Its my 1 month Anniversary! -1300 views later! WOW… THANK YOU!!!

One month ago, I started this blog. I had always recorded my adventures somehow, some trips are written in Word and saved on discs that eventually got copied to my external drive, some had been recorded on Facebook in photo albums with notations on each photo, some on my phone, recorded verbally on the recording app where I actually kept a voice diary of each day, some are in small notebooks in my office desk at home, and some are in my photo albums from way back.

I was hesitant to join the world of blogging. Hesitant because I was afraid and ignorant. I had no idea exactly how to blog, where to start, what program to use, etc etc?  With one simple post on Facebook, I got the answers I needed. My friend Lesley was on WordPress, had an awesome blog and loved it and sent me some information about how to get started. From there I  went online to WordPress.com and here I am.  The blog was started and I was on my way! It was easier than I could’ve and would’ve ever imagined.  All I needed were adventures, time to write and pictures to go with the words. I quickly found out though, it was the other way around, the words actually went with the pictures, not the other way around.  Then it all fell into place.

This summer, is the summer of adventures.  Not that any other summer hasn’t been, but moreso this summer because of financial circumstances.  I had planned to head out west this year, to visit BC and Alberta, two places I’ve been longing to see most of my life.  In February of this year however, my house had a different idea.  It started to break down like a domino effect and I had issue after issue occur.

In the course of one month, I had spent almost $7000 on repairs.  I found mold in my basement that had to be removed. During the removal my basement flooded and my sewer backed up.  At pretty much the same time, my toilet broke, it was repaired and then leaked into my basement and then was repaired again. My laptop crashed and I had to buy a new computer, as I have my own business and work at it from home so I needed something long lasting and permanent which cost me a small fortune.  And then my car had some problems that cost me a bundle of cash as well, not to mention my chimney was falling down and was leaking into my basement as well! HMPfff to much indeed!

Needless to say, the month pretty much drained my bank account and skyrocketed my visa and caused me to postpone any plans I had to travel anywhere far this summer.  There would be no out West for me.  Hence, the summer of adventures began!

I started planning in early spring, inspired by the #woodsexplorer job posting, and not getting the position, I decided I didn’t need a job with @woods_canada to go exploring.  I just needed a plan, a few friends and some reservations at some new parks I’d never been to.  And so it began.  The more I posted on Facebook about going paddling, hiking, camping, adventuring, exploring, etc,  the more I started hearing, ‘you are so lucky’  and “I want to go camping too’ and ‘ take me with you’. It was so exciting because in the past several years I have had little to no interest from anyone to go with me on these adventures, and so I enlisted my almost 70 year old mom into coming with me. She was now finally adjusted to glamping with me and was an eager participant.  The more she went, the more she started to love it and now, I also had other eager participants that would join in on my other adventures along the way!  I began a twitter and instagram account and could not believe how amazing it was! I met so many wonderful people I met and I have been learning new things from them everyday.

I booked camping trips to Restoule PP, Rondeau PP and Grundy PP for May and July.  I enjoyed all the parks, but Grundy, will definitely be one I will go back to.  It is an awesome park full of great staff, nice trails, lots of wildlife and three no motor boat lakes!  Pure joy!  If you love car camping and being in nature,Grundy is a park you need to visit!  http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/grundylake.  Oh! and they also have backcountry sites, yet to be explored by moi!

I booked a Wilderness Rescue Course at Frontenac PP in May,  which was awesome! It was in the backcountry and I discovered that my little perception 12′ kayak could hold enough gear for a backcountry trip.  More doors opened up with that and I learned a great deal from the course and from my fellow classmates.  This adventure did not make the blog as it was pre-blog but maybe one day I will do a post about it when things settle down.  It is definitely worth a write up, but with 16 posts in one month, I just haven’t had the time… yet.

I went up North with an awesome family I spent last Thanksgiving with, whom I call my ‘adopted up North family’.  (in Niagara, we use the term ‘up north’ to describe cottage country to the north of us, anywhere from 2 plus  hours travelling north from where we live).  My Up North family were heading to Glenwood Cottages in Mckellar Ontario and invited me along where I spent an awesome 3 days, kayaking, fishing, playing in the rain, sitting by the fire, learning how to clean fish, make fire, and spent time outdoorsing with them. Glenwood is a lovely place with some nice cottages at good prices and if you don’t exactly love camping, this might be a good alternative for you?  You can check them out here http://www.glenwoodresort.ca (this trip was also pre-blog but sitting in the ‘to be written folder’. 🙂

In the past few months,  I have also discovered the Trans Canada Trail.  As the Woods Canada position was to explore Canada for 5 months on the Trans Canada Trail, it piqued my interest in the trail and I since have learned a great deal about it.  For instance, did you know that most Canadians have the TC Trail within 30 minutes of their home?  Amazing!  Once I learned more about the trail, and what they were trying to accomplish, I appointed myself an honorary Trans Canada Trail ambassador and decided that whenever I had a free moment, (and with working 2 jobs… that is not always often),  I would find a portion of the TC Trail and either walk or bike it and document my adventures . My goal is to help inspire people to use the trail and help the trail in their goal of connecting Canada by 2017, Canada’s 150th birthday.  So over the last few months I have adventured on many parts of the trail and have blogged about it and will continue to do so in an effort to assist them in their goal.  For more information about the Trans Canada Trail please visit http://tctrail.ca

As well as camping and hiking (more posts on hiking to follow!!)  I love to kayak. I purchased my kayak a few years ago from Outdoors Oriented, the place where I get most of my gear.  When I have a few free hours, I do my best to put my boat up on my truck and head off to one of my favourite places to paddle. So far my blog has only documented a few of those places, but please stay tuned as there will be many more to follow.  For information on renting or purchasing  kayaks in Niagara or for any type of gear you may need for the outdoors, please visit  http://outdoorsoriented.com and they will be happy to help you out!  Rentals are very economical and if you want to give it a try, you should go for it! You never know where it may take you and how many cool adventures you can go on, until you get out there and give it a chance!

My favourite trip thus far this year has been a canoe backcountry trip I did to Killarney Provincial Park with my friend Stephanie.  Above all else, I love being in the backcountry.  I love the solace, the freedom, the wildlife, the air, the clear waters, pretty much I love everything about it.  Killarney is a place I’ve been longing to visit for many many years and my visit there definitely met all of my expectations, not to mention hiking the Crack, one of the best hikes I’ve ever been on in my life.  If you love to climb, hike, explore, paddle, and enjoy nature to it’s fullest, Killarney is probably a good place for you to check out. You can do so by visiting, http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/killarney  and please check out my blog posts on both Killarney backcountry and Hiking the Crack both found here as well (not roughing it in the backcountry-Killarney PP)  (hiking the Crack at Killarney PP) if you haven’t read them yet.

On all my adventures, I do my best to pack out any garbage I find and #CleanUpOurParks a hashtag I am working on to get people inspired to pick up garbage while they are out adventuring to make the world a bit cleaner for everyone to enjoy.  Info on this initiative can be found on my blog as well here…  blog post on cleaning up our parks

So now we find ourselves at the beginning of August, the height of summer and my favourite month to camp and adventure!  I will be heading on many more trips between now and the fall and will be blogging about them all, including lots of photos, descriptions and any information I can offer to inspire you to get outside and be active in nature, any way you can!  I am also planning a solo backcountry trip in September, location to be disclosed at a later date (I actually have not picked it as yet, it’s down to 2 locations right now—- soooo excited!!! )

Today, I wanted to take a few minutes to recap this amazing month I’ve had with you, with just under 1300 views to date, all because of you! I am ecstatic, overwhelmed and beyond impressed that so many people are interested in the adventures I am going on and I’m hoping you are using some of them to create your own and, in turn, inspire others as well!

I honestly and truly hope you enjoyed my post and as always, if you have any comments, suggestions, advice, questions, etc etc etc please do not hesitate to get in touch with me. I love hearing from everyone!

Here’s to many more adventures to come!

Camper Christina

Happy Hiking

and kayaking

and biking

and walking

and camping

and canoeing

and climbing

and exploring

etc … etc… etc…