Unique Ideas for Celebrating the Holidays in the North

Traditional holiday greeting card for celebrating the holidays, featuring St. Nicholas on skis.

Most of us tend to spend the holidays visiting with family and friends, though some people like to travel, since for many, this is also vacation time. Either way, sometimes it’s hard to come up with something different to do, especially for special occasions. If you’ll be celebrating the holidays in the North, here are some festive ideas […]

Living in Busan: City Walks, Tourist Spots, and Local Haunts [Photo Album]

View of Dadaepo Port from Dusong Peninsula, skyscrapers crowding right up to the shore.

Yep, this photo album should have been posted a looooong time ago, but better late than never! It didn’t take much time to create this album of my walks and explorations throughout my year living in Busan, during which nostalgia and a fierce desire to return clashed with astonishment at having been back as long as six years […]

Tips for Identifying Milk Snakes (Rattlesnake Comparison)

Milk snake seen while hiking on the La Cloche Silhouette Trail in Killarney

We saw this milk snake during a week-long trek on the La Cloche Silhouette Trail in Killarney Provincial Park: And this milk snake was spotted just over a month later in Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park, near Mattawa: These beauties may look a little like rattlers, but milk snakes are actually harmless. They do rattle their tails against […]

“Saving” a Snapping Turtle

Close-up of a huge snapping turtle.

We always stop to take turtles off the road when we see them (so long as it’s safe road-wise). Usually it’s just a matter of taking the turtle to a grassy area beyond the shoulder, in the same direction it was heading. But this time, when we saw the size of the snapping turtle trying to cross Wolseley […]

Walking For Wildlife

Wetland scenery from Martin Pond seen while walking for wildlife in Mashkinonje Provincial Park.

In honour of National Wildlife Week April 10-16, I joined the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s Walk for Wildlife from April 10 until May 22, the International Day of Biodiversity. My goal was to walk a minimum of 50km kilometres and raise $500 or more for Canadian wildlife. To kick off the event, I hiked 10km kilometres in Mashkinonje Provincial […]

Upo Marsh Circuit Hike: Photo Journal of a Korea Wetland Keeper

The Upo Marsh circuit hike has a few strange sights, like these trees growing from the water.

Upo Marsh is a remote and rural yet nevertheless accessible destination. It’s a large wetland, so I figured that the Upo Marsh circuit hike would take me all afternoon or longer. Located in Gyeongsangnam-do, near Changnyeong, it’s an easy hour-long bus ride from Busan‘s Seobu terminal. Travelling on my own, I arrived in Changnyeong around noon and quickly […]

Jirisan Wetland Eco-Tour: Photo Journal of a Korea Wetland Keeper

The scenery was spectacular while driving around the national park during our Jirisan wetland eco-tour.

Back in May, I had been on a three-day trek in Jirisan National Park, but now I was excited to access more restricted areas of the park and to learn about its ecology. I would be spending the weekend on an eco-tour as a volunteer with the Korea Wetland Project. Day 1 I met my travel companions, Won-ho […]

March for Merazonia: The La Cloche Silhouette Trek

Scenic landscape view of the tree-dotted white quartzite cliffs of the La Cloche Silhouette Trail during the March for Merazonia.

I was out on a day hike in Killarney Provincial Park, located on the shores of Georgian Bay between Parry Sound and Sudbury, Ontario, when the idea struck for the March for Merazonia. It was early May, the weather was beautiful, the northern verdure was blooming and blossoming in every direction, and I was inspired. I thought to […]

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