Snow Ho Ho

Let's face it. Winter is more fun when you can play with the season. Our snow has arrived up here in North Muskoka. Our roads are clear, and we're ready for the season! The ice is starting to form on our bay.

Brian is out working on the ski trails. We've got almost 20k of trails at Bondi Village, along with toboggan hills, snowshoe trails and rentals, a tubing run, and lots of wildlife to watch.

Some of that wildlife might include David and his buddy Mike, who were delighted to have the chance to get the snowmobiles out of storage and ready to go. Obviously in November the Snowmobile Clubs (ours is the Algonquin Snowmobile Club) don't have their trails open, and since there's no ice it's a really excellent plan not to try any water crossings, but the season is approaching fast.

Over at Hidden Valley Ski Centre, the snowguns are running, and the hill groomer is having just too much fun creating the moguls and funky stuff for the snowboarders.

For those seeking less adrenaline, like Nancy, taking a slow ramble in the woods or the back fields to check out the animal tracks and listen to the snow crunch underfoot is a great excuse to get outdoors.

Winter's here. You should be too! all set to provide you with family winter memories that will last for generations!

Sunsets Shine Both Ways

Nancy and Holly were up in the back fields this evening, just as the sun was dropping behind the far hill. While most of the fields were in shadow, there were still rays of sun hitting the far hillside, beyond the Hidden Lake, and lighting up the trees. It was too beautiful not to share!

The back fields are full of wild berries, apple trees, hornbeam (ironwood), wild sage. This evening there were seven deer up there as well, including one of this year's fawns, still small but no longer spotted.

During the winter, our cross country ski trails cut across these fields and drop down into the Hidden Lake, a black spruce bog that is not passable in the summertime without getting your feet very wet! The spruce bog is a haven for all sorts of animals -- and plants, such as sundew and pitcher plant, growing with the blueberries.