The full Canadian Winter Experience

Johanna traded in the snowmobile for snowshoes, taking Ken and the rest of the gang with her. Did we mention that snowshoeing is a wonderful aerobic activity? After tramping about the property, Johanna confessed to feeling (that marvellous English phrase) 'knackered'. Asked if she was heading inside for a cup of tea, and she said 'certainly not! We're off to the next adventure! We want to do it all!'

Now that's a spirit we all admire. The following morning, after we'd had another fall of snow, Ken got right into the true Canadian weather experience -- he took over the handlebars of the snowblower from Nancy and 'had a go', the snow streaming in a rooster tail beyond him, and a big smile on his face. Nancy had her hands full of snowblower, not camera, so didn't get the shot... Perhaps Johanna will email one to us!

Nancy thought this a great idea, too... sort of like Huckleberry Finn and painting the picket fence, she got the job done without the exertion! Thanks Ken!


Nancy Tapley
Bondi Village Resort - Dwight / Algonquin Park
www.bondi-cottage-resort.com

Watching the Weather

The weathermen were predicting the arrival of a snowstorm, due to arrive late in the afternoon on Sunday.

They were right. You could see it coming. This picture shows the 'toe' of the storm front, rolling in overtop of us.

The snow came in a few hours later. It's an interesting thing, watching the weather.

And, if you don't have a meterologist handy, you can figure a lot of out on your own. Backing winds (winds shifting in a counter-clockwise direction, such as southerly winds shifting southeast) generally indicate that bad weather is on its way. On the other hand, veering winds (winds shifting in a clockwise direction, such as southwesterly winds shifting west) generally indicate the ending of bad weather and good weather is on its way. This has to do with the way that the air rotates with approaching low pressure systems and retreating low pressure systems."

Sled Heads

Corinne and Johanna came over from England (London and Hartfordshire) to attend a wedding. They stayed on in Canada for a 'look see', and after two weeks near Cambridge, came up to visit Algonquin Park. We turned the snow on for them, and they thought it was wonderful.

Their relatives, living in Canada, were up to date on snow. In fact, last winter they visited the Ice Hotel in Quebec, went dog-sledding, and are snowshoe wizards.


Not so Corinne and Johanna, both attuned to English winter conditions. They packed a lot of snowtime into their visit. Something they had never experienced was riding a snowmobile.


Brian took both the ladies for a whirl. They reported it was "brilliant", and Johanna remarked, "if I lived here I'd have to have one of these!"

After lunch, they traded the sled for snowshoes... it's all good.

Now, that's what we call a View!

I know this picture is a little late, a little out of season -- our gorgeous autumn colours have given way to the more monochromatic palette of early winter. Still, I just got it from our ace photographer, Brian -- and it is too beautiful not to share!

You can see Bondi, with our horseshoe-shaped bay (we take our name from the famous beach in Sydney, Australia, which has a similar shape). In the bottom right corner, you can see our neighbours, over at Lumina, another of the great north Muskoka family resorts. Like ourselves, the Hungerford family is moving into the fourth generation operating their resort. They operate from May to October, as a full meal plan resort, and are popular not only with families, but with wedding parties. Their dining room is open by reservation to outside guests as well.

In the background, you can see Dwight Beach -- that long strip of sand that is one of the finest beaches on the lake, and open to the Public. The Oxtongue River is also clearly visible flowing into Dwight Bay on the right hand side, from its headwaters in Algonquin Park.

The dark shadow on the mountain to the left of our bay leads up to our Lookout Point. The way the sun is playing with shadows here, you can see it is quite a climb. Our Lookout provides a wonderful view back to the resort.

But when we're talking about a view... you can't beat this one.

Disappointing

Brian has been working incredibly hard to get the ski trails ready for the season. Since they got home from College, both David and Mike have been pitching in too, -- picking up branches, packing the trails in, smoothing and flattening the toboggan runs, etc. Saturday the three of them spent five hours on the task, with the final touch being the smoothing of the trails with the drag groomer, prior to having the ski track set in.

Ski trails need to be different from snowmobile trails. Our local snowmobile club, the Algonquin Snowmobile Club, works hard to maintain their extensive network of trails. They work really hard to get agreements with property owners to permit the trails to cross private property. Nancy works with them at the Council level to ensure they are able to continue to access trails on public lands. It's a slow, almost we could say, painful process, to ensure that the Snowmobile Club trails interconnect, and offer an amazing network for sledders to enjoy. These trails are groomed very wide, and packed in very hard.

Ski trails are not as wide, nor as hard packed -- in fact, they require a fluff of snow to be perfect. They don't look the same, or feel the same -- and that's because they are doing quite a different job. The two sports don't work well on the same trails, for a huge variety of reasons.

We're not going to comment on the pros and cons of skiers versus snowmobilers. Nancy likes nothing better than spending silent time in the woods, with just the swish of the skiis or the tramp of the snowshoes on the snow. David, on the other hand, feels the need for speed. He loves to sled. Different people like to get outside in different fashions. That's fine. And without the 'workhorse' snowmobile Brian uses for maintenance, we'd have no trails for anyone, so we're happy to co-exist -- on separated trail systems.

And that said... today, after the five hours the guys put into the trails (because yes we have enough snow to open many of our trails, and yes, we've got guests --here from England -- who would like to enjoy them) just as our own machines were being put away for the day, along came three sleds, from down Fox Point Road. They hesitated where the ski trail leaves the road by our driveway. And then, oh yeah, you got it... they went roaring off up the hill, hooting, hollering, and spraying snow. Took part of the hill down to the dirt. Destroyed utterly the work done during the day. And drove past not one, not two but FIVE different signs that said useful things like "Ski Trail Only", "No Snowmobiles" "No Trespassing" "No motorized vehicles"... They tell me you need a license to drive a snowmobile, but I guess that doesn't mean you need to be literate.

Brian blew his stack, and went after them. Caught up with them near the Firehall, stopped them, and pointed out their error. One yelled profanities at him and just drove away. One was polite. The third wouldn't even give his name. As Dave says, 'usually we'd just talk to them', but their careless disregard has made the guys a mountain of unnecessary work, and we were not amused.

It's people like this that ensure that the Snowmobile clubs have to work overtime to work out trail access agreeements with landowners. They are the reason so many landowners are shutting down the trails across their properties. They can delight in the fact that they are the folks who give snowmobiling a bad rap.

And that's a darn shame. Because there should be a place for all of us. Because the Snowmobile clubs work as hard as we do to provide safe, enjoyable trails. And because behaviour like that displayed today will make all of that so much harder, all round.

Life's Better when you Share

Abby and her friend share the hay. Holly and Napster share the couch.

Outdoors or indoors, life's just plain better when you've got a pal.

Vanishing Woodsman

Brian was working on the ski trails -- after the heavy snowfall, a lot of limbs and branches came down, and these all must be cleared so the trails are at their best! It's a slow process, becuase we have almost 20 km. of trails, and sometimes, as the evening approaches and dinner beckons, he begins to work on auto-pilot.

He was working his way through a stand of hemlock. These are big trees. Deer love them, because they hold the snow up off the ground, leaving an easy area beneath where the deer can congregate. That should have been a clue. Brian picked up a healthy branch, and slung it off the trail.

Right smack up against the trunk of the nearest hemlock. There was a silence, then a soft sound, like an exhalation. Brian looked up, seeking the source.

And, like Wiley Coyote in the cartoons, he vanished under the total snow load of the hemlock. Once the snow starts to come down from these trees -- whether by a sharp impact on the trunk or a breeze up in the treetops -- it comes in a domino effect bringing everything with it.

Nancy snapped this photo of a cedar tree letting go it's own snowload... it's a localized blizzard, a white-out, or (colloquially) a dump, to give you an idea.

Brian emerged, unharmed except for some snow down the back of his neck. Rocked the snowmobile free from the snowload, and carried on. Muttering. These big hemlocks can carry quite a load. We have trees along our trails that are well over 200 years old. They made it through the logging operations in the early 1900s that took hemlock bark for the Leather Tannery in Huntsville.

Heck, they were around when Napoleon was conquering Italy, and Beethoven was cranking out some light dinner tunes. They were here when the first French railline began to carry passengers , and the first horse-trolleys began to operate in New York. They were here for the first use of the word 'evolution', and Samuel Colt's invention of the Colt revolver. They made it through the two World Wars, and all the rest that followed, through the formulation of Vitamin A, the atomic bomb, and men walking on the moon. They were here when Martin Luther King had his Dream, and they were here for Barak Obama's election.

And they were here to dump all the snow they could on top of Brian. He should consider himself in good company.