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August 3, 2008

First half of trip west

Yeah, I know it's way late for this but it ain't easy depending on internet cafes and finding time between beer, job hunting and splitting firewood.

Day One - Bruce Peninsula

We left Waterloo around lunchtime and headed down Erbsville Rd to see where it would lead us. Mostly in circles was the answer I found (choosing not to include Nat in the preposition regarding my navigating). When I did manage to stop the zig zag across Ontario marathon, we were greeted by either road construction or even partial highway closure. I was not impressed. We did eventually get onto the open part of the highway and made it to Bruce Peninsula National Park where it promptly decided to start pouring rain the instant we commenced our first attempt at raising a new-to-us 8 man tent. The rain continued its attempt at drowning our spirits by remaining throughout the dinner we cooked and even through most of the night. At great start to our trip out west.

Day Two - Manitoulin Island

We got up and packed up camp, managing to fit everything back in the ute (sorry, truck) again. I wasn't sure if it could be done or not. We raced to Tobermorey to get our ticket for the ferry and then had enough time to sit down for brekkie. The ferry ride was great (and not just because it's licensed) and gave some good views of some nearby lighthouses (Nat's dad loves pics of'em) while also impressing upon us the extent of the Great Lakes.... and we were only on Georgian Bay at Bay at the time. Once on the island we stopped at a little market garden and picked up some fresh veggies for dinner. Then it was on to Ojibwe Cultural Foundation in M'Chieeng for our educational experience of the day. If we weren't on a roadtrip out west, we would and could have spent several days on the island, camping and hiking. Unfortunately, we had somewhere else to be and a lot of km's to get there. We continued north and crossed a series of bridges and islands to return to the mainland of northern Ontario. We stopped in Espanola for some essential supplies - beer, tarps, groceries, beer, ice, did I say beer? Beer will point the way when lost; the guy at the Beerstore was kind enough to inform us of the nearest campground - Chutes Provincial Park just outside of Massey. We set up camp right next to the trail that went down towards the rapids. Chutes sits on land previously owned by a logging company. The river was used to float logs south for export and processing. Back in those days, there was a log chute built to allow the logs to bypass the rapids where they might entangle or break...hence Chutes Provincial Park.

Day Three - Lake Superior and Sleeping Giant

From Massey we continued west, stopping in Sault St. Marie for Tim Horton's. Don't let anyone tell you that the Sault is good for nothin'...it's at least got a Timmy Ho's. There was a fair bit of rain in the area but it managed to let up for our first sightseeing stop of the day - the Agawa Rock pictographs in Lake Superior Provincial Park. The glyphs consisted of a series of paintings on a vertical rock wall facing the lake. There was only a narrow ledge on which to stand and a ranger there to suggest safety. Luckily, it was a calm day on the lake and other than the tremendously minute chance of a rogue wave, I had nothing to worry about when taking the pictures. We lunched in the parking lot and then made a long haul towards Thunder Bay. I was hoping to make it to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park but was worried we'd be left setting up camp in the dark (never fun and an irritant of Nat). With good roads, however, and the blessing of T-Bay being so far west in its time zone we managed to have plenty of time to set up camp and cook. Oh, and most importantly we had time to peg down every available rope on the tent and the fly....which proved most provident when what sounded like a hurricane (sorry, it may also have been a wolf of the big and bad persuasion looking for pigs) passed by that night.

Day Four - A Bear and...and...the 'Peg

Before leaving Sleeping Giant P.P. we decided to drive up a winding trail to a point overlooking the lake and Thunder Bay. On our way there, we stopped to photograph an adolescent bear with confidence issues that was snacking beside the road. How did we know he had issues you ask? Well, after a few photos but before we moved on, a small deer came running out of the bush, almost straight at the bear. As a counterpoint to the old argument "does a bear shit in the woods?" - well not when he's scared shitless. The bear immediately started scrambling up the nearest tree before realizing he should assert himself as the hungry one of the prey/predator relationship at which point he jumped down and started chasing the deer. Quite reminiscent of a looney tunes episode or even the Han Solo and Chewy run towards the Startroopers. The lookout was beautiful even with a low cloud cover. The trail takes you all the way to the top of the Sleeping Giant...there's plenty of cliff face below to convince oneself. Back on the road, we stopped at the Terry Fox monument/lookout. It is really quite humbling to read about his accomplishment and the determination and perseverance that drove him as far as Thunder Bay. I urge everyone to find out where the Terry Fox Run is being held in your area. Make a difference on September 14th.

The next stop was at Kekabeka Falls. They don't impose as much as Niagra but are still loud and impressive. On an intersting sidenote, there is a contract between Hydro and the Park to ensure that there is a minimum amount of flow during the daytime throughout the tourist season. I wish there more to say about the next bit of Northern Ontario but alas, we were tired of still being there so we took the quicker way through Dryden and Kenora stopping really only for food. Again, a cold rain does not encourage stopping for sightseeing. We entered Winnipeg without a plan, other than finding a hotel and food. No left turn from Main St. to Portage St. left us with a slight detour. Once bearings were found again, we ended up on Portage and spotted a hotel right beside Red Lobster. I considered this lucky which might seem strange except that I knew at that point that Nat had been craving Red Lobster for weeks. Now that that piece of info has been brought to light you can also consider that lucky. After checking in we had a lobster dinner with pint's of Keiths...in Winnipeg...definition of a relatively homogenous Canadian economy.

Posted by Dr.Unk at August 3, 2008 6:57 PM

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