Brag warning: Simcoe ROCKS!

Simcoe County is chock full of amazing opportunities, if you'd care to know! Having lived here for the better part of my years on this earth, I've been "ooot" and "abooot" to many of its fantastic sights and experiences, but I still haven't seen or done it all. If you've never been here, you'll be woefully unaware of the tremendous diversity this area offers throughout the 4 seasons. You can go from urban sprawl to forest in less than a 10 minute drive. You can rip around the frozen bay on your "sled" and arrive at some of Ontario''s best Alpine or Nordic Skiing in less than a half an hour's drive. You can spelunk, cycle, kayak/canoe, trek, fish, hunt, farm, parachute ... you name it, you can do it here!

The little lady and I recently took advantage of an incredible day of sun to take in the splendor of the Copeland Forest as we gifted ourselves with a little recreational exercise. The "Friends of Copeland" along with the Simcoe County Mountain Bike Club (SCMBC) have tirelessly worked with Horseshoe Valley to expand and maintain Copeland's nearly 100km of hiking/biking trails that quickly convert to Nordic when the inevitable blanket of snow comes to stay. Much of Simcoe is affected by lake effect snow so winter doesn't signal flocking indoors to escape the cold around here. It means get busy!

The "elephant in the room" in this area is the grandeur of Lake Simcoe and the communities that line its shores from the quaint villages like Hawkstone on it's northwestern shore, to upscale cities like Barrie on Kempenfelt Bay to its west or Orillia to the north, to rural gems like Brechin on its northeastern shores. On any given day in any of the 4 seasons, there are locals and visitors enjoying all that Lake Simcoe has to offer. 

If you're at all familiar with Ontario, you'll likely be waving your hand madly in the air like a student who needs to use the lavatory. What about Georgian Bay? And the world famous Wasaga Beach? Yes, of course, that's all a part of the fantastic-ness of this area, but Wasaga would need to share that limelight with awesome towns like Collingwood, Penetanguishine, and Midland, to name only a few that line the shores of the biggest bay that is a part of Lake Huron. Did you know that some of the best kite-surfing/windsurfing/surfing in Ontario is just north of Wasaga at Allenwood Beach? Or that the incredible freshwater sands of Wasaga are actually only the southern tip of beaches that stretch all the way up the northeast shores of Georgian Bay?

Some of Ontario's best Alpine Skiing is situated inside the boundaries of Simcoe County with internationally known Alpine resorts like Blue Mountain, Horseshoe Valley and Mount St Louis being the largest of the many to choose from. If Nordic Skiing is more your style, the internationally acclaimed Hardwood Hills could be your destination, but you couldn't go wrong with choosing Horseshoe Valley's access to the previously mentioned Copeland Forest or the rolling hills of Duntroon Highlands near Collingwood.

If you like to commune with nature through hiking or cycling, there are literally 1000s of km of maintained trails throughout the forested portions of the county, not the least of which is the famed Simcoe County Rail Trail. The Rail Trail circumnavigates the county utilizing 160km of repurposed rail lines from Barrie to Orillia to Coldwater to Waubaushene to Midland/Penetang to Elmvale and back to Barrie. You can use apps like Alltrails to locate many of the hiking/biking trails, but there are three times as many that are unlisted or attached to the mapped ones, many created and maintained by interested groups like the previously mentioned SCMBC.

It goes without saying that the 1000s of square kms of forest and rivers inside the county's boundaries offer hunters and fishermen a smorgasbord of opportunities to ply their hobby. A case in point, a good friend of mine transferred schools so that he could be closer the Nottawasaga River and its annual salmon run! Of course, all that forest sometimes means that nature gets all up in your business, like the time Joyce and I were hiking in Severn township near Coopers Falls and had a near encounter with a mama Black Bear and her cubs! Mother Nature just needs to occasionally remind us who's in charge, that's all.

The coup de grace, for some, would be the Canadian Armed Forces Base Borden, located in the county's west, near the town of Angus. Borden has long had a positive impact on the economy and culture of Simcoe County, being one of the major factors in the growth of Angus, coupled with the Honda plant in Alliston, just 20 minutes south of the base.

To quote my cousin Tim Burtch, "Life is Good!" but it's REALLY good in Simcoe! 
Come visit us sometime!