Sault Ste. Marie

The roads through the Canadian Shield are scary if you are on a bicycle.  I started out from Thunder Bay on a wide road with wide shoulders on a day that looked perfect for cycling.  The terrain was rolling hills; it was relatively cool with a light wind.  I thought to myself that this was finally the cycling I was looking for.   I was in the groove – feeling mellow, feeling strong, feeling great.  After about 30 k I saw a vehicle that looked suspiciously like ours coming towards me.   It was Telen, telling me that about 1 k up the road the shoulder disappeared.  Loose gravel from there on.  Sigh.  With the Semi’s taking up the road, the RV’s having no idea what they’re doing and no shoulder it was just too dangerous for me and Telen was having little heart-attacks at the thought of me riding there.  So, back in the car again.

We arrived in Nipigon.   It is a very nice little town based on a sawmill that shut down a few years ago.  Most people have moved out but a few die-hards have remained.   Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and we booked a room at the Beaver Hotel.   Seriously.   At the information desk they told us that there was a restaurant in town at the Sunny-side Cabins.   We walked there with a little trepidation but found a wonderful surprise.   It was a small café with an outdoor deck overlooking the Nipigon River, very friendly service and good food.   The waiter was a wealth of information on the area and directed us to a hiking trail where we went for a hike.

The next place we stayed was at Ney’s Provincial Park.   Ney’s used to be a prisoner of war site during the Second World War.  It is right on a beach of Lake Superior.  With the sandy beach, the crashing waves and the cool breeze coming off the water it was like being back in Victoria.   Looking at Lake Superior is like looking at the ocean minus the salt, whales, seals, etc. etc.  It made us a little homesick in spite of the striped uniforms, and the guards making us walk in formation.

After leaving Ney’s Provincial Park we arrived in Wawa.  Wawa is really the name of the town, not their feelings about living so far from anywhere.  I understand it means white goose in Ojibwa and they have a large number of sculptures of geese in the village.   Still, I carefully kept my backpack hanging strategically very low. 

That night we stayed at a very nice cabin that had all the amenities.   We were very glad to be inside that night.   We got hit with a storm like I have never seen.   The lightning flashes coming through the window were like the flickering of a defective florescent tube accompanied by a steady drum-roll.   And rain!  We think we get rain in Victoria – Hah!   Rain in Victoria is like two old ladies having a squabble – gray, dull and goes on forever.  Rain here is like two teenage boys having a fight – lots of energy, pyrotechnics, melodrama and then it is over.  The road in front of our cabin was like a river.  I am glad we were not camping!

On our way through Lake Superior Provincial Park we came across three small lakes called Dad, Mom and Baby lakes.   Very cute.   About ten k down the road we came across Orphan Lake.   We wondered what that little lake had done thousands of years ago that it got tossed out of the family.   It looked perfectly fine – except, perhaps, at little lonely.

Now we are in Sault Ste. Marie.  We booked a motel over the Internet.  Sometimes that has its drawbacks.  Apparently the motel is undergoing major renovations.  To get in we had to go through a tiny little side door that took us into the basement.  We were hard-pressed to find the reception area, which was a temporary desk and a very dusty looking receptionist.  The room was ok but we found wearing the hard-hats and steel toed boots at bit of a nuisance especially in the shower…   No need for a wake-up call, the hammering and drilling did the trick!

We are still in Northern Ontario, which I find strange.  We travelled out of southern Manitoba and into Northern Ontario.   I know that there is a lot of Ontario north of here and a whole lot of Canada north of here but somehow this is still Northern Ontario.  The US is just across the canal from here and you can see it if you want.  Yet we are still in Northern Ontario.  Someone needs to tell these Ontarians that they are not the centre of the Universe.  They call themselves Central Canada even though they are really east and they think that West is north.

No wonder Canada has an identity Crisis!