Burlington Outdoor Activities

With a focus on instruction and eco-friendly outdoor exploration, Heritage River Canoe & Kayak Company readies adventurers to paddle the waters of the Grand and Nith Rivers aboard their canoes, kayaks, and rafts. The company is a member of the Ontario Recreational Canoeing and Kayaking Association and guides are certified in first aid and CPR, rendering them able to diffuse even the largest of pool noodle fights. Most have worked on or around the river for most of their lives and also take their passion to the land as resource interpreters and nature teachers when not leading trips. On the water, they orchestrate guided river tours at various times of day, night, and season, allowing participants to witness rare sights such as the local fishes’ Boxing Day hauls. Throughout each trip, they further the company’s partnership with Grand River Conservation Authority to help preserve the ecosystem of the river and its watershed.

The rental shop staffers, located in Brant Conservation Area, can supply solo customers with rental vessels or equip them for self-guided tours with any needed boats, paddles, and star charts. Those who prefer a hand in expeditions can experience structured paddling trips through introductory lessons and day camps or board rafts to fish for small-mouth bass and other river denizens. As they drift along the river, groups may encounter the area's many bold and beautiful residents, such as red-tailed hawks, ospreys, and bald eagles, all soaring above the rare Carolinian forests to their treetop condos.

At Sosa Gliding Club, instructors and tow pilots don't receive paychecks; they teach others simply to share the joy of gliding. And since the club owns the Rockton Airport-which has two grass runways, a fleet of single- and two-seat gliders, and a clubhouse-they can pass on their knowledge through ground courses and in-air instruction. Through cross-country soaring classes, for instance, they teach potential pilots to soar in gliders, finding invisible rising air currents to carry them upward rather than simply gliding the aircraft to the ground. Once students achieve basic piloting prowess, club instructors can then give aerobatic instruction, showing students how to perform slow rolls, loops, and wingovers during adrenaline-pumping staring contests with eagles.

Though the winter snow has melted, inner tubes continue to zoom down the routes at Chicopee Tube Park—now cruising atop Italian mats, designed for waterless tubing. A host of other outdoor attractions complement the park’s eponymous activity. Two ziplines—an 80-metre line for first timers and a 300-metre line for veteran fliers—let passengers glide above the treetops without having to hitch a ride on a passing pterodactyl. The Eurobungy trampoline also gives guests the gift of flight, granting harness-sporting park-goers the ability to leap up to 25 feet in the air, and the spider-web climbing tower offers stationary bird’s-eye views once climbers have hoisted themselves to its pinnacle. For low-to-the-ground fun, harnessed participants at the horizontal ropes can balance six feet off the ground, getting a taste of tightrope walking without that chalky, acrophobic aftertaste.

Adventurist Frederick Schuett launched One Axe Pursuits in 2001 to use outdoor adventure as a vehicle to promote active lifestyles. He sliced the company into three divisions: recreational programs, corporate team building, and filmmaking. The outdoor-adventure company specializes in recreational programs that send clients zip-lining over the Elora gorge, climbing up frozen waterfalls, and rappelling down limestone cliffs. The corporate team-building division helps create cohesiveness among groups, and film-industry services—such as stunt work and training—keeps movie stars and the cardboard cut-outs they use as stunt doubles safe and intact.

Flag Raiders ensures fierce competition with outdoor arenas marked by a variety of obstacles, terrain, and setups. Paintballers and their friends can traipse through an urban cityscape, firing colourful orbs past buildings or over six full-size cars while dodging stern jaywalking cops. On the turfed speedball pitch, prowlers quickly take cover behind inflatable obstacles and advance before getting splat tagged.

When Dan and Heather Goetz first started bottling maple syrup, their efforts were humble. A standard harvest included the use of about 100 pails and generated around 25 gallons of the saccharine nectar—barely enough to cover a single waffle. Today, the couple taps trees across six woodlots, using modern vacuum-tubing systems to process nearly 2,200 gallons of maple sap each hour.

Open to the public on weekends, the farm hosts pancake breakfasts, family-friendly tours, and wagon rides to the sugar bush where visitors can whisper sweet nothings to woo sappy trees. Before guests browse the maple-centric goodies sold at the Maple Shoppe, the Goetz's invite them to also visit the farm's new petting zoo and nature trail.