Posts Tagged "Geocaching"
The Stouffer Mill B&B
In our search for a pet-friendly B&B in the summer we found that there were very few options in Ontario.
Fortunately, we had enough options that we could make a list of places that we wanted to visit over the next few getaways.
The most recent stop on the tour was the Stouffer Mill B&B.
The drive up from Toronto on a Friday night was close to brutal. Between the traffic, the distance, and a quick stop for a bite to eat at a Licks on the road, it took us almost 5 hours from door to door.
The last kilometer of the trip turns off of the highway onto a small unpaved road that is the driveway for the inn. The way is marked by a few signs, but is otherwise pitch black. When close, a motion detector flips on the gate lights and
signals to your hosts that you have arrived.
On arrival, Jesse and Don greeted us and gave us a tour of the house. Even though it was late, we were actually the first guests to arrive for the evening. The drive we had experienced was considered “not bad” for a trip to Ontario’s cottage country on a Friday night.
The house was very impressive. Shaped as a dodecahedron, the main floor consisted of an open concept kitchen, living area, dining area, and piano room. Also, on the main floor, was the hosts living chambers, but we never saw that area.
One floor up are all three of the guest rooms and a well though out shared guest living room area. Each guest room is labeled with the names of the guests the have reserved that room upon arrival so you know exactly where you are headed.
We were two couples and we had the Blueberry and Cranberry rooms. The rooms were beautifully decorated with an old world charm.
Continuing the tour, we were lead up to the top floor of the house where there is a surprisingly generous sized games room, complete with a hot tub!
Our first night saw us fairly tired, but we had brought a few bottles of wine along so we made the most of one of the last indian summer nights of the season with a game of “I Never” on the front patio.
Folks, no matter how much fun it sounds like to play “I Never”, don’t play as two couples. You just share and learn way too much. Leave “I Never” to the single people.
The next morning, after a solid nights sleep in a very comfortable bed, we awoke to the smell of Jesse’s fresh baked muffins. Breakfast was served in 4 courses, including ham, eggs, yogurt with berries, muffins, and pancakes. And of course, we were treated to fresh coffee and a unique juice blend of Jesse’s own devising.
We decided to take the dogs out into the beautifully maintained hiking trails on the property of Stouffer Mill. A morning hike is the perfect start to a warm fall day and they have 5km of set trails for your exploration.
It seemed that we were there at the peak of mushroom season. We must have seen hundreds of mushrooms. The hike took us through the property to a lake, and then up a ridge and around the property looping back to the main road. I’m not sure how, but the menfolk got separated from the womenfolk and wandering off the beaten path to the very edge of the property.
Luckily, before the separation, I caught my wife trying to upgrade to a new prince charming:
After our hike, we decided to visit nearby Minden, ON to see what was happening. On the way, I convinced the group to stop to see if we could find a nearby geocache. After about 30 minutes of searching we were able to find The Blairhampton Triangle. They are not kidding about having to do a little bush-whacking.
The next stop was the town of Minden where there was a live band playing a variety of music for a small crowd. The ladies went off to do a little shopping while the men hit up the local patio for some sun and pints.
Afterwards, we did one last geocache grab to cross Danny McGee off our list of things to do in Minden.
We had a little time to kill before dinner so we decided to try our luck at mini-putt at Carnavon Family Golf. We made it a little more interesting by putting couple against couple with dinner on the line. After tossing the lead back and forth a few times it came down to the final do-or-die putt and the bet was settled.
We were treated to our victory meal at The Pepper Mill, where we had pretty much everything on the menu. Now that I’ve eaten here I really have no interest in returning, but considering the options in the area, this really is the best place to eat dinner.
On leaving the restaurant we still had a few minutes of sunlight left in the day so I guided our group to our last geocache of the trip. It seemed like it would be a quick grab and go. The GPS said it was only 150m off of the main road and I could see a very open hiking trail leaving the highway. I talked the whole group into doing the hike in to see Life’s a Beech.
Wow, reaching this cache took us hundreds of feet in elevation to a lookout over Beech Lake. It was a pretty challenging hike that saw us barely making it out of the woods by the time the sun went down, but we got to say that we were 3 for 3 on the day.
Back at the B&B, we got comfortable in the guest’s living room area overlooking the main floor and Jesse, our host, started to play piano. She is very talented and we very much enjoyed her playing while we chatted above. She even took requests if you asked nicely enough.
After another great night’s sleep, our final breakfast was another 4 course masterpiece with more home-made muffins, a crust-less egg torte, a different yogurt with fruit, and French toast.
All said and done, I would be pleased to return to Stouffer Mill B&B if Jesse and Don will have us. In fact, because of the hiking trails, we are thinking about a return trip this winter to try out the extended winter trail that includes snowshoeing across the small lake at the back of the property.
Read MoreGeocaching Explained
I got into geocaching in August 2009 and have since been bringing knowledge of the game to anyone who will listen. I started out walking to the cache sites in my neighbourhood, then I needed more range so I broke out my mountain bike and rode out to about 15km from home.
The folks at Geocaching.com have created a great video that explains what this hobby is all about:
I’ve known about geocaching for almost a decade, but never bothered to look for any caches because the traditional way things have been done has been finding the cache information online and then physically going to find the location with a GPS device.
What turned my interest into action was the Official Geocaching Application which allows me to hit a “Find Nearby Caches” button and simply load whatever is nearby.
It’s been great for demonstrating to naysayers. In Toronto, there is always a geocache within a few blocks. It is such a thrill when someone finds their first geocache. I’m glad to be able to say that I’ve given that experience to quite a few people.
One of the reasons that I wanted to buy a motorcycle this summer was to once again expand my range for geocaching. I am coming up on my #100 cache find and I want to make sure that I have a good road trip story to go along with it!
Here is a reference to geocaching in popular culture (ok, maybe not that popular … I mean, I never heard of this movie being in theaters):
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