Thursday, July 25, 2013

Lake Ontario Trek Living the Canadian Life

Our Lake Ontario Trek has gotten off to an exciting start, with the first day taking the group right into the Canadian province on Ontario!  Here is Laura's (one of the Leaders) recap of the first few days:
The whole gang
Taking a break along the Lake
Adventures at Niagara Falls:
The Lake Ontario Trekkers spent their first 2 days at Niagara Falls. We took a scenic ride from Buffalo to the Falls checking out each view of the magnificent falls. Those who had never been here before were pretty amazed by their power and beauty.  After a day with many stops to do some bike tune ups and fix flats we cooked a delicious meal at the hostel and went to bed to get ready for another busy day at the falls.  The next day, we rode the Maid of the Mist boat tour, getting up close and personal with the massive falls.  Then we followed the river to the Niagara Glen gorge area, which had amazing views of the falls and whirlpools.  We hiked down into the gorge which ended with a view of the whirlpools and a refreshing run off waterfall to cool down in. 
No shortage of mist here!
The next days were spent riding to a campsite in Jordan, ON and then to Hamilton, ON. The highlight was spending some time at Ball's Falls--a perfect opportunity for a swim.

Your fearless Leaders, Laura and Luke
Ball's Falls-great swimming spot!
Then we made the final trek to Toronto--our first 50 mile day! As we set off from our campsite in the morning we could see Toronto in the horizon and knew we had quite a trek ahead of us. But spirits were high as we could see the city getting closer and closer.  The view was amazing because we were riding on a bike path right along Lake Ontario, the Lake that Toronto sits on! 

We will spend 2 full days here before we continue around the lake!  Toronto is a great city for cyclists-the roads have bike paths, traffic isn't crazy and they have a cool bike culture-bike commuters and students whiz around (lots of fixed gear bikes and stylish outfits) at all hours.
The Trekkers setting of on the bike path to Toronto
Because the Trekkers are in Canada, blog posts will be less frequent-about every 5 days.  Once the group in back in New York State, it will be easier for Leaders to send up photos.