Hike at Cold Creek Conservation Area

Emily organized a hike for us last Saturday. Actually, it was just Janice, her and I who ended up going. We went to Cold Creek Conservation Area up around Bolton. It's not too far from Toronto. You just take Highway 427 to the north end and head up a little further along Highway 50 which brings you almost all the way there.

We arrived around 1:00 in the afternoon. They did some shopping beforehand for hot pot dinner. When we got there there was no one else around. I have to admit the temperatures had been very cold over the past week. This Saturday wasn't any different. I don't believe the high topped -10C. With the wind chill it felt even colder.

The visitor centre was closed. But, there was a park vehicle parked at the education centre which was open. There were bathrooms there and we found out you could rent snowshoes ($5) and cross country skis ($10). Emily and Janice rented snowshoes. I chanced it and hiked in my boots.

Their website says there are 6.6 kilometres of trails. We walked 6.8 kilometres over 2-1/2 hours. Emily had her hiking GPS app which told us so.

Besides the chill, it wasn't that bad out. There were intermittent clouds as we walked. The sun and blue skies appeared every now and then.

In certain areas the snow on the trails was packed down. In others it was fairly deep. That's when the snowshoes came in handy.

The snow-covered scenery was nice. I brought my camera along and took a fair number of shots. Catching up to the girls afterwards was pretty tough in the snow.

After awhile we did see others either hiking, snowshoeing or cross country skiing. So we weren't the only crazy people out.

In the evening we headed over to Justin's place for hot pot. Keith and Ken also came over. It was Justin's birthday the next day, so we had cake while we played Heads Up! on Justin's iPad.

2013 Ice Storm - Toronto Edition

Last Friday and Saturday we received a lot of freezing rain here in Toronto. A lot!

Needless to say many trees were adversely affected. Weighed down mightily, branches, both large and small, snapped. Everywhere.

Streets were blocked, power lines knocked down. People were left without electricity. No lights and, even worse, no heat.

To make matters worse temperatures were slated to drop from a low of a few degrees below zero the first night of the blackout to as low as -15C a couple of nights later.

I have to say, I was lucky. My power never went out. I guess those are the benefits of living in a condo at Yonge and Eglinton. I believe we have back up power here. As well, the area usually is pretty well serviced.

My parents and sister as well as many other friends weren't so lucky. My mother said the power went out at their place at 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning. She was luckier than a lot of others though. By 9:30 p.m. the same day their power was restored. Three days later my sister and many of my friends are still without power.

One odd thing was even though my parents had power their backyard neighbours didn't. I was over at their place on Monday night when someone rang the doorbell. My mother answered and a lady was standing there. She said she was the neighbour who shared the backyard fence with us. She wanted to know if her family could plug an extension cord from their house through the backyard to our outdoor outlet so they could turn on the furnace to heat their home. Of course we said, yes.

As well as dealing with no light and no heat people had to deal with damage to their vehicles and property. Not only did tree limbs fall on power lines and streets blocking access, they fell on cars and homes.

My parents next door neighbour's maple tree lost a number of limbs some of which fell on my parents' small, front deck. I had to go over on Sunday morning to saw the large branches into smaller, more manageable pieces so I could move them.

Making deliveries for work on Monday was pretty crazy. First of all the vans were coated in a thick layer of ice. It took an extraordinary effort to clean the windows well enough so I'd be able to drive. We literally had to use a chisel to get through the thick ice. It was especially hard on the side windows which couldn't be reached by the front window defoggers.

As well the mirrors were a bit of a chore. I did the passenger side mirror. I believe I did a pretty good job. Sid did the driver side mirror. Let's just say there are dozens of small scratches on it now.

Traffic was awful. Numerous traffic lights were out. Drivers had to treat them as all way stops. That made getting around on the roads extra slow.

It was pretty crazy looking at all the fallen tree limbs scattered about the city too. An incredible sight in some cases. Just incredible.

Anyway, power might not be restored to some areas for anywhere up to a week (including our workplace). Unfortunately, not a very good way to spend the Christmas holidays at all.

Olympic Torch Relay

Vancouver, British Columbia will be holding the 2010 Winter Olympics next February. Currently the world's longest torch relay (at 45,000 kms) is going on across Canada. Yesterday, day 49 of 109, it passed through my hometown of Toronto. The final stage of the day was held at Nathan Phillips Square at Toronto City Hall.

Women's Hockey gold medalist winner, Vicky Sunohara, was the final torchbearer of the day. She brought it in and lit the cauldron on the stage where the performers had been. The wait was way too long. According to the schedule I found on-line the ceremony was to have been at 7:00 p.m. In actuality it didn't happen until over an hour later. I'm not sure if it was planned this way or if the protesters along the way delayed them. At one point, at Yonge and College, there were about 300 native protesters (according to news reports) blocking the route. The flame had to be split into two to keep on schedule. Originally it was to have gone to Sick Kids Hospital first before coming to City Hall. It was reported they had one torchbearer bring it there and another continue on to City Hall.

My day began when I met my friend Gabe for lunch in Chinatown. After that I went to the library at City Hall to kill some time. At about 6:00 p.m. I made my way out into the frigid night air to stake out a spot to see the flame as it passed by. I was hoping to leave not long after 7:00 because I had to go to gym night. Well, that didn't quite happen. They kept on with the performances and shameless, self-promotion from the sponsors until my fingers and toes were about to fall off. The torchbearer finally entered the square at a few minutes after 8:00. I was so happy to finally see her. Mostly because I wanted to get my shots and get my butt out of the cold. I know it was probably a once in a lifetime experience. And though I had been quite looking forward to experiencing it, I wasn't so cheery after that.

On the plus side, since I missed gym night, I was able to visit a few of my homeless friends around Nathan Phillips Square afterwards. They weren't very happy about the sub-zero temperatures to say the least. Anyway, I hope they enjoyed the chat. I believe they did. And I enjoyed talking with them. Afterwards I had to take a pee. My hands were so cold I couldn't undo the top button on my jeans in the bathroom. I had to wait there a few minutes until they regained feeling. Luckily for me it wasn't an emergency or else you wouldn't be hearing about it ;-)