Night Hike 3 Amigos

I was saying to my daughter Erin earlier in the day that we need a snow storm--8 hours of blinding heavy snow--lots of wind.  The winter has been tame and I was missing the snowstorms that as a kid kept me in awe and sometimes out of school.

In the evening when the wind picked-up I suggested a snow shoe hike.  John and his two friends Connor and Keenan were up for the adventure.  We headed to my favourite in town snow shoe hike just south of Duchesnay Falls.

I wasn't sure how dark it would be on the trail.  The terrain is in a ravine and I didn't think that there would be any light source on the trip.  However the city lights illuminating the cloud cover created a perfect low level light condition for us.  We brought a headlap and flashlights but they were not needed.  Our eyes adjusted quickly to the low level light conditions and we are able to enjoy the hike with our own natural night vision.

The moonlight helps illuminate the bridge in the distance.

The way the weather has been this year I wasn't really expecting deep snow, in fact we thought about not bringing our snowshoes.  Good thing we did.  The snow was deep, fluffy, and slippery.

The girders of a mysterious bridge.

A view of the Regioanl Health Centre from across the highway.

 The picture below was taken underneath the bridge (there are three) closest to Lake Nipissing.  The boys all commented on the view.  It was a scene from somewhere else (imaginations ran wild)--the arctic maybe--a dark mysterious place.

The boys worked up an appetite during the hike, so on the way home we picked-up a large pizza--it lasted about 6 minutes.

We passed a couple of snowplows on the way home--the most dangerous things we saw all trip.

First ski of 2012

Jumping in with both feet is good advice when you are on a cliff and the water is below.  Skiing however, and this is advice for me and me only, is a little different.

This morning my son John and I decided to go skiing.  I realized immediately that I could not explain how to ski.  Could not put it into words, so I surfed to youtube and found a few how-to videos.  This was good.  Got it--now I remember.  Time to head to the hill.   We are so fortunate to have a ski hill within the city. 

Off we go to the the ski hill.  Specifically the bunny hill for starters.  A few runs and we were good to go to the big side of things.

The weather was perfect -6, and there has hardly anyone on the hill.

The view from the chairlift was awesome.

A great day of skiing, and home in time to catch the NFL playoffs.

It was great to get out and onto the hill.  Looking forward to our next adventure.

Inspired Walk

I never can tell when or where or what will insprire me. Usually happens out-of-the-blue. I was sitting in a dentist's office--waiting for my daughter. The waiting room was filled with books from local authors. In one by Cliff Alger, I read about my late Uncle Walter--too cool. In another by Chris Mayne and Paul Chivers"Northern Shores" http://gulliversbookstore.com/book-launch-northern-shores-nov-25/ I perused a number of breath-taking photos. Some of them were winter scenes near water. I needed to go for a hike. My son John and his friend Nathan were nearby and keen for adventure. So we headed to a local spot where the hiking trail meets the water.

John and Nathan explore the low-lands.

The view south-west from the creek to Lake Nipissing.