Hiking in Ontario: Fave Photos [Album]

Marsh along Mashkinonje Provincial Park's Atakas Trail

This post of my favourite photos of hiking in Ontario has been a long time coming, but I figure it’s better than an album! And what better time than the holiday break to sort through old photos of hiking in Ontario and take a trip down memory lane? Pics of hiking in Ontario are from anytime between 2008 […]

Ontario Closing Provincial Parks, Reducing Ranger Program

Scenic view of Wakami Lake from a lookout point on the Height of Land Trail.

Hitting home hard to a former Ontario Ranger (Esker Lakes Provincial Park, 1996) and current hiking enthusiast, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources recently announced that ten provincial parks will revert to non-operating status while it will also be transforming the overnight Ontario Ranger program to a day-based one. Formerly the Junior Ranger program, the overnight teen work/camp […]

Envisioning French River: Strategic Plan

Municipality of French River logo.

A while ago, I ran into someone who urged me to read and comment on the Municipality’s draft strategic plan. Then, not long afterwards, I read someone else’s thoughts on the subject in the paper, and needed no more prompting — though perhaps a bit more procrastination — to download the plan from the Municipality’s website. It’s a […]

Day-Tripping on the Shores of Lake Nipissing in Mashkinonje Park

Lake Nipissing from Coastal Trail, Mashkinonje Provincial Park

Needing to get away from it all even though it was raining, we made some trail mix (basically like our granola but without the biodynamic oats), packed some sandwiches made with our own fresh farm eggs, grabbed some hiking gear, and took off to go day-tripping on the shores of Lake Nipissing in Mashkinonje Park. We accessed the […]

Hiking Up Rib Mountain on the Ottawa-Temiskaming Highland Trail

Hiking up Rib Mountain provides plenty of beautiful scenery like this view looking down on Cliff Lake.

In the Temagami area, the Ottawa-Temiskaming Highland Trail follows the original paths of First Nations peoples, thousands of years old, through old growth forests, up mountains, along cliffs, and around lakes. We had seen billboards advertising it before and found all the info we needed, including PDF maps, on the Nastawgan Trails website. We decided that hiking up […]

Wakami Provincial Park Backcountry Trip

Every Wakami Provincial Park backcountry trip has to include some hiking to lookouts with great views such as this one.

Victoria Day weekend, we left Halfway Lake park, rejected by park wardens fearful of forest fires and evacuation notices nearby (the situation being fairly dire this dry season). Undeterred, we drove another few hours north and found a park that would let us into the backcountry. It wasn’t initially supposed to be a Wakami Provincial Park backcountry trip, […]

Backyard Residents: Owl Family

Mother owl staring directly at me, perched in a tree in a my backyard.

We kept hearing a hooting owl every time we went out back to feed the chickens. One day I decided to follow the sound into the forest, first going back for my camera. I told my dad what I was up to and he decided to come, too. We didn’t get very far at all before seeing the […]

It’s a Bit of a Hike: Get Going with a Guide in French River

French River hiking guide

“I saw an otter today, splashing around near where we were working. It spent all day just swimming around and eating fish.” Did Marc know how jealous he made me when he said that coming home from work yesterday? The weather’s been gorgeous and he’s lucky to have gotten to spend the day outside. As for me, I […]

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