Week 4
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Week 5 Act
2
Day 22:
Well, the Weather Network says there's a storm brewing
with lots of rain and high winds. Not exactly the type of weather to camp
in. So, I decided to stay in luxury at the hotel for another night
(isn't flexibility great). To pass the day, I went window shopping
at a few malls and outdoor/hiking stores. On of the clerks at the Take
A Hike! store told me about a couple who were at Lake Superior PP and also
went out on the Agawa Rock trail that I did on Day
16. It seems the waves weren't that calm, but they still went out on
the ledge. Both of them fell in, and the husband drowned. Makes you
think.
On a happier note, I went to McDonald's for dinner then
caught another movie, Rush Hour (I've got to at least try to keep up). The
forecast rain started at around 6pm and never looked back. The wind
even tried to harass me inside the hotel by blowing the rain against my window
- I guess it's mad that I stayed indoors.
Day 23:
The morning brought a little less anti-camping weather,
but not by much. Scattered showers followed me much of the day.
I headed off to Kakebeka Falls - the Niagara of the North.
Well, it is in the north... For the record, the water level was quite
low due to the season and due to Ontario Hydro diverting as much water as
it can to produce electricity. It was still raining, and since the park's
water (ie. showers) had been turned off, I decided to travel on.
Looking at the map, I found another road off the beaten
track that pretty much went the same way that I was headed. Things
started off well, with a wide road and the odd directional sign. I
even followed a logging company pick-up for a while, so I new I was heading
the right way. Well, my new friend stopped to do his job, so I continued
along the road ahead. I was soon down to 1 lane, then down to 2 tire paths
(is there a proper name for that type of road?). As I pondered visions of
a repeat of previous deteriorating roads, the road abruptly ended at a nice
wide logging road, just as the map indicated. A short hour along the highway
soon brought me to Quetico PP but since I also crossed from Eastern to Central
time, the trip seemed to take no time at all. ;)
The park was pretty much deserted, except for the odd
camper and a work crew building a foundation for an addition to the park's
facilities. This is probably a good thing, since all of the other
facilities (drinking water, showers, offices) were already shut down for
the season. I decided to stay anyway.
Anyone who is familiar with Quetico will know that iy is primarily
a canoe park, with numerous lakes and unlimited sites to camp and explore.
Hopefully, I'll return to do that in the near future. In the meantime, I
set up camp on site #10 at the Chippewa campground. Coming from a well
supplied grocery store, I had some steak for dinner on settled in for the
night with the occasional patter of rain on the tarp.
Day 24:
The wind picked up considerably over night and I awoke
to the sound of the tarp being stretched to its limits around 6:45am. The
next sound pierced my grogginess as I heard the distinctive `tink' of a tent
peg being pulled from the ground and landing on the surrounding stones and
pebbles. This posed more of a problem, since this peg was securing
the fourth corner of my tarp and its removal exposed most of my tent to the
continuing rain. I pulled on my boots and jacket and headed out to
reposition the peg - only this time in harder soil. This solution lasted
a brief minute, as the wind again pulled the tarp and peg free. Back
into the fray I went, only this time I decided to tie down the errant corner.
The only object that presented itself as a suitable anchor was my trusted
vehicle, so I looped the rope through one of the tow rings under the bumper
and tied it off on the roof rack. With this problem solved, I headed
back into my sleeping bag for a few more hours.
When I did get up at 9:30am, the wind was still at it,
so I went back to the tent peg but finished to job with a large rock on top
of the peg. With the water being turned off, I headed to the local
watering hole, French Lake, for some dishwater, since I realized I hadn't
topped up my water supplies before leaving the hotel in Thunder Bay.
After breakfast, I headed out for some hiking. First
stop: the Whiskey Jack trail; next: the Beaver Meadow trail. I finished
each in less than half an hour which led me to question the stated lengths
of 2.5km each. I can hike that fast, but I didn't, so I'm only going to record
each as 2km in my total stats.
After a bit of lunch, I headed out on the linear French
Portage trail - retracing the steps of traders and settlers from the last
300 years. As with many of the trails at this time of year, this trail
had a few trees blocking the path which had fallen recently and hadn't been
cleared yet. I normally just step over and around these obstacles since most
have already been hiked over and don't really get in your way. On this
trail, however, a large pine had just fallen recently in an area with fairly
thick surrounding bush, so I decided to clear some of the branches to make
the way relatively passable. In the course of breaking off some of
the larger branches, my trusty walking stick (the one with the neat worn
trails on it) met its match and was broken in half. After a moment of grief,
I threw away the smaller half and continued on my way. So you aren't
too concerned for my emotional state, after wandering off the trail a bit
I did find another walking stick to keep me company.
As I neared to end of the trail, I vaguely recalled that
there was another trail that started nearby and thought that this one would
connect up with it. Oddly enough, this trail ended up at a quiet stretch
of the French river - surprising for a portage.
As I mentioned, this was a linear trail, so, on my return,
I passed the spot where my walking stick had succumbed. With my new
thicker and heavier stick, I made quick work of those remaining branches
and went on my way, having the last laugh.
Once back at the car, I decided to drive out to that
other trail, the French Falls trail. Nice little babbling brook, at this
time of year.
Still weaning myself off the hotel stay, I went up the
road to a diner for dinner then settled in for a quiet night without ny stars
since the clouds still hadn't cleared.
Day 25:
Well, enough with this province, I'm ready for a new
one. Conviently for me, Manitoba was just a few hours away. After
stopping in Atikokan for breakfast and Dryden for a snack, I hit Kenora,
picked up some info on Manitoba, and headed for the border. I was hoping
to hit the Manitoba tourism centre just inside to border, but they closed
at 4pm, 5 minutes before I arrived.
I headed to one of the campsite in Whiteshell PP, Falcon
Lake, to spend the night. Set up on site #T2 and started to plan my activities
in this new province after dinner. As I was doing that, a rather larger
fox came trotting by. He was much larger than those at Sleeping Giant
PP, so I hoped he didn't have an interest in my tent in the morning.
Day 26:
The weather seems to be improving as I awoke to a nice
clear sky. I had breakfast on the lakeshore then headed out on the nearby
Falcon Creek trail.
One of the park staff thought the laundry facilities
were still in operation, but since they weren't, I packed up for the next
campground. I stopped in at the tourist info centre and picked up a
great booklet on accomodations in the province.
West Hawk Lake still had a local laundromat open, so
I stopped in and unloaded my stuff. Although I'd heard that laundromats
are great places to meet people, this one was empty, so I started my laundry
in peace. Instead of sitting around, I headed over and registered at
the campground. When I returned, a local woman had started her laundry,
so we chatted a bit as I folded and she marvelled at my ability, as a young
man, to do laundry.
I set up on site #C7 and then headed off to get a trail
in before dark. The nearby White Pines trail fit the bill as a nice
trail along a stream (altered by man to encourage the trout population).
The weather is expected to deteriorate over the next few days, so I don't
want to waste too much daylight.
Back at the campground, I went out on a quick trail nearby,
along the West Hawk Lake. After that, I had dinner and looked at my plan
for the weekend. There are about 5 trails I'd like to go on, but if
the forecast is correct, I'll have one day to do them before I'm rained out
for two days (including Thanksgiving Monday).
Day 27:
Packed up and headed for the hills. Started with
the McGillivray trail, nice walk along a stream which is supposed to start
with a set of falls, but is actually just a trickle. Highlight was a nice
set of beaver dams. Next up, the Amisk trail. This trail went off over
granite ridges, that seem to be quite popular among these trails, and also
ended up at another beaver dam, although not as impressive as the previous
trail. The only designated mountain bike trail in the park was my next
stop. This combined hiking/biking trail, called Forester's Footsteps, follows
mostly old, rather sandy, logging roads. The highlight is about the middle
of the trail where it heads out over some granite ridges and gets a little
bumpy.
Since I still had a few hours of daylight left, I headed
out for the Pine Point trail. The highlights are a set of 3 falls at the
far end of the 8km loop. The problem is that the trail is also used
as a cross-country ski trail, which means that getting to and coming back
from the falls is a rather boring walk along often sandy roads - not my favorite
activity. The only thing that made these paths bearable was an inquisitive
chipmunk that walked right up to me and pondered climbing up my leg, if only
for a brief second.
Headed to Big Whiteshell lake to camp for the night.
Nice warm showers and conveniently located trees to string up my tarp to
protect against the forecast rain.
Day 28:
Woke up to the relative quiet of, surprisingly, no rain.
I packed up and had some breakfast then headed to the big city - Winnipeg.
Shortly after getting on the road (i.e. minutes later), the rain started.
It followed me through Seven Sister Falls to Garson (stop
for some milk) to Winnipeg (snack and some lunch) to Portage la Prairie (snack)
to Brandon (destination). I decided to stay at the Motel 8 and continue
my tradition of going out for dinner at the Keg - prime rib, of course. It
also allowed me an opportunity to check email and send these updates!
Week 1 | Week 2 |
Week 3 | Week 4 |
Week 5 Act
2