May 2018

Making Maple Candy – Eventually

By |2018-05-31T09:50:52-04:00May 1st, 2018|Categories: Adventure, Canada, cooking, DIY, edibles, education, Exploring, homemade, ice, inspiration, learning, maple, maple sap, maple syrup, maple trees, Muskoka, Nature, Ontario, outdoor products, outdoorproducts, recipes, teach, teaching, Uncategorized, Up north|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

When I finally finished making my maple syrup I was incredibly proud. I was also really happy, that it was over.  It was a very very long process as far as the boiling went and I know that was due to my inadequate heat source but it didn't make it any less long. I was about to close the book/blog/video on the whole maple syrup series, until a friend, Terry Thomas commented on my facebook [...]

April 2018

Making Maple Syrup for Dummies – From Sap to Syrup – Part 2

By |2018-05-31T09:56:02-04:00April 24th, 2018|Categories: Canada, DIY, edibles, education, enthusiasm, Exploring, food, homemade, inspiration, maple, maple sap, maple syrup, maple trees, Muskoka, Nature, Ontario, outdoor products, Outdoors, teach, teaching, Up north|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

This post is Part 2 of Making Maple Syrup, to see Part 1, click here.   After 13 days of collecting sap, I was ready to try and turn it into maple syrup.  Please see Part 1 for the collecting maple sap blog post. I had a few buckets that were still frozen solid or had a big chunk of ice in them, so I got out the big pot, filtered the sap that was in [...]

Making Maple Syrup For Dummies, Like Me – Part 1

By |2018-05-31T09:57:51-04:00April 17th, 2018|Categories: Adventure, Canada, cooking, DIY, edibles, education, Exploring, homemade, ice, inspiration, learning, maple, maple sap, maple syrup, maple trees, Muskoka, Nature, Ontario, outdoor products, Outdoors, recipes, teach, teaching, Up north|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I have always been curious about how maple syrup is made.  Every year around this time, my boss says, you should make maple syrup and blog about it, but I have always been too busy out on trips and hikes and exploring to give it a go. I guess I should therefore thank my concussion for this years test run.  I have been unfortunately spending a lot of time at home and as the trees [...]

January 2018

Hot Tent Backcountry Trial Run – How to Stake a Hot Tent When Camping on Rock

By |2018-01-02T17:19:19-05:00January 2nd, 2018|Categories: Adventure, backcountry, backcountry camping, Campers, camping, Canada, Climbing, conservatationarea, Conservation areas, conservationarea, crownland camping, enthusiasm, Exploring, falls, frozen waterfalls, georgian bay, go home lake, hike, Hiking, hot tent, ice, Muskoka, muskoka trails, Nature, Ontario, Outdoor Adventure Show, Outdoors, scenic, sledding, snowshoe trails, snowshoeing, tent, tentcamping, tipi, toboggan, water, winter, winter camping, winter camping tips, winterglamping|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

A few weeks before the hot tent was done, I 'd made plans to take it out into the backcountry with my friend Sue, from Sue's Outdoor Crew.  She had spent the weekend before making a sled so she could carry her gear on it and some of the items needed for our weekend.  The day before our trip, we had some issues locating a good spot to camp as it's very difficult to find [...]

November 2017

Go Home Lake – Time to say goodbye to another paddling season

By |2017-11-22T10:55:19-05:00November 22nd, 2017|Categories: #lake, Adventure, alone, animals, birding, birds, Canada, creek, creeks, day trip, Exploring, go home lake, kayak, kayak portaging, Kayaking, lakes, Nature, navigating, navigation, Ontario, Outdoors, paddle, paddling, portage, portaging, sightseeing, Uncategorized, water, waterways|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I woke up on a Sunday to a beautiful day with a great forecast and for the first time in a long time, I had nothing to do! I thought about what to do and settled on a nice relaxing paddle in my kayak. The weekend before this one, I was at  Ontario Sea Kayak Center to take my Instructor Course and I needed a stress free fun paddle today. I thought about all the [...]

May 2017

Hunting Morels – YUM!

By |2020-05-18T14:02:28-04:00May 30th, 2017|Categories: #fungi, #mushroom, #mushrooms, Canada, edibles, Exploring, forage, foraging, hunt, hunting, morel, morels, Muskoka, Nature, Ontario, Outdoors|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

One night,  I was sitting out front, enjoying some fresh air. I looked over and saw something in the front garden that I thought was a funny looking pine cone? I walked over to take a closer look and realized it was a mushroom.  I had just seen one on facebook exactly like it, so I took a photo and posted it, super excited about my find. I had never seen such a cool mushroom [...]

Torrance Barrens Hike – Spring Sensory Overload

By |2017-05-16T19:28:05-04:00May 16th, 2017|Categories: #marsh, #rain, #spring, Adventure, alone, bog, bugs, Canada, conservatationarea, Conservation areas, conservationarea, creek, creeks, day trip, Exploring, hike, Hikers, Hiking, hiking trails, hikingtrails, Muskoka, Nature, navigating, navigation, new beginning, Ontario, ontario parks, Ontario Trails, Outdoors, pond, puddles, River, rivers, sagan, senses, sensory overload, swamp, torrance, Trails, Uncategorized, Up north, water filter|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Have you ever been to Torrance Barrens Dark Sky Reserve in Torrance? I headed there on Saturday to check out the trails and go for a short hike. I had been there in the fall with some friends, and another time in the summer,  and really enjoyed the area. I stopped to take a photo of rose petals strewn out over some rocks near a campsite.  I hoped it was a good experience someone [...]

February 2017

The Outdoor Adventure Show! -So Many Awesome People in One Place!

By |2017-02-28T18:24:38-05:00February 28th, 2017|Categories: Adventure, animals, booths, Campers, camping, camping tips, Canada, canoe camping, carcamping, Chairs, day trip, Exploring, Fun, kayak, Kayaking, Ontario, ontarios highlands, Outdoor Adventure Show, outdoor products, Outdoors, outdoors show, paddle, paddle canada, paddling, portage, portaging, pot set, Presentation, Provincial Park, tent, tentcamping, trade show, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I had an amazing time this past weekend at the Outdoor Adventure Show in Toronto .  I applied to get a bloggers pass and blog about the event and I was picked! I spent two days at the show this year and it was awesome!!!  Last year I was only at the event for one day and felt far too rushed. This year I was able to see all the booths I wanted to, talk [...]

January 2017

Johnston’s Cranberry Ice Trail – OPENED TODAY!!!!

By |2017-01-14T21:04:20-05:00January 14th, 2017|Categories: #snow, #snowshoe, #snowshoeing, Adventure, Canada, Cranberry festival, cranberry marsh, day trip, hike, Hiking, hiking trails, ice, ice skates, ice skating, Ice trail, Marsh Trail, MarshTrail, Muskoka, muskoka trails, Nature, Ontario, Ontario Trails, Outdoors, Port carling, skating, skating trails, Trails, Uncategorized, winter, winter Wonderland|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

With much anticipation, Johnston's Cranberry Ice Trail opened today!!! (Cranboni photo's courtesy of Johnston's Cranberry Marsh, featuring their Cranboni! being driven by awesome Andrew! )   On December 17th, I paid a visit to Johnston's Cranberry Marsh to hike their snowshoe trails. I had a fabulous time there and really enjoyed my visit, but unfortunately, the ice trail wasn't open yet. I have been keeping a close eye on Facebook, and today the post went [...]

December 2016

Marching the Marsh! – Snowshoeing at Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh!

By |2016-12-29T19:22:03-05:00December 29th, 2016|Categories: #marsh, #snow, #snowshoe, #snowshoeing, Adventure, alone, Canada, Cranberry festival, cranberry marsh, creek, creeks, day trip, Exploring, hike, Hikers, Hiking, hiking trails, ice, Ice trail, inspiration, Marsh Trail, MarshTrail, Muskoka, muskoka trails, Nature, Ontario, Ontario Trails, Parks, Port carling, skating, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

When I decided to go  snowshoeing at the Cranberry Marsh, I did not expect it to be anything like this! I was online one day in search of places to go snowshoeing and someone asked if I'd been to Johnston's Cranberry Marsh. I actually had, for the Cranberry Festival, but that was it. After a huge week of snow in Muskoka,  some research online, and a few very pleasant Facebook messages between us, I headed [...]

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