Marty

Apr

2023

Muddy Hike on a Sunny, Spring Day At Short Hills

Hiking Short Hills Provincial Park

Was a bit cloudy when we started out hiking and we expected mud because it has been raining so much lately. And it was muddy! We've hiked Short Hills many times and we tried to stay higher up and it helped a bit. Almost no one at the provincial park today, I think we saw three others hiking. Only a couple of cars in the parking lot. Pretty much had the place to ourselves. Way over dressed, though. Had to take off jacket and sweater after the first 10-15 minutes in the woods. Sun was shining and almost no wind. Was a stunning day. There are several spots to enter the park - three main parking lots. We parked at the Wiley Rd lot. Hiked in on the big muddy path for a couple hundred metres going south and then a couple hundred metres in, headed in on a path through the fields and woods. Again, we hiked along the peaks of the hills as much as we could. Went by a small waterfall and hung around the bigger one for a while at the south part of this loop. That one is pictured below. Loads of paths through South Hills park, it's about 1600 acres. And at least a couple of rivers running through. We've snowshoed in the Winter, Hiked through most seasons. I prefer without the bugs though, if I can help it.

And some video on Instagram @martysroadtrip1

Mar

2023

Famous Cake Donuts at Tyrone Mills

Cake Donuts

Anytime we are anywhere east of Toronto we head out to Tyrone Mills for cake donuts. Tyrone Mills is an old Mill in the town of Tyrone, Ontario. A little less than an hour east of Toronto on Highway 401 and about 10 minutes north. We spent a lot of time in those rolling hills when we were much younger.

They have a variety of treats, tarts, jams, jellies and syrups. And a great variety of flour. Wheat, spelt, whole, white, etc.

Byam's General Store

In the 1960s, if we could tear ourselves away from the creek and woods and barns of the farm, we'd make the kilometre trek to Byam's general store in Tyrone. We'd get ourselves a soda and candy and sit on the porch sipping and eating and resting for the trek back. Usually, safer and quicker to hoof it back through the woods.

Now we drive. Best cake donuts anywhere. Variety of tarts, mince, butter, lemon... Here are a few photos of the interior of the Mill and one of the front of Byam's General Store. The store has now been converted to an apartment. The new owner has kept the original face and tries to update seasonally.

Dec

2022

Thanksgiving Etc 2022

Jun

2019

Kayaking Welland River

We finally had some nice weather and got a decent few hours of kayaking in after a crappy Spring. We didn't want to make our first run in one of the swollen rivers in the area. Just wanted an easy day of it. Went to a small park along the river between Chippewa and Niagara Falls. North side. If you go south on Dorchester from McLeod and turn right when you get to the end you will follow Chippewa Parkway around. Once you are going along the river you will see a small park with a spot to launch boats. If you get to the Canoe Club (George Bukator Park) you have gone way too far.

The river is quite wide and open so if you are out on a sunny day long sleeves or some sunscreen might be in order. And a hat. Was a nice breeze so kept the bugs away whereas a smaller enclosed river at this time of year, with all this rain, well, makes for lots of mosquitos. We went about 4km along the river. The first bit you are going with a current until you get to about the railway bridge and the QEW bridge. Check out the bridge, though. It is an old one that would rotate to let boats pass. Past there it is pretty easy going both ways. We saw nowhere along that stretch for putting up the kayaks. There are a few private docks only. Not too many people out on the water. The benefit of going out during the week, I guess.

Lots of bird life. You can see the 'Egret' video below. This video was done with Adobe Premiere Pro. I just downloaded it. I have no natural intuition with these programs. I have a son that edits movies for a living. He was a natural since he was 12! Not me so much. I do like the program. One can do so much more that with simple free programs. Looking forward to really learning and using the program.

May

2019

Hiking Ithaca, New York

Hiking Ithaca, Watkins Glen water falls.

Booked a concert to go see in Ithaca, New York this for this past weekend. A finger picking guitar legend named Leo Kottke. He played at the Hangar Theatre last Saturday night.

As my wife and I are avid hikers we thought it would be good to see some of the sights while we were in the area. I did some research before leaving on the trip and found that there are an amazing numer of spectacular waterfalls in the area of Ithaca and Watkins Glen. All around the Finger Lakes area.

On our way in to Ithaca, along the west side of Cayuga Lake, we stopped at Taughannock State Park. We first drove up to the top overlook to see the falls from there – tall! Then drove around the hiked in from the parking lot. More of a walk than a hike really. Only took 10 minutes. One of the highest drops of a waterfall east of the Rockies apparently at 215 feet.

From there we checked in to our AirBnB in town and got some dinner. After that we hiked Buttermilk Falls. We started at the top and hiked down to almost the park at the bottom then back up(obviously). We take a lot of photos so going the first direction takes us about 3 times as long as coming back. We were there on the Friday evening, a little while before dusk, which makes for much better light than the middle of the day. I liked this one as there weren’t too many people as opposed to Watkins Glen – that was packed.

I didn’t have much choice of the weekend I wanted to go because of the concert but going again I would not choose the graduation weekend. So many parents hiking about with their graduates.

Saturday was spent see a bit of the town, Ithaca Farmers Market in the morning where I was able to get my second breakfast of this delicious breakfast samosa. We went to Robert Treman State Park but the gorge trail was close due to all the rain so we ended up doing a short walk about there. Couldn’t really see much of the falls. We circled around and were able to see a bit more at the base but not much walking about. We went through the university and circled around Bebee Lake. Very Spring like with the students out on the lake in their canoes. If you make that walk around the lake, be sure to go up the short spur just past the bridge along the river and you can see a nice waterfall or two.

It was too early for much in the way of flowers in their botanical gardens.

On Sunday, Watkins Glen, even with the crowds, was amazing. I have not yet done any research on what went into the construction of the walkways and bridges etc but they were masterful. You are climbing a lot of stair but this is completely worth the effort. If you are debating whether to take the rim trail back instead, it is not hard at all and should take you about a quarter of the time to get to the parking lot at the entrance on S Pavilion Road.

Below are just a few of the photos.