Marty

Kayaking Kahshe Lake Area Muskoka

Kayaking Kahshe Lake Area Muskoka

Muskoka Life - Cottage Life

Spent a few days at the cottage last week.  Lots of rainy weather but also lots of sunshine in-between.  Two rivers coming off the small lake we are on.  Well, three if you count the one attached to Kahshe Lake. 

There were and are lots of trees down crossing the one.  I cleared a path through earlier this summer.  Only one spot where you now still have to exit the kayak to get over a couple of trees.  Pretty easy though.  We’ve been up to the falls at the end of this river three times this year which is the first time we’ve been able to get all the way in about three years or more.  It is a little over two kilometres from cottage to the falls this way.  We’ve seen deer, blue heron, foxes, beaver and some kind of cat along here at different times.  More wilderness than the other river.

The other river also end in a waterfall.  It goes under bridges of about 3 road.  Farms and cottages alongside.  Two beaver dams that you have to climb over.  Not that difficult.  The video below is the falls at this end.  About six kilometres total there and back depending on how direct one goes.  I'm trying out the 'cinematic' feature on my iPhone camera.

 

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Egret Taking Flight on the Welland River

Egret Taking Flight on the Welland River

Kayaking, trailers and care of my back

We had racks on the on the SUV for the kayaks but it was killing my back.  And you can’t drive around with them on the car all the time.  So, we bought a small trailer. 

Some two by fours and some wood screws, I rigged a couple of cross bars.  Placed our kayak racks there and loaded the kayaks. Now they can stay on the trailer. 

Takes me a couple of minutes to get ready hooking the trailer to my vehicle.  My wife laughs at how easy it is now for us to load and unload. 

We’ve been out a couple of times this way and it makes the whole event so much more  pleasurable.

There are lots of lazy rivers around the Niagara Region for us.  Lots within 20-45 minutes drive.

This day we put in at George Bukator Park. It’s never terribly busy there and pretty easy to get in and out with a trailer.  And in and out of the water with the kayaks. 

We headed west on the Welland River.  There are a couple of Egrets along that way.  We’ve seen them before.  There is a short video below I took with my phone.  One of these days, I’ll take my Nikon and get some close up shots.  The Egrets are not nearly as people shy as the Herons we see from time to time.

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Niagara Falls Park – Horseshoe Falls

Niagara Falls Park – Horseshoe Falls

Between my new iPhone 13Pro and the beauty of Niagara Falls…

The people are back.  Masses of them.  And it’s great.  We get to see the smiles again.  I bike to the Falls.  Great exercise and great people watching.  I also got to experiment with the zoom function of my newish iPhone.  I bought the phone largely for the camera’s capabilities. 

I’d never used the Pano function before on other phones - what a blast! 

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Road Trip Video – Across Canada

Road Trip Video – Across Canada

Canada Road Trip Video

This is a 3:50 minute video of our road trip across Canada.  Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.  Traveling through Ontario is approximately double the distance for crossing the prairies.   Ontario: quite beautiful but huge.  In case anyone is curious, the song is Derek Trucks Band: 'Sailing On'

I've sped it up and added the music. Enjoy.

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Hiking Grotto Canyon, Exshaw, Alberta

Hiking Grotto Canyon, Exshaw, Alberta

Perfect Weather for a Mountain Hike

When we lived in Calgary one of our favourite short hikes was Grotto Canyon near Exshaw.  A short hike; about seven kilometres to the hoodoo and back.  But quite spectacular nonetheless.  And it is less that an hour from Calgary, depending where in the city you are coming from!

Not difficult at all.  That said, the walk in is rocky so wear sturdy shoes or boots.  We went in near the end of May and there were sections with still several feet of ice. In winter one should definitely wear crampons on your footwear to keep from slip sliding away.

From the parking lot it is probably a little over two Kilometres to the bend where the falls are (to the right).  The bend is to the left.  Surprisingly, there was very little water in the stream or coming down the wall near the waterfall

If you go past the falls through the steep walls to the left you will come to a section where there are about a hundred cairns (piled up rocks).  I’m sure these get destroyed each year with the water cascading out of the mountains, then rebuilt each year.

Keep going past that you will come to a hoodoo on the left with a small cave near the top of it.  We have in the past gone a couple of kilometres past the hoodoo but never got to anywhere there was great views.  Lots of other hikes for that. 

Yvonne and I went with her son Spencer on this hike. He’d never been to this spot.  Great day, perfect weather.

Check out a nice walkabout at Elbow Falls, Alberta

#elbowfalls #alberta

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