niagara region

Sep

2022

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.

Oct

2019

Ball’s Falls Fall Colours

This is the perfect place to go whether you want a short or long walk or hike. Parts of it are on the Bruce Trail. And there is a short walk up the river to the Upper Falls that, in this time of year is quite spectacular with the Fall colours. The reds are a bit late in coming this year, so I had to tweak the photos a bit. I hope you don’t mind. The parking is $8 a person. We have been there at times past 4:30 when the office closes and ended up not having to pay. Not sure if this is usual or not. Seniors are $6 - that helps a bit. Although, I don’t mind paying really as it goes to support these beautiful places.

There are a bunch of old buildings there - old mill, house, blacksmith barn, etc but none have been open any time we have been gone through the park. We went on a 10 km hike a couple of weeks ago from this location - north along the Bruce Trail but decided we just wanted a day of puttering around and enjoying the scenery and taking photos. It was the perfect day for this.

If you are ever in the Niagara region and want to check some of these places out, please contact us and we’ll try and go with you.