Black Spruce Rough Cold Looking Trees

"You know just what I want, three trees... Black spruce rough cold looking trees. Trees against a cold green grey northern sky - where can I get them at once?" 

- Tom Thomson

This weekend I traded my runners for snowshoes and headed North of the city to one of my favourite places in this vast and beautiful country: Muskoka. The region of Muskoka encompasses many small towns and provincial parks, which are a popular destination for city-dwellers in the hotter months of the year. The summers of my childhood were spent cottaging and camping in Algonquin Provincial Park, huddled around a campfire playing cards and trading stories. And now, two and a half decades later, the towering white pines and pristine lakes feel like coming home. 

Overlooking Algonquin Provincial Park from the Visitor's Centre

Muskoka in the winter is how I imagine the rest of the world perceives the Canadian landscape to be year-round: frozen lakes glistening in fading sunlight, surrounded by freshly fallen snow. Barren, but for white pines towering above and quiet, like Mother Nature herself dare not disrupt the silence. 

Skating at Arrowhead Provincial Park

We took advantage of moderately warm temperatures on Saturday (it bottomed out at -8 degrees) to go snowshoeing and skating at Arrowhead Provincial Park, located 10 minutes North of Huntsville, Ont. Arrowhead has a skate trail over a kilometer long that twists and turns through the forest.

Running trails at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario

Sunday morning I bundled up and ran up and down the snowy ski hills at Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville, Ontario. Weekly training goal: 5 kilometers down, 30+ to go. Here's how the next 6 days are looking:

• Monday: 8 km
• Tuesday: Cardioblast
• Wednesday: 10 km
• Thursday: 7 km
• Friday: Yoga
• Saturday: 15 km