About “Take A Hike Ontario”

I have loved hiking and exploring ever since I was 4yrs old and my mom took me with a church group to Algonquin Park where, when I was younger, children my age could safely explore and make sure they were back for lunch, snack time, and dinner, and were outside the rest of the time during the summer.

A little bit of fast fowarding from then to to 2yrs ago I was at a Hamilton Tiger Cats (Okskee Wee Wee) home game in mid-October and after having sat in the cold for three quarters of the game without getting up, I decided I would and go get a coffee. When I raised my right leg to go up the first step it felt like someone had just jabbed a knife in my leg. Me, figuring it was the cold, and that my 40yr old muscles were just complaining shrugged it off for 2 weeks.

I was misdiagnosed, after having my wife force me to go get it checked out, at a walk in clinic on a weekend because my leg from my ankle to my crotch were throbbing and swollen. They diagnosed it as a pulled groin muscle and said to go home, take over-the-counter pain killers, some prescribed anti-inflammatories, and get rest. I lay the blame in not going to my family doctor on me. They know best. After Hours clinics and Walk-In clinics are great for minor things like tummy aches, minor cuts, burns, etc. however they don’t (in the short time they allot to each patient) get the best available family histories, full health histories, or the best idea of even what happened that brought you there sometimes. The doctor there did the best they could with what they could figure out may have happened to get me there.

Three or four days later I couldn’t take the pain anymore and booked an appointment with our family doctor, who being thankfully very cautious, sent me to the hospital for a sonogram on my thigh having suspected, but hoping he was wrong, a blood clot. Boy was he right. It was a big ole lump blocking off some serious blood flow.

Fast track 2yrs to now and having recovered at 90% of my previous ability to go and hike and be physically active we all end up self-isolating due to the COVID-19 concerns. Great, but not great. Having had blood clots I am in a group that it highly susceptible to get it and get it bad. Good news, I’m still healthy. Bad news was that just as the ice, snow, and crappy weather were leaving, and hiking weather was back, we were all stuck inside.

I resorted to hopping on the treadmill and using a video I had shot of one my hikes from the past autumn. It was better than nothing and at least I was getting exercise, staying healthy, and had something to ficus on while working out. I figured maybe there was something like this on YouTube, and there were some. Many were from exotic locations, and many were either walking super slow, or were trail runs.

During the self-isolation I decided to get back out hiking and taking videos of those hikes to let others explore our great Province of Ontario, Canada and to be able to focus on something nice while they possibly work out on their treadmills. I didn’t do this for money. I didn’t do this to show off my mad skills in filming (doing that while jogging and/or hiking is very tricky and quite the balancing act of speed vs. stability, and I have no mad skills), nor to show off my 42yr old Dad bod, nor to make money. I just want others to be able to share my joy of nature, hiking (on/off the trails), exploring, and keeping healthy.

I would love to hear from your if you have good trail suggestions in Southern or Northern Ontario, or suggestions for the site. mailto: t.a.h.Ontario@gmail.com

Thank you for visiting, and I hope you enjoy and return.

Matthew Milne