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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

July 2016

Hardy Lake – The 8km loop

By |2016-07-19T06:48:47-04:00July 19th, 2016|Categories: Canada, day trip, Fun, hike, Hikers, Hiking, hiking trails, hikingtrails, inspiration, Muskoka, muskoka trails, Nature, Ontario, ontario parks, ontario sea kayak centre, Ontario Trails, Outdoors, swimming, Uncategorized, Up north, walkling, walks, women|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I woke up to a gorgeous day Saturday and headed out to Mactier to do an address change on my drivers License.  When I got back to my place in Port Carling, I asked my roomates what they had planned for the day?  I had decided to do the bigger loop at Hardy Lake as I'd done the smaller one when I'd first arrived and loved it there.  Both Molly and Debra were in, so we [...]

My new kayak!!!! Welcome home Tangii !

By |2021-10-27T14:08:55-04:00July 14th, 2016|Categories: #boat, inspiration, kayak, Kayaking, Muskoka, Nature, newkayak, ontario sea kayak centre, outdoor products, Outdoors, paddle, paddling, parry sound, Port carling, tangii, Uncategorized, yolo|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

When I decided to move to Port Carling and sell my home, I also decided to reward myself at some point,  for how far I've come and for achieving some of the goals I have set for myself over the last year.  It started out as a go pro, or something similar, then progressed to a solo canoe.  I even went and tested one out! But after completing my level 2 sea kayaking course, I [...]

May 2016

Hardy Lake PP- no gas, got lost… but it was so amazing there!

By |2016-05-24T19:59:30-04:00May 24th, 2016|Categories: Adventure, creek, creeks, Exploring, Hardy Lake, hike, Hikers, Hiking, hiking trails, Muskoka, muskoka trails, Ontario, ontario parks, Ontario Trails, Outdoors, Parks, Provincial Park, solo trip, swimming, Trails, Up north, walkling, walks, water|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

I got off work right at 5 with the intention of heading to Hardy Lake for a hike.  I packed my backpack the night before and when I finished for the day at the office, I walked over to my bedroom (lol), grabbed my backpack and off I went! Hardy Lake Provincial Park is about 20 minutes from my new home. I actually came to visit it the day of my job interview, but knowing [...]

I Say Goodbye, I Say Hello – The road to Port Carling – chapter 1

By |2016-05-17T20:32:03-04:00May 17th, 2016|Categories: Adventure, Campers, camping, Canada, carcamping, Exploring, Hiking, hiking trails, Kayaking, move, moving, Muskoka, Nature, new beginning, new job, Niagara, Ontario, solo trip, St. Catharines, Up north|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

My dad provided me with the perfect word to describe the last few weeks, bittersweet.    It seems no matter how good something is, there is almost always something bad that goes along with it. It also depends on if you choose to see it, or just focus on the positive.  When things in your life have been really good and people have been great to you, you can't help but get sad when you [...]

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