Kayak on Dogtooth Lake in Rushing River Provincial Park + Travel east towards Thunder Bay, Ontario

Kayaking Dogtooth Lake - Rushing River Provincial Park

We are really liking the campground check out times in Ontario being 2 pm. It's like we get an extra day before moving on. This morning we go for a walk to see the campsites on the water (fantastic spots for tents and rigs smaller than ours), kayak the Dogtooth Lake for about an hour and then have a swim before we pull out at 2pm. Almost a full day in itself before we leave the campground :)

Some people even have their own islands. We read in the Kenora museum you could buy an island for $200-$400 back in the day. Rather a nice real estate investment I am sure.

Our Point of View cabin on their own island

Final swim in one of the lovely natural pools here. 

This afternoon is spent driving east and we plan to stop in a few hours for the night. This nicely breaks the drive up for our arrival in Thunder Bay tomorrow. 

The cuts through the granite rock Canadian Shield continue to be numerous. 

Drive the speed limit :)

Ontario doesn't mess around with speeding. These sorts of signs are very frequently posted. We just try to do the speed limit and stay out of trouble. 

Dryden, ON Pulp and Paper Mill

As we drive through areas we use AI (artificial intelligence) to quickly learn history or local facts etc. Well, we learn the City of Dryden has some sad history with respect to its pulp mill. During the 1960's and 70's mercury poisoning from the mill caused one of Canada's worst environmental disasters. Dryden Chemicals Ltd was dumping mercury into the English Wabigoon River, just upstream of the Grassy Narrows First Nations, poisoning the fish, which were their staple food. Ugh...first nations peoples suffered severe mercury poisoning. Plus the mill was subject to a W5 investigation, published in 2021, into claims of workers being exposed to toxic fumes. Is it cleaned up today?? It was acquired by First Quality Enterprises in 2023 so we sure hope so. 

Nasty little storm

Farther down the road just outside of Ignace we stop at a local beach. Chris has news about a severe storm warning going to hit us very soon so we want to be off the road. It goes from beautiful, hot sunny weather to all hell breaking loose and alerts on our phone as to Tornado warnings and take cover. Where the heck are we to go...pretty scary. 

Our view from Ignace Lookout - starting to clear

Happy our rig didn't lift off the ground, we head to the Ignace Viewpoint for the night. A designated boon-docking spot meaning it's free for the night. Good night :)