A former journalist and business analyst that now works in the world of travel marketing. Based in Toronto, Red Hunt has travelled to more than 50 countries over the past 15 years. You can follow Red on Instagram or Twitter.
This is an old photo from way back when I used a film camera and wasn’t into photography as much as I am now. Taken in 2001, during a trip to Madagascar, this is a bit grainy but is the best photo I had of a Parson’s Chameleon.
As you can tell, this one has a bright coloured eye, which has given this potential subspecies an “orange eye” name. This is one of the largest chameleons in the world, although this one is medium sized.
While the lemurs may get the glory in Madagascar, the island is also home to around half of all the chameleon species in the world. I saw the giant Malagasy chameleon and many smaller cameleons when I visited, but most of my photos were pretty poor – worse than this one!
Definitely a place I intend to return to one day, as it is a true wildlife paradise.
The Achilles Lake Trail at Fushimi Lake is more of an easy path to a scenic lake view than any sort of adventurous hiking trail.
Achilles Trail at Fushimi Lake
Almost completely flat from start to finish, at only 500m in length (1km round trip) you’ll find many families and campers enjoying this trail at any time of day, because it starts and ends quite close to the campground in the park – only about a 5-minute walk away.
This is the kind of little trail that is perfect for an early morning walk while enjoying your first cup of coffee for the day, or for going on a evening stroll at sunset to see if there is any wildlife hanging out along the shores of Achilles Lake.
Achilles Trail Map
Spruce trees, and small shrubs line the path, which opens up to some rocky clearings along the shore of the lake. There are well-located benches nearby that are perfect for either fishing or just soaking up the views.
If you want a more leisurely fishing experience than heading out on a boat on Fushimi Lake, this is the spot to head to. Spend a bit of time casting a line from the shore and you’ll likely come away with enough fish for dinner, all just a short little walk from your campsite. Doesn’t get much easier than that! Walleye and Northern Pike both being plentiful.
Red Squirrel along the Achilles Trail at Fushimi Lake Provincial Park
Moose and other wildlife such as fox are frequent visitors to Achilles Lake. The easy access makes it perfect for launching a canoe into the lake to do some wildlife spotting. Alternatively, the rocky shoreline also provides some places to explore as well.
A good contrast to the longer, more challenging Fire Tower Trail, the Achilles Lake Trail can be your go-to morning and evening walk in the park. Spend a weekend, or week, camping in Fushimi Lake and chances are pretty great that you’ll come across some moose or loons if you take daily excursions out to Achilles Lake.
Achilles Lake – Bench View
View across Achilles Lake
For people who want to launch their canoe at the lake, there is a small parking area closer to the trailhead so that you don’t have to carry your canoe all the way from the campground. It’s a much quieter, calmer lake than Fushimi (much smaller as well), so definitely a better option for a casual paddle.
If you’re not familiar with the great nature and wilderness of our northern Ontario Parks, Fushimi Lake Provincial Park is just northwest of Hearst, which is about 6 hours north of Sault St. Marie, 7 hours north of Sudbury or 11 hours north of Toronto.
Canoe Rentals are available
Many interesting flowers and mushrooms are found along the trail to Achilles Lake
I have a great appreciation for squirrels and love when I come across different squirrel species when I travel.
At home, in Toronto, we have eastern grey tree squirrels. SO ground squirrels I find extra interesting as they do not exist near Toronto.
This cute guy is an Arctic Ground Squirrel. I watched him scurry around his various hiding holes in Denali national Park, Alaska. These squirrels are, not surprisingly, found further north than any other ground squirrel species in North America. they also happen to be the largest ground squirrel species in North America.
Arctic Ground Squirrel
Hibernating for as much as 8 months in a year, these guys actually achieve the lowest body temperature of any mammal in the world. They mange to “supercool” their bodies – below freezing! It may sound impossible, but that is how they survive the winter.
These Arctic ground squirrels eat mostly leaves, seeds and fruits but are opportunistic and will even eat meat if the opportunity arises. As cute as these guys are, they’re also a prime food source for a wide range of Arctic animals like grizzly bears, eagles and foxes.
Arctic Ground Squirrel, Denali National Park, Alaska
One of the most common predators founds across Canada is the Red Fox.
I’ve spotted them everywhere from rural BC to the big city of Toronto. This fox though was a nice surprise in Prince Edward Island. I had just arrived at PEI National Park and was setting up camp when this fox appeared.
It was intently eyeing an area not too far away, so I was able to quietly get close enough for some good photos. Not long after this, the red fox began quickly walking towards a tree surrounded by shrubs, then pounced! Whatever prey it was hoping to catch, perhaps a mouse or chipmunk, escaped and the fox continued on.
One thing that amazed me about foxes is that they can have kit litters of us to 11 little foxes, wow! That seems a bit crazy. Normally they raise about five kits.
While Prince Edward Island wasn’t the most exciting place for wildlife beyond birds and small creatures, it definitely offered up some fun moments with nature such as this one.
So, Ontario has finally jumped on the hard root beer bandwagon and we can now head out to the LCBO or The Beer Store and select from 5 different variations on alcoholic root beer. Lucky us!
As someone who has sampled somewhere around 500 different root beer sodas, and many hard root beers, I felt it was my duty to do a taste test comparison of what you can expect from our alcoholic root beer options in Ontario. It’s not that difficult a taste test really, since we only have 5 options to choose from!
155 Kinds of Root Beer, not in Ontario
First, a bit about Root Beer
Root Beer tends to be a love it / hate it type of drink, and this holds true for the alcohol versions as well. The main ingredients that tend to turn people off are anise (similar to licorice) and wintergreen (a minty kind of taste). Wintergreen often reminds people of toothpaste or medicine. for people who say they hate root beer, find one without wintergreen in it, and you might just change their mind.
Alright, the beauty of root beer is that there is no traditional formula to follow. It literally started as “root” beer. We’re talking Native Americans using tree roots, bark and herbs to create the first real root beers. The first root beer sold commercially was Hires root beer, and if you can find it, it still holds its own to any other mass-produced root beer sodas.
Hard root beer has been around for many years, but only took off recently when Small Town Brewery near Chicago struck a deal with Pabst to distribute their “Not Your Fathers” brand. Now it seems every large US brewer is jumping on that bandwagon, along with some Canadian ones.
Hard Root Beer options in Ontario
A few Ontario brewers have done one-off hard root beers in the past, but things have recently changed and there are now 5 root beer options on the shelves at our Ontario beer and liquor outlets. Interestingly they’re all quite different in terms of their base alcohol and root beer recipes. Some use vodka (or ‘grain neutral spirit’), one uses rum, one uses bierschnapps and another is a good old malt-based beverage.
This root beer pours a deep amber colour and has a big, fluffy off-white head. Aroma is big sugar, similar to a root beer.
Taste is quite flat and smooth. No rough finish as is common with many hard root beers. Has a slight wintergreen taste too, but not spicy. Overall this is a mild tasting hard root beer.
A frothy alcoholic malt beverage that is above average sweet. While hops are listed in the ingredient list, it must be such a minimal amount, it doesn’t seem to impart any influence on the flavour. This proved to be the easiest drinker of the bunch. It drinks light, despite having the highest alcohol content, and potentially highest sugar content. Beware, this is nasty hangover material!
This is different from the other alcoholic root beers in that this is a root beer blended with vanilla porter bierschnapps from the Mill Street Distillery.
It pours a dark brown colour with a fizzy off white head that doesn’t last at all. Smells like hard liquor. You can tell there is ‘more’ to this root beer than a malt beverage with flavours added.
To me the aroma is a mix of vanilla, sugar and watered down whiskey. Taste is sweet upfront with an abrupt, dry finish. Boozy alcohol dominates with vanilla and some classic root beer sassafras and vanilla flavours hiding underneath, but it isn’t easy to pick them out.
Not very sweet really. Overall the booziest smelling, most innovative option out there. Probably a love it / hate it taste for most people, even though wintergreen isn’t strong in this one. It’s not exactly your typical root beer flavour profile.
Mad Jack Premium Hard Root Beer
Mad Jack Premium Hard Root Beer by Mad Jack Brewing Company (part of Molson Coors)
Brewed by the big guys, the ingredient list is not surprisingly a bit more generic and shady. What natural flavours? Hmm. It’s a premium root beer though, so must be good! Ahh, there is nothing premium about this whatsoever. If they included raw, organic Madagascar vanilla or sassafras tree bark or roots harvested from a sustainable source among their natural flavours I might buy into that claim.
The look of this one is a deep red brown pour, with a low lying head that disappears almost immediately. Aroma is mild. Not too sweet or boozy. Really bland and muted actually.
Malty. You’ll notice the malt sweetness right away but it’s also got some underlying root beer flavours like sassafras, birch and bark tastes. Not spicy, but pretty decent root beer flavouring.
The more you drink this one, the sweeter it gets. This is more traditional tasting than the Mill Street or Dusty Boots options.
You may prefer this over all the other hard root beer options if you enjoy malty beers. It’s quite mellow overall, a bit heavier than Crazy Uncle or Dusty Boots, so still not something you can drink many of.
If you like Not Your Father’s Root Beer from Small Town Brewery (which is not available in Ontario), this is the one hard root beer in Ontario that is closest to it in terms of flavour.
Crazy Uncle Hard Root Beer
Crazy Uncle All Natural Hard Root Beer by 361 Degrees Inc.
The healthy, all natural option! Ok, not really healthy but at least it doesn’t have the questionable preservatives and artificial additives that some of the others include.
This root beer is a lighter colour than the others. Very flat pour, but a thin layer of head lingers a while.
Nice, appealing vanilla aroma, with that Dr. Pepper type cherry element that root beer sodas sometimes have. Probably a stronger birch flavour to this than sassafras. Taste is quite sweet and smooth. A bit smoother and creamier than Dusty Boots.
Overall pretty decent caramel and root beer ‘spice’ taste. Hard to pick up the wintergreen and licorice flavours but if you challenge your taste buds you’ll pick them up. There is actually a fair bit going on with this one, if you start it ice cold and let it warm up, the flavour profile changes.
This tastes the sweetest of the bunch, but hard to know for sure if it had more sugar or just doesn’t hide it as well. It’s all natural, but I’m sure a night of these would still result in a nasty hangover. As for being on par as a root beer, it does a decent job.
Captain Morgan Spiked Root Beer
Captain Morgan Spiked Root Beer by Captain Morgan Rum Co.
Stretching things a bit here, as this is obviously not made by a brewery. But considering how most of the other hard root beer options are vodka, or other spirit, based I felt this had to be included.
Expect a dark brown pour with almost no head. Aroma is sweet rum. Not much in the way of root beer aroma at all. Taste is pretty smooth and sweet. Sugar is noticeable, the higher strength of 7% isn’t.
A bit of a licorice twist can be detected as well as wintergreen mintiness, so it does have some classic root beer taste profile going on. Overall the most obvious option that doesn’t try too hard to be a root beer. This is a rum beverage with flavouring more than anything else.
If you prefer rum over vodka or bierschnapps then this version of hard root beer may be the one for you.
So there we have it, 5 very different hard root beer options. Considering the vast range of flavours and styles you can find with root beer soda, it was actually a pleasant surprise to experience such different takes on hard root beer as well.
As the hard root beer trends continues, it seems hard ginger beer and other hard “sodas” (such as orange!) are the next wave that is sweeping across the US. I’m not a fan of those flavours, but do hope the root beer trend continues. If someone could make a smooth root beer stout I’d be quite happy.
