Discover the Nature of Ontario

So here is the deal. I absolutely love to see new places. It doesn't have to be far enough to need to fly to. It just needs to be new. Also, I love nature. And living in Toronto, it’s sometimes hard to enjoy nature. You get into the lull of life and do what you do every day and forget to take the time out of your busy schedule to explore wilderness. In Canada, we are blessed with amazing sceneries and gorgeous landscape. It’s all waiting to be discovered by us.

Since we've reached out quota of yearly travel this year, I wanted to take some time over the weekends and such to explore Ontario, and more importantly, around the GTA. Places I can get to either by public transit or a short drive. I also wanted to make sure I was getting in touch with nature. So I limited my search to only areas of hiking and sightseeing. I came up with an amazing list. I was so excited about the prospects of new adventures, I just had to share it with the world. I will continue adding to this list as I keep at my research but I think this is a pretty good list to start with.

I might not get through them all but I am hoping, during however long time I remain in Toronto, I would like to get to a large number of these sites. I have already experienced some of these but added them to the list for completeness.

Please let me know if there are other gems around Toronto that can be explored and share your experiences with some of these that you have seen. The list is not organized in any fashion, although I did add all the Hamilton Falls under the same heading. 

Places in and around Toronto to explore

African Lion Safari: 1386 Cooper Road, Hamilton,  http://www.lionsafari.com/home

Balls Falls, Jordan,ON: http://ballsfalls.ca/

Black Creek Pioneer Village, Toronto: http://www.blackcreek.ca/

Bluffer’s Park/Beach: http://www.blogto.com/sports_play/2012/07/toronto_beaches_bluffers_park/

Forks of the Credit Provincial Park: http://www.thehillsofheadwaters.com/forks-of-the-credit-provincial-park-2/

Kortright Centre for Conservation, Maple, ON: http://kortright.org/

Warsaw Caves, Peterborough : http://www.warsawcaves.com/

Toronto Centre Island: http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=34e9dada600f0410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

Riverdale Farms: http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=a4f8dada600f0410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

Tobermory: http://tobermory.com/

Bruce Trails, tobermory: http://brucetrail.org/

Trails around Toronto: http://www.blogto.com/sports_play/2012/06/hiking_trails_in_and_around_toronto/

Morningside trail (ellesmere and morningside): http://www.ontariotrails.on.ca/trails/view/morningside-park-trail

Rouge Park- Cedar Trail (Meadowvale and Old-Finch): http://www.ontariotrails.on.ca/trails/view/rouge-park---cedar-trail

Falls in Hamilton:

Webster Falls, http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/websters_falls.html

Baby Websters Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/baby_websters_falls.html

Albion Falls, http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/albionfalls.html

Ancaster Heights Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/ancaster_heights_falls.html

Billy Green Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/billy_green_falls.html

Borers Falls (& Lower Borers Falls): http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/borers_falls.htm

Buttermilk Falls (close to Albion Falls): http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/buttermilk_falls.html

Chedoke Falls (& Lower Chedole Falls): http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/chedoke_falls.html

Cliffview Falls, near chedoke): http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/cliffview_falls.html

Devil’s Punchbowl (& Lower Punch bowl): http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/devil_punchbowl.html

Darnley Cascade: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/darnley_cascade.html

Felkers Fall: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/felkers_falls.html

Great Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/great_falls.html

Hunter Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/hunter_falls.html

Upper & Lower Mills Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/lower_mill_falls.html

Upper & Lower Princess Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/lower_princess_falls.html

Upper, Middle & Lower Sydenham Falls:  http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/middle_sydenham_falls.html

Progreston Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/progreston_falls.html

Sherman Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/sherman_falls.html

Spring Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/spring_falls.html

Stephanie Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/stephanie_falls.html

Sugar Shack falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/Sugar_Shack_Falls.html

Tiffany Falls: http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/tiffany_falls.html

Tews Falls (& Lower Tews Falls): http://cityofwaterfalls.ca/tews_falls.html

Last Week of 30 Day Squat Challenge

So I am on the last week of this challenge and I just finished my 220 squats for day 25. I wanted to discuss some unwanted but definitely expected side affects to these squats.

Positive 1: As expected, squatting has gotten way easier and the pain has gotten less. I can manage to do 50 squats at a time before stopping now I started with being able to do maybe 10 with immense difficulty. Also, the pain that develops while doing the squats pretty much vanishes as soon as I stop. So I do 50, stop for a couple of minutes while I stretch and continue moving and then resume another 50, until my number is reached for the day.

Positive 2: I finally notice changes on my body. My pants don't necessarily feel loose and I don't feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but when I look in the mirror, I see some change. The exact change will only be known on the last day of the month. But it does a whole lot for my motivation.

Positive 3: I have only 4 more days of squatting to do. That's just awesomeness on a different level!

Negative 1: After doing 100 squats, I seem to develop a certain kind of pain in my leg. It's been happening a while and it took me this long to figure out what's happening. Initially, it felt like pain in the bone in the joint between torso and thigh. Then it seemed to be coming from my ball joint. I even thought it was a pinched nerve. Wherever it was coming from, the pain made me walk like I had something stuck where the sun didn't shine and made me moan and groan in ways even I didn't wanna hear! I think I've finally figured out that it's my adductor muscles spasming! Terrible feeling of weirdness but not quite painful. Anyway, it makes me useless for a while after my squats. By morning I am usually fine and ready for another day of squatting. No pain, no gain right???

Negative 2: Guess what? There is none!

This squat challenge has been one of the best decisions this past month. Very little discomfort, barely any time taken out of your day, and I am seeing results in 3 weeks!!! How amazing is that?!


What kind of pains and gains have you experienced with squatting? Leave comments below.