It was a very cold winter day and we were staying warm in the house while trying to figure out something to do outside. We weren’t sure what to do, so as we sometimes do, we just hopped into the car and headed out on the highway. The initial plan was to go to Presqu’ile Provincial Park, but when we took the off ramp we had a last minute choice: go left to Presqu’ile or right to Ferris. Since we had been to Presqu’ile a few times this winter already, we turned right and headed North to Ferris.
The main entrance to Ferris is closed in the winter, so we entered the park from the Ranney Gorge Suspension Bridge to get to the Ranney Falls trail. As usual, we had some fun jumping on the bridge and watching it sway beneath our feet as we watched the water rushing, and checked out the huge icicles on the cliffs below.
Look at those icicles! 
Fast flowing 
Baby it’s cold!
As soon as we got to the other end of the bridge, it was clear that the trails would all be sheer ice. Luckily, we all have a set of crampons that are made for these conditions – that we left at home. Big oops! However, we didn’t let that stop us from enjoying the hike and we continued to the trail head while taking our time and trying not to fall and break ourselves. Hayden, however, thought the ice was super fun and spent his time trying to see how far and fast he could slide.
Slick! 
Look at those falls! 
You wouldn’t want to fall in this!
As we continued down the trail to the river, we could hear the water rushing in the distance. There had been a huge amount of rain that week, resulting in some high water levels and fast currents – and also accounted for the icy trails.. We only stayed a few minutes watching the falls before heading back, since it was really cold out in the open on the river bank. We would normally continue the loop along the river edge to get back to the bridge, but because of the ice and uneven trail, we decided to double back on the flattest path possible – we had a hard enough time staying upright without the challenge of climbing up and down icy hills!
It was a short walk, but it got us outside to enjoy the fresh crisp air and took us away from our electronics for a few hours.