A Snowy Winter

Yes, the snow is deep outside right now and as I write this more of it is coming down. I have to say that I cannnot remember a winter in recent memory when we accumulated as much snow as we have this year and January isn't even finished yet. The snow bank at the end of my driveway is seven feet tall. I know because I am throwing shovelfuls of snow over it two or three times a day lately. The snow is so deep in our yard we had the snowshoes on just to walk around the house!!!

Lianna on snowshoes in our yard in Bowmanville

Every season brings treats to us in Ontario and winter birds are one of the things we look forward to. Siskins, redpolls, crossbills and grosbeaks are a few of the visitors that we don't see except in the dead of winter when they will come south and visit feeders. From the tundra we get Rough Legged Hawks in varying numbers most winters and every few years we will get irruptions of owls. A couple of years ago Great Gray Owls were turning up over much of southern Ontario. Cranberry Marsh in Whitby had some and a few kilometers east in Ajax there were as many as six. Usually this kind of influx is the result of food shortages in the normal wintering grounds of the owls. That was the case with the Great Grays 2 years ago.

This year the owl that is everywhere is the Snowy Owl. Reports of Snowy owls on the Niagara frontier, Burlington bay, the Leslie street spit in Toronto and Holland Marsh to name a few have been common. Farther afield there has been a Snowy owl seen in Tenessee, the first in 22 years. These owls are rare south of Ohio but his year there have been reports in Kansas as well as Missouri. One also showed up in Virginia.

Most influxes of snowies are the result of population crashes of Lemmings, the owls main food source. Lemmings tend to have cyclical populations. Apparently this influx is not due to a crash, but the opposite. This summer the lemming population was very high and as a result the number of snowy owls successfully fledged was very high. Because Snowy owls have their own hunting territories, the large numbers have resulted in an influx into southern Ontario this winter. So if you would like to see one where do you go? Probably the best spot to see Snowy Owls this winter (or most winters) is Amherst island. Amherst island is in Lake Ontario just south of Millhaven, which is about 20 miles west of Kingston. You need to catch a ferry over to the island, so check the schedule. Also there are no gas stations on the island. Driving the roads and keeping your eyes open should get you a few sightings. The counts have varied from 5 to 15 owls seen this winter.
Another good spot is the area around the Holland marsh, where 4 were seen yesterday with a fifth known to be in the area.

You might get lucky and see one closer to home. There was one in the GM plant grounds in Oshawa earlier this winter. My mother in law spotted one between her home in Newtonville and Port Hope, along Highway 2, just after Christmas. So as you are out and about this winter, keep your eyes peeled for these majestic visitors from the arctic tundra.

The Nonquon River

Ok, so the snow is ten feet deep outside and the canoe is hanging from the rafters in the garage. However if you are anything like myself, you are always planning the next paddle. So in keeping with the Port Perry theme, today I am going to talk about the Nonquon River. The Nonquon is a small river that begins just northwest of Port Perry and flows north through the villageof Seagrave eventually ending in the northwest corner of Lake Scugog. It is a gentle paddle at any time, no rapids or high water. You might have to pull your canoe over or around a beaver dam or two but that is it. No five hundred yard portages. No speedboats. It really is an ideal little stream for you to take your kids for a paddle on. The best part is that for most of the trip there is no sign of civilization. Lots of birds to be seen. Great Blue Herons and Kingfishers will fly up as you paddle along. The banks of the stream have lots of wildflowers to look at. Turtles will be up on sunny days. The best part is that it is only an hour or so from downtown Toronto. I have relatives in Seagrave and remember visiting my cousin Parrish Fisher as a kid and paddling the Nonquon forty years ago. It hasn't changed much since then. You still have the chance to see wildlife such as deer, mink, or beaver and flowers like Cardinal Lobelia grow on the banks. In the last few years I have paddled it with my daughters, and son and enjoyed it just as much. It is a great spot to introduce the kids to the canoe
You can put in for your paddle in the town of Seagrave, where there is a boat ramp just east of the Simcoe Street bridge on the north side of the river. Paddle west to go upstream and you can go for a few hours. East and you will reach Lake Scugog in a couple of hundred yards.
The other reason to talk about the Nonquon is to let you know (well in advance) about the 41st annual Canoe the Nonquon. This event is the longest running canoe race in Ontario and is open for all skill levels. You have the option of just the river portion(18 km) or the river and lake(26 km) finishing in Port Perry. The event is a fundraiser for the Scugog Shores museum. This year it is being held Saturday June 6th. I plan to enter in the father/son category with my four year old and do the river portion. See you there!!

Kilimanjaro: Arrival in Tanzania

Ray, Diane and I arrived in Tanzania via Amsterdam. We flew direct to Kilimanjaro airport which is near the city of Arushu. It was dark when we got off the plane, so we really couldn’t see a lot but the warmth and the smells told us that we were on the equator. Customs and immigration was the usual except there was only the one planeload to deal with. The whole airport was about the size of a small public school. We got our bag and went out to find our driver holding up a sign with our names. His name was Alex. We piled our gear into a large Toyota land cruiser and set off for the Springlands Hotel in Moshi. It was pitch black out so we really saw very little of the countryside on our hour drive to the Hotel. At the hotel we checked in and went to our rooms. It definitely wasn’t the Hilton, but not bad for a third world hotel.

The next morning we got up and went down to breakfast. The gardens in the hotel made it plain we were on the equator.
The first birds we saw were Pied Crows and Red Headed Weavers. We were definitely not in Kansas anymore!
Just about at that time one of us looked up and realized that what we were thinking was clouds wasn’t. Looming way up in the sky was our mountain. It was massive!!! We debated who’s silly idea this whole thing was, while we took in the shear magnitude of the task ahead. The fact that we still had a safari ahead of us before climbing the mountain allowed us to eat our breakfast. The food was an odd mix of eggs, European sausages, fruit and African style cereals and toast. It isn’t on your Gourmets list of places to go but we weren’t going to starve either. After breakfast we piled our stuff into the Land cruiser and set off for a couple of nights on Safari. I won’t go into that on this post other than to say if you ever have the chance to do a safari in Africa, do it!! You won’t be disappointed.
A couple of days later we returned to the Springland to prepare for our climb. That evening we met our guides who spelled out exactly what we should take and gave us our weight limits. They have a scale in the courtyard and your bag doesn't leave the hotel until it meets the limit!
They gave us the evening to pack and repack our bags. All evening small groups were carrying their bags to the scales, and then tossing a couple of pairs of underwear and/or bags of candy bars, whatever to make the weight. Eventually we were all satisfied that they would let us and our bags board the van for the drive to the mountain. We retired to the bar for a well deserved Kilimanjaro beer. It would be a while til the next one!!

Winter Wonderland!

Since my last post started telling you about Kilimanjaro, I was reminiscing about some of my training for the climb. As I described in the Kili post I did a lot of spinning for training. However I also did a fair amount of hiking. Most of us will admit to hiking more in the better weather. In fact we all tend to hibernate in front of the TV or, like myself the computer, when the snow starts falling. However lets talk about getting out and about in this snowy winter wonderland. One of the areas that I did some training in prior to Kili was the Durham forest/Glen Major/Walkers woods complex.This area, just south of Uxbridge is less than an hour drive from Toronto. This area is forested, hilly and full of well marked trails. Between the three areas they comprise about 2000 hectares (who knows what the heck a Hectare is?) of wooded area for self propelled recreation. They are well used at certain times of the year, especially for mountain biking. However the shear size of the complex makes it easy to spend hours without seeing anyone other than your own group. On one sunny, cold winter day just prior to leaving for Kilimanjaro, Ray and I spent three hours hiking the hills of Glen Major. We saw some snowshoe tracks throughout the area. This would be a great day trip for all you Toronto snowshoe afficianados. Bring a map and compass and or a GPS because it is a large area and you might feel a hundred miles from the nearest civilization even though you aren't. There are a network of X country ski trails as well. This winters heavy snow fall would make this a good choice for a day outing for anyone looking at nordic skiing. The trails aren't groomed like a commercial ski area but they are free. The last time I went the conservation authorities had not put up any parking fees, but even if they did you would be looking at a couple of dollars for a carload of skiers/snowshoers/hikers. In fact the only people that we saw that day were three X country skiers, well into the interior of the woods. It was really cold that day and we were using the hike to prepare us for the colds at the 20,000 feet. It didn't!! Our beards were covered with ice as you can see in the photos. The remarkable thing about the three skiers that we did meet out on this frigid day was that they were all well into their seventies. They were enjoying themselves! Those people are my heroes! I hope to be as active and unafraid to do things like this when I am their age.

Ray and Myself enjoying the cold!

Other hiking opportunities abound in the winter in southern Ontario. Other training hikes were along the Bruce Trail. If you don't know it it runs from Queenston Heights on the Niagara River to Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce peninsula. It follows the Niagara escarpment and is maintained by volunteers from the Bruce Trail Conservancy. Guide books and maps are available from them by going to their website. The trail originated as a brainchild of Ray Lowes, a metallurgist from Dofasco in Hamilton. His idea became a project for Canada's centennial in 1967 and I remember as a child helping to build sections of the trail in Niagara, and the construction of the cairn marking the southern terminus, at Queenston Heights. In the winter the trail is less crowded and best of all there are no bugs.

Hiking on the Bruce Trail near Grimsby, ON.

You don't have to go that far for a winter hike. Almost all of us have somewhere 'nearby and natural' (to steal someones saying) that we can go for an hour or mores hike. I live in Bowmanville and five minutes from my house is Stephen's Gulch Conservation Area. Last week I was out for a litle cross country ski. I have hiked in the winter and summer and mountain biked as well. I will probably take a quick snowshoe there in the next few days as the snow is
deep right now. The point is that there are endless possibilities for winter recreation. Just get out there and enjoy it!!! We are Canadians after all.