Sat, Mar 18 2006 - Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival (View Original Event Details)
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I really wanted it to be warmer today! I learned that the Downsview Park n Ride has not protection from the wind, so the morning started out cold, grey and even some flurries. We had a bit of a slow start, but Kortright is hardly out of town, so it didn't affect us too much. The park was a busy place though as the Sugarbush festival is popular and also happens to coincide with March break. A great place to go if you have kids! We only had Rocky with us.
Despite Erik's pleas to have pancakes first, we decided to hit the sugarbush trail. The signs guide us along the way with lots of interesting facts about maple sugar and how it's made. At our first stop we looked into sap buckets and we all tasted sap water (filtered, of course). Sap was being boiled down the old-fashioned way and we got to have a taste of pure maple sugar as it had been done 'in the olden times'. Even Rocky got to try out the sap water and maple syrup! Then we sat for a quick lecture on how modern amenities make the boiling process easier, but that it still takes a lot of sap to create syrup, so that explains the hefty price tag.
The sugarbush tour takes about an hour, so we had plenty of time left to explore the rest of Kortright. The ground was in the middle of thawing and freezing again, so there were patches of ice with large muddy fields. We took about 2-3Km walk, easy and sociable and just enough to work up an appetite for pancakes!
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.