Day Three Hundred and Thirty Nine - The Niagara Escarpment

Dear all,

We still have a mountain of snow up in Collingwood so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take Jo on a little adventure up the Escarpment.

Designated a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve in 1990, the Niagara Escarpment

is an internationally recognized land form that runs through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois.

The escarpment is most famous as the section that runs through Niagara whereby the Niagara River gushes at a trillion gallons per second over the cliff...

Anyway, I wanted to give OJ a broad range of experiences in the short time she was here, so we grabbed a pair of snow shoes and stomped out way up the 'Pretty River' section of the Escarpment.

We strode up the Escarpment in our snow shoes only stopping for photos or because we had fallen over.

Snow shoeing is hilarious and not the easiest thing in the world ( especially on crispy snow-ice with a stream gushing down the Escarpment causing random crevices and gaping holes in the snow) but allows you to hike through endless bush, veer off trails ( **watch out for snow leopards) and is fabulous cardio.

It was an awesome hike and set us up for an afternoon of more sap collection, tree felling and horse massage.

I think Jo should take a pair home for next winter in Leeds (This is not meant as a jab, but The UK, particularly the transport network, doesn't deal with snow all that well..)

And in other news:

Here are a few more snaps from our day:

1. Me and Rimba. The baby is getting bigger [and more fluffy] every day!

2. Me on the top of the Escarpment but this time, at the top of Blue Mountain! Check out the Panarama.

3. Jo and I spent the morning 'collecting' maple sap. Imagine a hardest work out you have ever done and multiply this by 4.

4. Mac helped out though (he follows me everywhere, keeping guard and making sure I don't get attacked by a chicken)

5. Me with two dogs ( they both have quite advanced jealousy issues)

6. Jo with one dog and one cat ( both who have extreme jealousy issues which invariably instills a propensity for violence)