Trip Photos

OK, so I drove from Ottawa to Winnipeg, leaving on the 23rd and arriving on the 25th. I had to leave Ottawa later than I would have liked, and because Northern Ontario is eighty billion kilometres long, I didn't really have time to stop and take pictures along the way. Besides, the weather was pretty crappy (mostly rain). When I stopped at Provincial Parks along the way, it was too dark to take any interesting pictures, and in the morning I was too eager to get back on the road.



So, my game plan was to take my tent trailer (a.k.a. The Ancient Green Canvas Machine) and stop in Provincial Parks for the two night / three day drive that is the journey across Northern Ontario (although technically the driving only takes 24 hours, so if you have three people and lots of food, you really can do the trip in a day). I brought a little 12V cooler along to keep leftovers from my lunches cold for dinner, and some DVDs to watch at night on my laptop.



The westbound trip, aside from crappy weather, was pretty uneventful. I apologise for not taking any pictures. I plan to do so on the return journey. I stopped in Chutes Provincial Park near Massey, ON for the first night. Nice place although the local construction crew was busy botching repairs to the highway where Chutes is situated. Good Morning Vietnam was the feature film for the night, with leftover pizza for dinner. Wolf River Provincial Park, about 50km east of Thunder Bay, was the second night's stop, with Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course and leftover Subway for the night's entertainment. It rained that night, and aside from the wind flapping the canvas around and waking me up once, the tent withstood the weather. The next morning I had to close up the trailer, still wet on the outside, so some water got in. Fortunately I was able to air out the matresses at my cousin's place.

I arrived in Hazelridge, where my cousin lives, at about 1730CDT on the 25th. Let the fun and games begin.





And now, the return trip. My original plan was to leave on Monday, same as Becca and John, but we decided to do some shopping and wind down, instead. So Tuesday, October 7th, was my departure day. My game plan for this trip was to take my time and see Manitoulin Island on the way back, arriving back in Ottawa on Friday the 10th.


Tuesday: Filled up on gas in Oakbank. Tried to get some air for the tires, but their air compressor is broken, so I actually lost air. I stopped at Settler's (Pat works there) to see if they had air, but they didn't. The place across from Settler's, a Petro-Can, did, though. This all added a little bit of delay to the start of my journey. Then I stopped somewhere on Hwy. 101 (what they call the Trans-Canada just outside of Winnipeg) to take a 19-picture series of shots, which I will eventually try to tie together to make a panoramic view of just how flat Winnipeg really is.

Aside from stopping for Subway and gas, I made one other stop this day to take a couple of pictures. It felt good to be back in proper Canadian Shield. Let there be rocks, trees and water. The night was spent at Kekabeka Falls, perhaps 30km west of Thunder Bay, with "2 Fast 2 Furious" as the feature film and Subway for dinner.



Wednesday: After a little bit of looking around Kekabeka Falls, it was time to hit the road again. Just east of Thunder Bay (maybe 50km or so?) I saw an amethyst mine. About 3km later, I decided to go and visit, maybe get some amethyst for friends, check the place out. It might have been wiser to wait for the next mine, though.

The road to get to the mine is 8km of windy dirt road, with monster elevation changes, mostly up. There's one hill that probably has a 10 degree slope. With the trailer on the back, I was climbing it in 1st gear around 4500rpm. But it was worth it to see the place. Not very big, and since I haven't seen any of the others, I can't say if this is normal. However, lots of interesting facts to be learned, and some amazing pieces of amethyst to be seen. I bought a couple of pieces for friends, and while I was walking around outside I stepped on a piece. The ground is just littered with the stuff. They have a little mini-quarry where you can go pick your own amethyst. Then they weigh what you took and charge you for it. When I showed them the little piece I found under my boot, they just laughed and let me keep it. Anyways, back on the road.

I stopped later at one of those places they put on the highways for you to take a break and view some fantastic scenery. As if the whole drive across Northern Ontario isn't exactly that. So I stopped at a couple of them. I also saw a lake that looked inviting, so I stopped there, too. From Thunder Bay to Wawa isn't very far, so I was able to spend a lot of time this day looking around. Stopped in Wawa for Subway and gas, and to take pictures of the geese. Not that I actually saw any geese, but the place is full of statues. Wawa is Ojibway for wild geese, and they take their name seriously there. Beautiful town, I recommend a visit. Stay at the Wawa Motor Inn. I've been there twice and it's a neat place. I stopped for the night at Lake Superior Provincial Park: Rabbit Lake (the one closer to Wawa). Subway for dinner (surprise) and I tried to watch "The Core" but my trailer battery was dead. Considering it had no problems on the westbound trip, I think the charger I used to charge it up in Winnipeg must have been defective.



Thursday: Didn't really stop much until I got to Manitoulin Island (Subway in Espanola). Nice place to visit. Espanola has a paper processing plant of some sort, which at first I thought was a hydroelectric dam. Approaching Little Current, the town/city located right where you drive onto the island, is full of beautiful scenery, including a swinging bridge (which unfortunately didn't swing while I was around. It goes on the hour, or so the sign says). I was trying to find Terry's Taxidermy and Mounted Animal Nature Trail, but I couldn't find it. After a brief stop for a couple of photos, I tried to stop at Stanley Park on Mindemoya Lake for the night, but either it was closed (and the CAA book is wrong) or nobody was answering the (locked) door. The place didn't look all that nice anyways. So I found another campground to stop at which wasn't in the CAA camp book. They were supposed to be closed as of Oct. 1st, but somebody was there to take my money and give me a spot. The downside was that they had turned off the electricity, and with my trailer battery dead, I actually wanted electricity hookups this night. So I watched "The Core" using my car's battery instead. I'm sure you can guess what was for dinner.



Friday: Drove around the island looking for Terry's Taxidermy and Mounted Animal Nature Trail. Apparently, after getting home and checking the internet, I had passed by it on Thursday, but it's now Gordon's Park. It has camping and all sorts of other activities (including the mounted animal nature trail) so I plan to go back some day for a four-day weekend. Anyways, I stopped briefly to take some pictures and to get Tim Horton's and gas in Espanola. Then it was back to Ottawa for me.



All in all, the return trip was a blast. The weather was nice the whole way, and the extra stopping was worth it. Northern Ontario is truly beautiful country. If you get the chance, take a gander someday.