Ontario Begins

The Rural Municipality of Taché - Manitoba

If our journey across Alberta, Saskatchewan and a large part of Manitoba was defined by long flat straight roads, we saw a completely different landscape in the last part of Manitoba and into Ontario.

Our last stop in Manitoba, before crossing the longitudinal half-way point across Canada, was Birds Hill Provincial Park just North East of Winnipeg. So far all of the Provincial and National Parks have been great stays, well laid out, largely quiet camping spots with good facilities. We liked our stops in Manitoba and we joked about driving roads that had bends, hills and trees.

Birds Hill was huge. Home to the annual Winnipeg Folk Festival, which was being set up as we left. Scrolling through the list of performers I recognized only one - Bruce Cockburn. We've got to know some Canadian folk singers, favourite so far is Stan Rogers (me) and The Janzen Boys (Fred).

Tipped off by a good friend on the Coast who knows Birds Hill, she recommended a visit to Pineridge Hollow on the edge of the park. Thank you Jen!

It was the most amazing collection of, and in some ways incongruous, boutique shops, bars, a market and a restaurant, in a beautifully landscaped architecturally sensitive development.

It's the first of its kind we have seen anywhere near a provincial park since we started our journey. It was really well set up. Fred went shopping! Jack and I took in the scenery.

The last few stops have been warm. Having complained about our cold start to the trip we are now glad we purchased an RV with air-con. We've clearly gone soft. I don't know how those camping, or indeed the original settlers, managed. Travelling across open country, forests and grassland, mountains and rivers, with horses and wagons was an amazing feat. They didn't have the advantage of roads, loos, showers and other accoutrements of modern life - or Deet.

The majority of our stops have been near lakes, creeks or rivers and at this time of year are well populated by ticks, mosquitoes and horseflies. We seem to permanently reek of the said strong repellant! Even Jack got fed up with being buzzed and was happy to get back inside, except when he had an opportunity to swim, which has been frequent!

A lake - one of many

As we start our journey across Ontario, which will comprise 1500km of our outward journey, I'm reminded of how many lakes there are in Canada. Estimates suggest there are over 2m, some 14% of the world's freshwater lakes. It felt as if we drove past most of them these last two days! Jack is happy.

Caliper Lake, our first stop in Ontario, is about 100 km south of the Trans-Canada Hwy 1. It's a there and back destination as we return to Hwy 1 after our 2 night stay.

The drive down was a mix of forest, lakes and hills, a welcome relief from the prairies. It's listed as the 'Heart of Canada Touring Route'. We are told the drive across Ontario will feature a lot of forest, so far we have not been disappointed. Caliper Lake PP was less well-maintained than other parks we have visited. Beautiful scenery and a thickly wooded site though a pitch that was far from level. We used all the blocks and levelling pads we had.

Boat launch swim

Down at the boat launch giving Jack a swim the morning we left, a small skiff motored up. To keep Jack away from the boat, I was sending him swimming off in different directions (he still remembers his gun-dog commands). When the woman moored the boat, she said I could train her three labs!

Originally from Essex, she has been living between Van Island, Minnesota and on an Island in Caliper Lake, owned by her husband. She comes over to the camp for her morning walks. Back at the RV it was time to pack-up and head off.

The day did not get off to a good start, and slowly went downhill. The pull-though site which we should have been able to drive straight out of, was blocked by a leaning tree which meant backing up a steep hill with a tight turn and trees all around... it was a tad challenging.

Challenge number two was at the dump site where we planned to empty our grey and black tanks, only a vital pipe stowed under the trailer was missing! Freak accident on route or taken? We will never know. Fortunately we had a spare, though it needed assembling while being dive-bombed by mozzies. Tanks emptied, we headed off to Thunder Lake and the Aaron Provincial Park campground.

The drive to Aaron PP was, uneventful, marking 5,000 km into the trip.

Uneventful that was, until we arrived. We had to fill our fresh water tank as we were on a power only site. It took longer than usual. Tank filled to Full, we noticed water flowing out of the overflow, so we headed to our site and set up the trailer, with the overflow still running, thinking it was just a small overflow!

Arriving back from grocery shopping the fresh water tank was empty. The overflow we discover acts as a syphon and drained all the water. We had to break down the trailer, return to the water point and refill the tank. It was a draining day, literally and physically, ending with heavy rain and thunderstorms. Thunder at Thunder Lake, very appropriate.

Should one have a lightning conductor on a trailer?

To cap it all, the slide-out (a seating area that slides out the side of the trailer to create more internal space), was catching the vinyl floor on one side, which needed some running repairs the following day.

Small freight train - only one engine at the front
rather than two at both front and rear and one in the middle

We were quite close to a rail line, and not a quiet siding like the one we had in Moose Jaw. Freight trains were frequent and we enjoyed that haunting sound of the North American train whistle several times throughout the night. It is a surprisingly reassuring sound. We love it.

Tuesday morning, July 1st was Canada Day, and we awoke to a warm dry sunny morning. While Fred watched Wimbledon (checking out the camp laundry in between sets and matches) I explored the camp and took Jack swimming.

How might you ask did we manage to get Wimbledon in the middle of rural Canada. After several camps with little to no wifi, I bit the bullet, swallowed my pride, and bought a Skarlink Mini satellite system in Calgary. I am not an Elon Musk fan, but the technology is pretty impressive. Unless we are in a heavily wooded area, the speed is good. Why do we need that, said Fred? A sentence not reprised since Wimbledon started ;-)

Thunder Lake

Thunder Lake is huge, or seems so, at 11.2km square. Though the camp is quite full, the spacing of individual sites, makes for a beautifully quiet location. You would not know that kids were now on summer break. The main beach had a couple of families on it in the afternoon, we avoided the dog beach (which was muddy) so we took over the boat launch slipway and an adjoining rocky bit of foreshore.

Late morning as it got warmer, the dragonflies and damsel flies came out in numbers. At one point there dozens flying over our heads - far too many to count. There was a huge variety of shapes, sizes and colours, I've not seen such a sight before.

The morning we headed off Jack introduced himself to an American Red Squirrel. A brave squirrel. I am not sure how it would have faired, if Jack had not been on a lead!

The drive across to Kakabeka Falls, near Thunder Bay was a fascinating mix of lakes, creeks, rivers, forest, rocky outcrops and more lakes. It was very Canadian and really attractive. Perhaps we didn't go past as many lakes as we thought on the drive to Aaron PP since there were so many more on route to Kakabeka.

For over 300 km the scenery was largely unchanged. A couple of small hamlets, a few abandoned businesses, cafes and road-side stops having been unable to make a living with the low level of passing trade and forested wilderness.

We were hoping to spot more wildlife, but apart from a few of birds of prey, it was just forest, creeks and lakes. Quite beautiful. There were warning signs to be careful of moose at night; they certainly weren't around during the day.

There were two highlights. One was driving through our 3rd timezone change as we switched to Eastern Standard time, which we are now in for the rest of the journey to the Maritimes.

The second, was a rolling 'industrial' resurfacing operation on the opposing carriageway. Why on earth is that a highlight you might well ask.

Two huge machines; the first heated the roadway, the second scraped it up into a ridge down the middle of the carriageway, before a third separate machine lifted the old tarmac, integrated with a new load of tarmac, to create and lay down a new road surface.

Fifty metres long and it went from old road to new road on a rolling basis.

After a bit of work on Google I discover this is called 'hot in-place recycling asphalt'.

Quite clever, I've not come across it before. Well we thought it was interesting!

The drive down to Kakabeka was hazy. We weren't quite sure if it was wildfires or the heat and humidity of the day. We could not smell smoke.

Looking at the local fire map and risk conditions, we have come to the conclusion it was more heat haze.

We have been fortunate, so far, that our expedition has not been impacted by wildfires.

Thursday was spent exploring Kakabeka Falls and Thunder Bay.

The Falls are described as the Niagara of northern Ontario. At 40m high they are the second highest falls in the province (after Niagara).

They are thunderously spectacular. The boardwalks, observation points and trails made it quite easy to explore and we could have stayed longer but we wanted to check out the waterfront for a lunch and beer at Thunder Bay on the edge of Lake Superior.

Over a year they have an average flow rate of 50 cubic meters per second. At peak times that can increase to 2800 cubic metres per second. Fed by the Kaministiquia River the waters flow into Lake Superior.

Late morning we spent exploring the waterfront In Thunder Bay, and had lunch at Bight Restaurant & Bar, opposite the marina. Good food, excellent & chatty service, local beer and a great marina view, and unlike BC, was dog friendly on the patio. They even brought Jack a bowl of water. I am unsure why BC is still stuck in the dark ages.

The marina had a brigantine moored up, which was originally built in 1953 as a cadet training ship in
Kingston Ontario. The St Lawrence II.

A mix of gaff and square rigging, it was in pretty good shape and being worked on as we walked past. Run as part of a Trust, it provides sailing adventures programs.

We also checked out a local viewpoint, that overlooks Thunder Bay, the Terry Fox Memorial. A young man celebrated by Canadians for his fight against cancer.

Wednesday July 2nd route to Thunder Bay, NW corner of Lake Superior, & Happy Land Park in Kakabeka Falls.

A Blue Dasher - Thunder Lake

Marsh Bluet Damselfly - Thunder Lake

Posing - single parent family - Thunder Lake

A very large family ... but all hers? - Thunder Lake

Rocky foreshore - Caliper Lake

Fox & Cubs - plant identified - a new one on Fred

No idea what this is, but seen lots of them!

Not easy to see, but a pair of amorous dragonflies
having been 'at it' in flight before landing on the trail
Does that make them a member of the 0.0011364 Mile High Club?