From that CNN story...

[pyat]

Searchers had combed the brutal backcountry of rural Ontario for the housewife from the city of Hamilton, who had left her home three days earlier in the middle of a blizzard to grocery shop.

For "brual backcountry" read "Suburbia, 10 miles from a city of 500,000 people and right next to an international airport." It's sort of marginally rural. There are some farms.

Comments

[relee.livejournal.com]

I spent some time in the Brutal Backcountry of Rural Ontario back when I was in the Air Cadets. It was pretty interesting. Oddly, the Brutal Backcountry of Rural Ontario is right next to the house of my brother's godparents, who live in a farm house in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farms that aren't theirs. I dunno why. ^.^;;

It was definately made more challenging by the fact I was carrying around a backpack that was bigger than I was, and I was also wearing an all-weather parka which is a kind of coat with tent poles in it, or a tent you wear as a coat, I was never really sure which.

Ahh memories.