Arrived in Perth via Westport

The Cliffs at Bon Echo Park

Yesterday was a short travel day, we stopped for coffee at Vennacher Junction and were tempted by a giant schnitzel on a bun that we shared for lunch. We were camped at Bon Echo Park by 1:00, it’s a huge campground (400 sites), they were pretty full and fully booked for the weekend. In the early 1900’s there was an inn where some of the Group of 7 stayed and painted. The lake is long and quite narrow, shallow around most of the edge but up to 100 feet deep in places. At the narrowest spot it’s only about 5,0’ across with 300 foot cliffs on the other side. This morning we took the Mugwump ferry (14 passenger pontoon boat) across and hiked the cliff trail.

Mazinaw Lake waiting for the Mugwump

 

The stairs we didn't take

We took a wrong turn, actually we didn’t turn as planned but we found some great miata roads, things in the trailer do get a little shaken up. We saw the villages of Erinville, Tamworth and Arden. In Arden a batik butterfly accosted me and I couldn’t get away without it. Tonight we are staying at McGowan’s Lake Campground just west of Perth.

Arrived in Perth for a visit with Jeanne & Ron McCandless before heading to Ottawa for Canada Day.

Getting close to the next province

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny, Warm Day Bancroft Area

Here we are in Wasaga Beach, and again, it’s not a beach day; so we are moving on. Took the back roads to Orillia, didn’t stop to check out Stephen Leacock’s home. From there we travelled to Kirkfield and visited the lift lock which has been in operation for almost 100 years. There are two huge troughs of water that the boats travel into, one up and one down, when both are ready the water is used to raise one and lower the other. The boats are raised or lowered 14.9 m, quite remarkable today but truly amazing when it was originally built.

Kirkfield Lift Lock

We continued on paved backroads and had lunch in Minden. Stopped in Haliburton where Denis reminisced about a summer he and Al worked for the railroad in Wawanesa and lived in a caboose.

 

Denis' New Abode?

 We are staying in Bancroft at Riverbend Campground, our ’96 trailer is the new kid on the block here. Most of the units are here permanently and are 10 or more years older than ours plus a few cabins of the same vintage but it’s quiet, no one is here.

We woke up to sunshine today and went touring around the area, lots of little places tucked in the bush. Denis tried to sample the local 'brew', the name of the place is Bancroft Eatery & Brew Pub, but they are still working on the brewing part. He had to make do with plain old beer on the patio while I checked out the local shops. We'll be heading towards Denbigh in the morning.

Rainy, Foggy Day in South Bruce Peninsula

We wandered around the quaint, little touristy town of Tobermoray. There were not many people out on a Monday morning but I'm sure in the summer it would be hard to find a place to park your vehicle and yourself. We tried to have beavertails but they were closed. We did visit a lighthouse and an observation tower which was much higher than the trees, it swayed a bit in the wind. Then we went to Dyer's Bay and dropped off the trailer and went to Cabot Head Lighthouse & Museum. We took a short walk to Wingfield Basin, a very protected, almost circular basin where boats shelter when the lake is too stormy.

Enjoying the rock chair that someone else built

The rain started during the night and continued off and on all day. We stopped in Lion's Head, another lighthouse, and then headed to Wiarton. We got a glimpse of Willie but he's pretty shy. We also looked around the old train station, very beautiful building.

Denis chatting with Wiarton Willie

 

Antique Bench, Wiarton Train Station

We headed off to Sauble Beach, 11 km of wonderful, sandy beach, but it was so rainy and foggy we didn't stay very long. We did manage to enjoy a beavertail! We had a late lunch in Owen Sound and tonight we are in Wasaga Beach.



Wasaga Beach on Georgian Bay (Lake Huron)

Tobermory, Bruce Peninsila

Just a note or two on things we missed along the way: in Nipigon we visited the Paddle to the Sea Park, very creative playground chronicling the children’s book, Denis remembers it well and I remember slightly, it must have been a boy thing.

Paddling to the sea?

 

 Then in White River we read the origin of the Winnie the Pooh stories, a WWI soldier, veterinarian from Winnipeg, travelling by train to England to look after the military horses, bought an orphaned bear cub for $20. He took her with him and when he was sent to France he left her at the London Zoo where she became a favourite especially with Christopher Milne, son of the author.


Winnie the Pooh's origins

 

In Wawa, a mining town, they even had a short gold rush, an Earl and Lady lived there today their claim to fame is a huge Canada goose (statue), it rivals the one in Dunrae.

 

                                                       Under the Big Nickel

 The guardian of the pathway at Sleeping Giant Park

We finished our tour of Manitoulin Island, it was pretty quiet but I bet in the summer it’s bumper to bumper traffic on very narrow streets and roads. This morning took the ferry, Chi Cheemaun, from South Baymouth to Tobermory.

Sudbury Area & the Big Nickel

We are at Espanola, ON, right at home in a pulp mill town. Correction to my last post, we are camped at Lake Apsey, very small, quiet campground about 20 sites and half are set-up for the long term. They also have a few cabins, nice little sand beach and people are out fishing but we haven’t noticed if they are catching anything.

Yesterday we went into Sudbury and saw the BIG nickel, also toured Dynamic Earth, a demonstration mine. You start out in a 19^th century mine complete with low, drippy ceilings and puddles on the floor, then progress to the 1950’s and eventually the modern version. Denis got the big nickel t-shirt! We stopped at an RV dealer and bought the awning part.

This morning, after much reading and worrying, Denis replaced the part in the awning and Voila! It works like magic, another skill to add to his handyman resume. We are doing laundry, amazing how similar Laundromats are no matter where they are. We haven't got any pictures ready but promise some with the next post.

Tomorrow we are moving on, Manitoulin Island is our next destination, then the Bruce Peninsula. We have a spot reserved in Ottawa starting June 30 and we plan to see Jeanne & Ron (in Perth) on the 29^th if they are available.

Sault Ste. Marie: Lakes & Locks

Yesterday we started out in Wawa, ON, this area was pretty remote until 1960, when the TransCanada was finally built through here. It’s considered Northern Ontario even though it is south of Calgary. The climate, vegetation, rocks, etc. remind me of northern BC, except when we get a spectacular view of Lake Superior. Truck and trailer are both humming along, the old beast guzzles a lot of gas! Cell service has been iffy for the last few days but usually have coverage in the towns, also we’ve found wifi in several towns.

I had a little excursion to see the Agawa pictographs; the trail down was a steep track among the boulders, the first sign I came to warned that death and injury have occurred when people were swept or slipped off the rocks. I could hear dad cautioning me, 'that's far enough Judy, but I persevered, the most foolish part was I didn't change out of my flip flops. The pictographs were very hard to see (sun was in my eyes), much better view from the water I climbed out on some rocks and got a slightly better view and made it back to the parking lot with no mishaps.

We had an awesome lunch in Sault Ste. Marie, Low & Slow BBQ, smoked fish chowder and shared a brisket sandwich, both were very good. We crossed into Michigan and checked out the Soo Locks, there are five locks (4 American, 1 Canadian) moving all manner of freighters and smaller boats between the lakes (Superior & Huron) using the St. Mary's River. We watched a tour boat & the freighter Rt Hon Paul Martin travel through the locks, one up and one down, pretty impressive process. Then along came the cavalry, US Coast Guard, with a pretty impressive boat and a guy standing on the front by a machine gun AND an OPP boat that looked more suited to a couple guys on a fishing trip. Denis' comment; that's representative of our budgets. Camped on the waterfront (Canadian side) and toured the city.

Today, after Denis visited the bush plane museum, we are headed towards Sudbury, have to check out the nickel story. We are camped at Lake Aspey very near Espanola just outside of Sudbury.

Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Northern Ontario? Lakes & Wilderness

After a very rainy cold Sunday in Thunder Bay, we set off for Sleeping Giant Park. Along the way we found the fish shop that we spent a good deal of time looking for on Sunday, so we loaded our fridge with fish, smoked and fresh and also an excellent piece of carrot cake to share. I just managed to escape  without an amethyst bracelet. We were camped at Marie Louise Lake (in Sleeping Giant Park) and by noon we were on one of the hiking trails, we went to see the Sea Lion a rock formation that looks like it's name sake. We continued on to Tee Harbour but just short of there we met a mama bear and 2 cubs, we promptly turned around and followed a path to the lake, waited about 15 minutes and tried again, this time using a whistle to forewarn her but she was still there, after a third attempt we decided she took precedence and headed back. Good hike we covered about 13 km, and Denis' feet held up. We drove up to Thunder Bay Lookout, where there is a platform out over the cliff 100 m up. We enjoyed a nice evening by the fire in spite of mosquitos and flies and lake trout for supper.

Today we visited Ouimet Canyon, we didn't realize before hand that we couldn't take the trailer up there, so we parked and hiked 3 km uphill. Pretty impressive canyon but after the 3 km up and 1 km around the site and 3 km down Denis feet are complaining. We are having a long driving afternoon, should be in Wawa tonight.

Haven't time for pics and map update but will get that done for next post. 

Along the Voyageur Trail

As we continued our trip east through Minnesota the rain kept up with us. The rivers, creeks and ditches were running full tilt, some flooding in the Lake of Woods, Rainy River and Rainy Lake areas. We had a little misadventure while parking at the Little Fork campground, it was a nice grass site (which looked high and dry) and Denis decided to pull through, we didn't make it through. The ground was completely saturated and there we sat spinning until Denis flagged down a good samaritan on a  quad who got a buddy with a pick-up to give us a pull.

We stumbled on a few interesting places: Warroad has an historic window & door plant, Arctic Cat & Polaris ATV's and snow machines are manufactured in small towns in Northern Minnesota. We visited the walleye capital of the world, Baudette.We finally enjoyed a nice sunny day, Friday, while we travelled from International Falls to Split Rock Lighthouse (on the shore of Lake Superior. We had an interesting stop in Ely, many outfitters for canoe trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. We had a brisket sandwich, OK but it wasn't up to Denis & Cody's standard. Today, in the rain again, we visited Grand Portage National Monument, interesting and we both had our elementary school history of the fur trade refreshed.

Split Rock Lighthouse

We crossed the border in to Ontario, heading towards Thunder Bay. We took a brief side trip to Kakabeka Falls, very beautiful and also very high water as well.

Kakabeka Falls



Five More Provinces

Denis says if it doesn't warm up and stop raining we might head for Arizona sooner rather than later.

On the Road Again

 

Before leaving Killarney this morning we took Marie to the library so we could show her how to check the blog. We are hoping that with the assistance of the librarians she will be able to follow along on the journey. 

 

We departed about 11 am and crossed into North Dakota with no issues at the border. We travelled east and are camped at Lake Bronson, Minnesota, it's threatening rain and lots of mosquitoes. Just like home!

Camped in Minnesota

The Party's Over

Well Marie's 85th birthday is over and officially declared a success! As well as all the local friends, her sister-in-law,and several nieces and nephews from Alberta, Saskatchewan & Manitoba were able to join the celebration.  
Today we are just having a lazy day around  Killarney and Denis is working to get all the pelican poop off the truck and trailer. Tomorrow we are taking Marie to Brandon and Wednesday we will continue the eastward trek.

 

Marie visiting with the crowd

All the Family Well-wishers

After an issue with the awning the day we before we left home (which is still not repaired) we arrived in  Killarney this afternoon with no additional problems. Denis wanted to stop in Vegerville and take a picture in front of the giant Pysanka and tell you we were broke down and camped there. We stayed in the upscale Walmart parking lot in North Battleford the first night and last night was in Moose Mountain Provincial Park on Kenosee Lake but the ticks were out and of course mosquitos. It was very wet through southern Saskatchewan and here in Manitoba also. We stopped a couple places in Saskatoon and again in Carlyle to see if we could get the awning repaired but they were all too busy. We've seen a variety of gas prices so far, $1.16 the best and 1.34 the highest. Monday and Tuesday were nice hot days but today has been drizzley all day. Tomorrow we'll be helping Marie with final preparations for her party!



parked by Killarney Lake



only 6 more provinces to go!

And They're Off!

Well it's time 

We have packed and repacked and think we have everything we might need and as Denis keeps reminding me "they have stores everywhere". On the eastward trail at 12:30 pm June 2.