Posts Tagged ‘Ontario’
Spring is here! Let’s get Hiking!
Yes! Although it doesn’t really feel like spring in a lot of areas in Ontario – or Canada for that matter, the new season has sprung and it’s time to get out of our hibernation mode and start exploring the different areas around the city. What best way to start our barefooting season this year!?
Where to Hike in Toronto and Surrounding Areas
Despite Toronto is Canada’s biggest urban centre, it is a very “green” city; which offers many areas for outings and exploration. Among the most popular spots for exploration within the city we have:
- High Park
- Toronto Islands
- Don River Valley
- Humber River
- Central Ravines
- Scarborough Bluffs
Beyond the core of the city, there are also many, many areas and parks to explore around the GTA and the rest of the province.
Mohawk Island adventure
Mohawk Island is a small, mysterious island which lay 2km off the coast of Lake Erie.
I visited this island for the first time in 2008 after staring in wonder at the island from the shore for many years.
One beautiful, calm morning I set-sail in my old aluminium canoe in hopes to make the 2km paddle from shore to the island, which was shrouded in morning fog.
The trip down from the car to the shore was fairly simple. Hard, cool asphalt stood between myself and the steep bank. The asphalt was very rocky as it is on country roads. The stones were fairly sharp, but easy to navigate with my tough, weathered feet.
A visit to Kettle Cave
The Kettle Cave video was filmed in early April of 2010. It was a cold day and the snow had just melted. If you look carefully at the barefoot walking scenes around 0:55 you can see ice and frost on the ground still.
My goal was to find this cave known as “Kettle Cave” located in Niagara-on-the-lake. I filmed a good percentage of this video barefoot, but if you look closely around 1:38 of the video, you will see me descend the rock face wearing black Vibram Fivefingers. The reason I was wearing them was because there were ice deposits in the leaves still from winter. The Fiverfingers did not last long before I threw them in my back and went the rest of the day barefoot.
A visit to Frosting Cave
A visit to Frosting Cave
Along the Niagara Escarpments lies dozens if not hundreds of caves. Most of these caves are small, and uncharted.
This was the first of my barefoot adventure videos. I teamed up with Jeff from Ontario Caves.com and found the entrance to the cave quite easily.
It was a cold day in the Niagara Region, I was fairly new at shooting adventure videos. The largest challenge I had with this video was the cold.
April in Ontario, Canada can be a very challenging time for barefooters. The ground may have looked warm and dry, but it was quite cold and wet. It was sunny out, but still very cold.
Barefooting in the First Snow Fall in Toronto this Season
I can’t really say I am an accomplished “winter barefooter” by any account since I’m very much a summer type of guy through and through. However, living in Toronto, Canada, I must endure long and cold winters every year. And, every year, I do at least a minimum amount of barefooting outside to keep both my sanity and my feet in some sort of a decent shape for when the warmer weather comes.
We had our first significant snow fall last night and throughout the day today so I decided I had to go out for a few minutes and enjoy some of the white stuff before it gets all hard, slippery and dirty.
I took two videos with my cellphone and I thought I’d share them here – please excuse the poor lighting on the first video, since it was taken last night at about 1 am. The Sound is not the greatest either – I’m still figuring things out with this new phone.
In both cases the temperature was about -5°C with a windchill factor of about -12°C. Overall, the experience felt good; my only wish is that I could do longer barefoot outings in the winter. I guess, like anything else, I need to get used to it and build some tolerance as I go.
Here are the videos, I hope you enjoy them:
Dec. 6, 2010 – 1:30 am
Dec. 6, 2010 – 2:45 pm
Keep ‘em bare, keep ‘em happy.
Barefoot Moe
