Canada
I'm a Toronto-based writer with a passion for nature and the outdoors. I write for print magazines and digital, in additional to guest-blogging.
I find there are many opportunities to "get outside" whether a helicopter lands me on a glacier in Northern BC, or I hop into a kayak while visiting Chicago. Hiking, kayaking, camping, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, heli-hiking, winter camping, dog-sledding, skating, horseback riding... I'm down for it.
I'm also a Certified Hike Leader with Hike Ontario. I'm a member of the Outdoor Writers of America, the Society of American Travel Writers (Canadian Chapter) and the Travel Media Association of Canada.
I wasn't always a fan of hiking at night. In fact, for most of my childhood and early adult years, I'd grow skittish when I found myself in the outdoors after dark, whether I was by a campfire or sitting on the back porch listening to Supertramp on my Walkman.
British Columbia's remote Cariboo Mountains are one of the hardest-to-reach wilderness areas in Canada — unless, of course, you have access to a helicopter.
Why climb one awesome peak when you can just as easily (or not so easily) tackle three? Our writer hikes to the summits of Virginia's McAfee Knob, Tinker Cliffs and Dragon's Tooth, the triple crown of the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains.
Recalling her first visit, in the summer of 2016, to Ivvavik National Park, Mady MacDonald remembers specifically the excitement of the plane ride from the town of Inuvik in Northwest Territories - where she is based for her role as a visitor experience product development officer with Parks Canada - to the remote - Base Camp.
Relationships have their ups and downs. Sometimes they get stale, especially when one party begins to take the other for granted. If respect isn't reciprocal, the relationship runs the risk of morphing into a marriage of convenience, which doesn't bode well for the long haul. So, how do we define our relationship with nature?
Our writer strapped on his hiking boots in order to tap into the mystery of what the Ojibway call “Spirit Island.”
Christine Andersson calls it her Isaac Newton moment - you know, the guy who allegedly discovered the law of gravity while sitting under a tree. "Except in my case, it was more of a self-discovery, but I really was sitting under a tree." Upon taking early retirement, the 54-year-old lost one of the best perks ...
Walking among polar bears with the guides of Nanuk Polar Lodge is a boyhood dream come true
Trail suggestions made by David Webb It might possibly have been easier for our writer Doug O'Neill to complete the Cirque of the Unclimbables than assemble 25 of the Best Hikes in Canada's North. After all, these trails crisscross some of our nation's most remote places, and up-to-date details can be infrequent and incomplete.
Sylvia Plath captured the magic of immersing oneself in nature when she wrote: "I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery-air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, 'This is what it is to be happy.'" Ontario Parks celebrates its 125th birthday this year.