Wintry Adventures

We finally managed to coordinate our schedule with the Neills' and meet up for a wintry adventure in Ashdad. As you can see from the photos above, things were a little different the last time we were out here at the cabin. Winter has since washed away all the colour and left a wonderland that we were more than ready to take advantage of with our skis and snowshoes.

Friday evening was filled with chatter and adult beverages while the kids tobogganed up and down the laneway in the dark. Come morning Mike and I were not long in purchasing a couple of 4 shot espressos at the Neat Cafe to jump start our day. Cheers for that.

We arrived at the trail head around noon and while most of us opted to ski the short distance to the cabin with our snowshoes in hand, Mikey the mule volunteered to pull in the toboggan loaded with food and drink. From that point on it was a blur of skiing and snowshoeing with short breaks for food and warmth by the woodstove. The sun was toasty warm making the the -10C feel like +10C and we spent much of our cabin time soaking it in on the pond-side porch.

Photos always tell a story, and the story here is that the kids are growing more and more independent. As you'll notice from the pics, our ski and snowshoe adventure teams were always divided into two groups - adults and "children". (Note to self: Ask Maddie for some of her team photos that she snapped with her awesome new camera.)

Snow time

Finally the snow arrived and the timing was right for a family outing on the xc skis. A little backlogged on our list of chores, we opted to stay close to home and hit one of the many trails in the Greenbelt. As you can see, the conditions were great with only the odd rock hiding underneath the freshly fallen snow.



After some Sunday morning footie, we cooked up a batch of chili and left it simmering on the stove while we hit the trails with some friends. Unfortunately not everyone had skis or snowshoes so we had to go old school... yes, walk. As per usual the birds swarmed us looking for handouts which we gladly provided. Jason was wise enough to plan ahead and came armed with some crushed nuts while my crew had to "borrowing" from one of the many feeders along the way. Hey, these birds aren't picky.




Hopefully the snow stays and continues to pile on covering up the remaining rocks and roots. Is that really too much for a Canadian boy to ask?

A White Christmas

One again we made the trek back to Peterborough on Christmas day only this year it was looking like it would be a green Christmas as the snow still hadn't fallen in sufficient quantity in Peterborough to actually stick. Then BLAMMO! We hit the town of Madoc and the snow started to fall. Yeah!!

At first if was fun to watch the flakes as they floated down and melted on the windscreen. Then the wind picked up and the flakes got bigger and bigger. Then darkness fell.

"Oh look everyone, it's like we're in the Millennium Falcon and we've just reached hyperspace." Click. (high beams) "And back to regular speed." Click. (low beams) Yeah, fun. That is until the wind picked up even more and the snow fall turned to snow squall. Then we watched as the black top of the road turned white and all those comforting yellow lines disappeared. Slowed to a 40km/hr crawl the kids asked for another light speed encore as Mom shouted, "No Bryan!" Hearing my given name I knew this was getting serious. The 40km an hour dipped to 30 but like an optical illusion the blowing snow had us feeling like we were doing 110. The occasional drift into the left lane followed by the slump of the wheels off the right shoulder weren't exactly confidence boosting either. Time for the back up plan. Tail behind another car at a speed and distance that would allow me to avoid following him into the ditch. It was a good plan and after a slow 30 minutes we were turning off the highway to my parents' place and Christmas dinner.

And yes, I was one of those eejits wishing for a white Christmas. Um, thanks Mother Nature, now pile it on and leave it be until mid-April.

Enough of the chatter, enjoy the pics.







Happy 2012 everyone! Wishing you all health and heaps of happiness.

Christmas touques

Taylor Lake Yurt

Year two in the annual Gatineau Park sleepover. In contrast to last year's xc ski adventure this year's snowless December left us with little choice but to hike it in. While Ken and I were slightly discouraged by the lack of snow, Dave was secretly smiling as this would allow him to haul in his camp guitar or maybe he was simply relieved that he would be avoiding the bruises after another xc ski adventure. Either way, we were all equally excited to escape the workforce (note I didn't say family) and head into the backwoods for some time off the grid.




We arrived at Taylor Lake to find it frozen black. Not a splash of snow on top of the smooth icy surface. Unfortunately (or should I say fortunately) we didn't have our blades with us so we opted to play safe and not venture out beyond the point of no return.




The rest of the night was spent cooking and eating, listening to Dave rock on the camp guitar, and watching an episode of An Idiot Abroad and Louis CK's latest stand-up (available as a $5 download here).

Morning brought the fluffy white stuff. Luckily (at this point) it was only a couple of inches and nothing that would cause a problem for us hiking out. Cheers to the GAT sleepover until next year.

BvT's birth announcement

My wife stumble across this in the basement a couple of days ago. I don't think I've ever seen it before. Good timing seeing as today is the day. Cheers BvT.

Sara's on a roll

Happy Birthday Sara!

Rideau and Cataraqui Trail tour

November 11th, time again for our annual hike/adventure boosting the streak to 7 years and counting (see blog links below). This year our crew was whittled down to just Ken and I, the core of the group if you will. Dave was unable to join us as he had another long running streak to keep alive (keep an eye on his blog where I'm sure he'll post the pics and GoPro video soon) and Mike stayed home to rake and fix his internet connection (boo).

Anyhow, our goal today was to explore a small cave that lies close to the Cataraqui Trail south of Westport, Ontario. Along the way we decided to hit a few of the various caches in the area that have popped up over the last 3 years. The section of the Rideau Trail in the Foley Mountain Conservation Area was our first stop of many. This area is well worth the visit as it home to some nice hiking trails, picnic areas, a small secluded beach, and a great lookout area overlooking the town of Westport and the Upper Rideau Lake.




Next stop, the cave. We arrived close to noon as planned so we packed up the stove for the soup, our sandwiches, and a couple of beverages. Last to go in our packs was our headlamps (helmets and knee pads being luxury items that "real spelunkers" don't bother with). The Cataraqui Trail is an old abandoned rail-bed that is now a great hike or bike trail in the summer and ski or snowshoe trail in the winter. Access is also granted to snowmobilers but not ATVers likely due to the fact that ATVs tend to cause a lot of trail damage in comparison to sleds on a thick bed of snow.

As we crossed the swamp to the narrows we could hear the rush of running water. As the sound got louder and louder, my enthusiasm started to waver slightly as I envisioned soaking wet feet knowing well that the option of turning back was something neither Ken nor I would consider. At last, we arrived to find a healthy flow but nothing that an off-duty engineer couldn't solve with a couple of strategically tossed rocks. It worked like a charm and before long we had crossed the underground creek at the mouth of the cave and were working our way inward. Once inside, we clambered up the rock pile and then wormed our way through the narrow entrance to the next chamber. It opened up to an area large enough to allow us to sit down and check out our surroundings. Very cool. There were small limestone stelleracktites, aka drippy things, hanging down from the ceiling and humongous black spiders in nearly all the corners. The far end opened to another smaller chamber but it appeared to be filled with water so we could go no further. After snapping a few pics, we headed back out for our reward; hot soup and cold pints of Pollenator from the Long Trail Brewing Co. Cheers to a successful mission.




After a relaxing lunch, we made our way back to the main road where we spotted nearly 30 wild turkeys at the side of the ditch. With some effort (read, my camera was stuck on the 10 sec. timer mode) I snapped a couple of pics while Ken tried to herd them up for a photo shoot. While they didn't turn tail back in my direction, some of them did manage to fly a few metres which is not something you see too often from large dodo like creatures. And before you ask, no I didn't manage to get a photo of them in flight which only confirms that I would not be the guy to bring on a Bigfoot sighting expedition.





Here's a quick review of our Annual Remembrance Day hikes over the last few years.
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010