My first Adirondacks mountain summit and I managed to do 2! We hiked up Cascade Mountain and since the trail marker near the top of the trail said Porter Mountain was only 0.7 miles away we went for both.
This was technically my first mountain summit in the Adirondacks since a few years ago, the weather didn’t let my Mt. Marcy adventure happen completely.
We drove down after work on Friday, arriving at the Lake Placid KOA around 8:30 pm. After setting up my friend Shannon’s new 4 season tent we quickly ate dinner. Shannon planned all our meals for the trip which were amazing.
Dinner by headlamp, on the first night, was lettuce wraps with bacon, chicken & mustard. Shannon had prepared all our food on Weds night and then threw it in the freezer so they thawed out by the time we got to camp.
The perfect alarm clock was a really loud campsite neighbor who woke us up at 7am. Shannon started making us coffee and then heated up ground pork and broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and sweet potatoes.
We think we started out on the Cascade Mountain trail around 9am. We easily found a parking spot in one of the lots along Highway 73. However, when we got off the mountain, we saw all the cars parked along the side of the road. This was definitely a busy trail so we’re glad we got out their early.
The trail was very rocky and muddy but nothing a pair of great hiking boots and hiking poles couldn’t tackle. We really hoped the sun would come out in time for our summit to burn off the clouds and I’m so glad I was able to manifest that. As we climbed out on top of Cascade the clouds started to open up and we got a view!
We enjoyed a mountain top coffee and then headed back down to the trail to head over to Porter Mountain.
The view from Porter was spectacular. The Adirondacks definitely don’t compare to the Rockies but I still appreciate them to be amazing.
Packing List
4 Season Tent
Tarp
Sleeping Bag
Sleeping Pad
Pillow
Camp Slippers
Lantern
Lighter
Stove & Fuel
Pots/Pans
Plates/Bowls/Cutlery
Toilet Paper
Backpack
Hiking Boots
Hiking Poles
Raincoat
Buff
Hat
Gloves
Long Johns
Base Layers
Hiking Pants
Sweaters
Undergarments
Gaiters
Sunglasses
Whistle
Fire Starter & Firewood
Lip Balm
Toiletries
Headlamp & Batteries
Hand & Foot Warmers
Coffee & Apple Cider
Water Bottles
Swiss Army Knife
Camp Chairs
First Aid Kit
Map & Compass
Power Bank & Charging Chord
Dinner on Saturday night after a full day of hiking was delicious. Shannon made us beef meatballs, zucchini noodles & a faux cream sauce!
Enjoy the hike if you add this to your adventure bucket list!
Another weekend, another summer bucket list item checked off. Stand up paddleboarding in Wakefield, QC was so lovely! I absolutely love stand up paddleboarding (SUP) so when I find a newish friend, Karen Yaworsky (we’ve known each other for over a year now) that has her own board, I suggest a SUP date on a weekend she’s in town. She’s usually off van camping with her husband.
So stand up paddleboarding has been in our calendar for a few weeks now and I’ve always wanted to go see the Wakefield Covered Bridge from the water so that was the plan.
We started out the day at Cafe Molo (down at the bottom of the map) for breakfast and coffee and then drove and parked near the cafe pot-au-feu on the map below. I love Cafe Molo because we can sit on the patio and look out on the water and I can get a gluten-free breakfast sandwich 🙂
We blew up our SUP boards (we both have inflatables). Applied sunscreen and off we went. We had a bit of fun watching me inflate, try to put on the air stopper and then having to re-inflate it. I just seem to struggle with taking off the pump nozzle and putting on the stopper. So much air gets loose and then I have to start pumping again. It’s a bit comical really.
We paddled over to the Covered Bridge, had some fun paddling through the current and pulled up on the side of the water to relax. While catching up and chatting about life and business we sat in the water for a bit to cool down and then paddled around some more.
Karen did some SUP yoga and I as the official photographer with a wet bag for my camera took all the shots.
This is definitely a must-do if you’re in Ottawa. It’s such a fun way to spend the morning or afternoon being active and relaxing. If you have your own board it’s super easy but there are also rental places in Wakefield if you want to try stand up paddleboarding for the first time as well.
When we started planning the 2019 Summer Bucket List I asked my husband, Mike, if there was anything new he’d like to tackle this summer and he suggested Glamping.
So I broke out my trusty Google and looking up Glamping near Ottawa. I found some pretty pricey high-end resorts with multiple tents on location but we love privacy and space for our pups to roam without having to worry about them. So that’s when I turned to Google and I’m pretty good at finding exactly what I’m looking for on Airbnb. The place we found really didn’t have the best pictures on the listing but I trusted my gut and it was far better than we expected.
Over the weekend, as I was sharing pictures of this place on IG, the questions started coming in asking where this place is. I joked about not wanting to share this place so it doesn’t become too popular. So I promise to share the link ONLY if you don’t go and book this place up solid and we can never find a weekend to go back… Deal? Deal.
The glamping location is near Perth, Ontario in Lanark country about an hour drive outside of Ottawa. This glamping spot comes complete with an outdoor kitchen, outdoor shower, and an outhouse. You have the privacy of an island to yourself. While the river surrounding it is pretty shallow, our dogs could explore to their heart’s content and we managed to keep them contained to the island quite easily.
We were there in the middle of a heatwave. It was around 40 C / 104 F so pretty humid for us. We stayed cool by napping in the shade, the outdoor shower or the swimming hole right beside the island.
Meals for the weekend consisted of leftovers and tried and true camping recipes.
Friday Night Dinner: Leftover Chicken Burgers, Brown Rice Pasta & a “Cream” Sauce made of Nutritional Yeast & Coconut Milk
Saturday & Sunday Breakfasts: Pancakes
Saturday Lunch: Leftover Spaghetti Squash & Liver Faux-mato Bolognese Sauce and Saturday Dinner: Buddha Bowls
We had wifi the whole weekend so I was able to work on my Autoimmune Thriving Program launching this August. Mike listened to audiobooks and I curled up to read Jen Cincero’s new book “You Are a Badass Everyday” which isn’t really a read the book in one sit down as it’s more of a daily devotional or daily spiritual gym set up instead so I’ll be adding this to the pile of reading material by my morning meditation cushion.
The sunrises and sunsets were simply divine.
And finally, our adventures wouldn’t be complete without a tidbit of information on how we used essential oils to stay comfy. Here are some staples for camping (glamping) trips. I brought TerraShield for the bugs, OnGuard Sanitizing mist to use after trips to the outhouse and Lavender for bug bites.
If you end up booking this place let us know how much you fell in love with it! Happy Glamping!
4 lakes, 3 portages, 5 moose, baby geese herds, mosquitoes, thunderstorms, sun, blue skies, and serene lakes. This is a recipe for a perfect (& not so perfect) easy 3-day canoe trip in Algonquin Park.
This will be my fourth trip with my husband in Algonquin Park and my fifth trip as an adult. I spent my summers at Tanamakoon and canoe tripping as a kid so this place is so special to me. My husband and I wanted a fairly easy trip this year. So I kept the trip to a 3 portage minimum (all were fairly short). We actually could have skipped one because the water was so high).
We started out on Saturday. I had pre-paid for our canoes, a lifejacket for me and a paddle for my husband. This allowed us to set out fairly quickly from the Portage Store around noon. After the first portage from Canoe Lake to Joe Lake, we were making good time. We were slightly rushing to ensure we got a good campsite on Burnt Island Lake. As we canoed past Arrowhon Pines Lodge on Joe Lake a canoe coming the other way let us know there was 2 male moose up ahead. We could see canoes veering off to the left and then veering off to the right so we knew where they were.
As we turned to head to the next portage, goosebumps erupted on my arm as a mom and baby came trotting out of the woods to feed. We stayed clear as to not upset mom but wow that was a first for both Mike and I. I’ve seen Moose on canoe trips before but never a mom and pup!
The Route
So from Canoe Lake to Joe Lake, to Baby Joe Lake, to Burnt Island Lake was the route. The route about 15km there and back so a decent 3.5 – 4-hour paddle. We decided not to switch lakes and just stay put for 2 nights. The first campsite we got on Burnt Island Lake was visually nice but with no cross breeze, the bugs were pretty bad.
The First Campsite
We set up camp and made lunch while swatting mosquitoes. I pulled the Honey Lime Chicken and the Mushroom Risotto bags out of the food barrel because I was starving but it was way too much food. So I sealed up the Risotto and just heated it up the next day for lunch.
We were getting a little stir crazy in the tent, so I stripped down naked to attempt skinny dipping but the water was way too cold for me so we piled back in the canoe to hang out on the water. As we watched thunderstorms roll by at a distance we eventually headed in when it looked like they were headed our way. We packed down for the night and as the rain started piled into the tent for the evening. It was around 8:30 pm when the rain and thrunder started so we just went to bed.
The Second Campsite
The next morning we packed up and found another campsite on the other side of the lake on a bit of point with a breeze running through it. A recipe for less bugs!
We set up camp mid-morning and I made us some apple cider to sip on while enjoying the breeze and fewer bugs. Mike set up our Hammocks which we struggled to relax in. Every time we climbed in, Rogue would get so upset that we were leaving her and jump up and bark so we took turns enjoying the hammock and entertaining our needy daughter lol.
We had a great 3-hour nap on Sunday and then I made us Chicken Pad Thai for dinner. Sleeping in the tent this year was pretty hilarious. Rogue likes to sleep in between us, so we brought an extra sleeping pad and a flannel blanket for her but she kept trying to sleep on our sleeping bags. We’ll probably spoil her next canoe trip and get her a dog sleeping bag. And yes they do exist.
This was the best meal by far of the whole trip. I had it for a lunch on the last trip and liked it. This time I added Chicken to the Pad Thai bag and measured out the water required for both bags and
just dumped it into the one bag. The key tip, is to actually let it sit for 20 mins after dumping in the hot water, stir, let it sit a little longer and then enjoy. It comes with a small bag of peanuts to sprinkle on top!
The sunset was absolutely perfect from our new campsite and we even got an amazing sunrise as well. While we were sad we weren’t able to snag our campsite from 2 years ago. This one definitely made up for it. And while the bugs were pretty bad, we made the most of it, including constantly swatting them off Rogue.
I had planned to make pancakes for breakfast on Monday. However, I didn’t feel like starting a fire (it’s hard to cook pancakes on the camp stoves because they are so hot). So we opted for oatmeal and really good coffee. For Christmas, I got Mike a new Espresso maker from MEC and we were able to put it to good use on the trip. Including our camp mugs from my friend’s company Crow Foot Media.
Pack In, Pack Out Rule
The rule for any camping trip is always pack out what you pack in. As we headed back to civilization on Monday we picked up any trash we could find on our campsite (that had been left by previous campers). I even grabbed garbage from a few portages threw it in our trash bag. Ontario Parks gives you a yellow trash bag so you don’t leave anything behind. We’ve definitely filled it before on other trips. This year we left with only half a bag. That felt like a nice accomplishment.
Oh, and the 5th moose (antlerless) was seen in the exact same spot we saw the other 4 (so it may have been the same mom) on the last day as we were leaving the park. But all in all, that’s the most moose I’ve ever seen in my life which made it an amazing trip. I almost forgot the geese herds. There was 3 on the last day. Babies flanked by 2 adult geese just crossing in front of our path.
And the best part of my trip… get ready for the cheese… was definitely spending quality time with our pup and my husband 😉
I started making seasonal bucket lists in 2013 after being single for the first time in 4 years. I wanted to learn how to find myself again, do things that I enjoyed and push myself out of my comfort zones. Throughout the years the lists have been amazing for doing things with friends, on my own, on dates or with my now husband!
This year I divided up into things I love and new things I’d like to try!
Former Loves
After buying a stand-up paddleboard a few years ago, I love making sure I get out on the water every summer on the board. And now that Rogue loves it we usually bring it with us for weekend adventures near water.
We had an amazing 3-day canoe trip to Algonquin Park 2 years ago. I re-booked a campsite on Burnt Island Lake this year. I want to try and snag the last campsite we were on.
We usually only go up to Mike’s family’s cottage for the May long weekend and for Thanksgiving. I think we’ll head up for another long weekend this summer to hopefully get amazing weather.
Of course, I want to fit in some golf and more road biking…
After upgrading our backyard patio and getting this firepit, we plan on spending as many nice evenings out in the back as we can!
And while we’ve enjoyed outdoor drive-in movie’s before I found a cool Ottawa event called Capital Pop Up Cinema so we’ll try this out this year.
Trying Something New
And for new things, this year… Mike actually asked if we could go glamping. So we’ve booked a tent I found on AirBnB. If it’s amazing I’ll do a recap post later in July.
Other than that, we want to go visit the Bonnechere Caves a short drive from Ottawa.
I really wanted a slow shutter sparkler photo at our wedding but now I can set up a photoshoot just to get a picture of sparklers spelling out my name 🙂
I’m going to need to stay up late to catch a firefly, go night swimming and I’ve booked a girl’s weekend to swim under the covered bridge in Wakefield.
Last but not least, Mike and I want to do some outdoor rock climbing. Thankfully, he has all the equipment and I’m comfortable top rope climbing so we’ll scout out a few places early on a weekend morning.
