetrail, camp, Campers, camping, campsite, Canada, clean up our parks, Exploring, Food storage, gear, georgian bay, harmony, kayak, Kayaking, Massassauga, Muskoka, Nature, Ontario, ontario parks, outdoor products, Outdoors, paddle, paddle canada, paddling, Parks, Provincial Park, sleeping bag, sleeping matt, sleeping pad, solo trip, sunrise, sunset, swimming, tent, Uncategorized, water, waterways, wind|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Last year I went on my first solo trip in the backcountry. It was at The Massasauga and it was awesome and I have been wanting to go back. I had every intention of spending last weekend at home.  Well my new home in Port Carling, but on Friday around 1pm, I was advised I could go home early.  So at 3pm, I decided to call it a day and packed up my camping gear. [...]

November 2015

Paddling Lake Manitouwabing – Fall Colours Photo Blog

By |2015-11-19T07:54:05-05:00November 19th, 2015|Categories: #getoutside, #outdoors, #paddling, Adventure, alone, Canada, Exploring, fallcolours, kayak, Kayaking, leaves, Nature, Ontario, photography, sunrise, sunset, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , , |

Thanksgiving weekend I was in Mckellar, Ontario at Glenwood Resort with my adopted Up North family, the Burnetts.  I brought my kayak up and paddled all 3 mornings I was there, along with a few evenings, and took quite a few fall photos.  I thought it would be fun to share them here with you in a photo blog. Hope you like it! Last year when I was here, I took a picture of [...]

October 2015

Honorary Woods Explorers Unite for a weekend of adventures!

By |2015-10-26T07:51:48-04:00October 26th, 2015|Categories: #adventure, #blogger, #getoutside, #go-girl, #outdoors, #paddling, Adventure, Canada, cooking, Exploring, food, geocaching, Kayaking, Nature, Ontario, Outdoors, paddling, sunrise, sunset|Tags: , , , , |

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 [...]

September 2015

Bon Echo – owls, coyotes & whipping winds!

By |2015-09-28T07:50:00-04:00September 28th, 2015|Categories: Adventure, alone, backcountry, Barred owl, camping, coyotes, Exploring, Fun, Joe Perry, kayak, Kayaking, Nature, Ontario, Outdoors, owl, paddling, Parks, portage, storm, sunrise, sunset, swimming, tarps, visitor centre, water, wind|Tags: , , , |

I have been hearing about the great Bon Echo Provincial Park for many years now.  I had wanted to explore it and seeing as I had a free weekend in September and a willing and eager camping partner, the time to visit there had come! I did my best to research Bon Echo but other than the Ontario Parks Website and a few posts here and there, I couldn't find a whole lot.  I contacted Bon [...]

Go to Top