Cyclists from the USA @ Old Woman Bay Hike + Pancake Bay

Victor, Dave, Lucas and Chris

Our first stop of the day is at The Old Woman Bay hike just south of Wawa. Chris spies these 3 cyclists and offers to make them a coffee. Two take him up on the offer and next we know we are chatting up a storm. Turns out they are Americans traveling across Canada. Apparently a year or so back they biked across the USA but would get things thrown at them, sworn at or honked viciously at. They love biking in Canada as everyone is always asking if they can help or make them a coffee. We really enjoyed hearing about their travels. Victor is 71, Dave is 60 and Luca about mid 30's. They hope to get to Nova Scotia in the end. 

Starting to get views

We head off on our hike of The Old Woman Bay. The trail winds up and up through thick bush and eventually offers great views of Lake Superior and the Old Woman Bay. 

Lake Superior and Old Woman Bay

Nokomis, an Ojibwa elder is said to be looking over the Southern Great Lakes forest merging with the Northern Boreal forest. 

Old Woman face looking out on Lake Superior

American cyclists going across Canada

As we drive on we pass our cyclist friends and we give them a few gentle welcoming toots and waves. I also take a picture of them riding on the highway, a perspective they wouldn't get. We exchanged emails so I was able to send it to them. 

Bathtub Island in the distance

We make a stop at Bathtub Island. Years ago we are told you could walk out to it. Unsure if the water is much higher or if sand has been washed away but it would require a pretty good swim to get out there. It is tempting but we are wearing shorts and t-shirts expecting to be able to walk out. The rock formations and slabs just beneath the water are gorgeous and it's a great spot to hang out for awhile. 

Pancake Bay Provincial Park

Check-in time at Ontario provincial parks is 2pm. We arrive just before 3, our earliest check in yet.

Pancake Bay beach - fantastic sand

We only have one night here and we have heard it is a  beautiful beach so we waste no time getting down there.

Chris swimming in Lake Superior

Chris is the first to head in for a swim. It's actually much warmer than expected so we both enjoy the lovely cooling water on this rather warm, humid day. 

Sheila way out in the water - see the red arrow?

Beach tent works well

We brought along our beach tent. This has been with us since our boating days on Tioga.  What a great thing for the beach. Late in the day we head back to our site and chill for the rest of the night. 

That's another day gone by :)

Aguasabon Falls, Terrace Bay, Marathon Pebble Beach, Winnie the Pooh and Wawa, Ontario

Today is a bit of a driving day for us as we have 300 km to go to get to Wawa tonight and lots of sights in between. 

Aguasabon Falls

Ontario has so much water and so many waterfalls we are beginning to be a bit choosey as to the ones we seek out. We can't miss Aguasabon Falls near Terrace Bay. They cascade 34 meters (110 ft) into Aguasabon gorge. We can feel the mist rising and cooling our faces. Very impressive. 

Terrace Bay for breakfast

On to Terrace Bay for breakfast and walk about. Great beach with nice board walks. The rocks and sand are so colorful

Cute beach art

Distance indicator - Wawa 250 km

Terrace Bay Lighthouse

Back up on the road is the Terrace Bay Lighthouse. It's a replica of the one sitting just offshore in the Slate Islands Provincial Park. We climb to the top for a nice view. 

Our rig from the top of a lighthouse

Pebble beach or dinosaur egg beach?

On to Marathon's Pebble Beach. This place is absolutely out of this world.

It's a bit like dinosaur egg beach but regardless, the colorful polished stones are amazing. There is a natural process of glacial and wave action that happens here to grind the stones smooth and give them their polished appearance.

Sheila and her rocks

I am a real rock hound and love to bring rock samples home for family and friends. So hard to choose which ones to bring home.  

We are driving the Lake Superior Circle Tour - north coast

Winnie-The-Pooh from White River, ON

For fun our next stop is the town of White River where apparently the original Winnie-The-Pooh came from  Originally an orphaned black bear cub that made its way to a zoo in London, England. Long story. 

Km 1000 was missing?

I had been counting the mileage markers for the last 20 km or so wanting a picture of the km 1000 into Ontario. They are placed every 2 kilometes and oddly they missed the 1000km one...oh well 1002 has to do. 

Finally the Wawa Goose is in our sights. This crazy Canadian Goose on the side of the highway was created literally to bring tourists in off the highway and that is exactly what it does. Everyone has to have a picture of it :)

Wawa Canada Goose :)

Colorful tiny stones

We end up down at the Government Dock for the night. The small pebbles are colorful and so is the sun set. A long day of great travel. 

Sun setting on Lake Superior - Good night

Kayaking Whitesand Lake + Rainbow Falls hike and the Rossport Coastal Trail hike

Chris enjoys fishing time

The day starts with an early kayak on Whitesand Lake. We launch in a smaller bay on the lake and head down to the narrows, which goes into a huge body of water. It is a nice kayak but Chris has been wanting to just fish for awhile and I just want to sit on the dock with my tea and read a book so we do exactly that. 

Narrows we kayaked through are above the falls

There is a little 2km hike through the woods and Canadian Shield to Rainbow Falls. It is a series of cascading falls and at the top we can see the narrows we kayaked through earlier into the larger body of Whitesand Lake.

So many falls in Ontario :)

Downstream from the bridge top

Sweet little town

After lunch we drive a few kilometers back west to the town of Rossport. There isn't much here except a few homes and a great beach. 

Sheila braves the water :)

We read our books and enjoy a tea. The sun is actually breaking through today and we get a glimpse of the blue of Lake Superior. I even go into the water up to my knees...that is chill water. Around 6 degrees celsius, maybe a degree warmer as this bay is a bit shallower. 

Rockport is well known for its Coastal Trail Hike, which meanders over the slabs of rocks along the shores of Lake Superior. It is so beautiful and good for our balance as we rock hop along our way. 

Sheila enjoying the warm rocks

At the end of the hike, we lay on the warm rocks in the clear blue sky. Finally the smoke has lifted :)

We lie with closed eyes and listen to the song "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot. 29 lives lost in this lake in November 1975. The water is gently crashing to the music making it very surreal. 

Hiking back west the sun shimmers on the water. 

Once back at our campsite we make supper and just take it easy after a busy day :)  Are there any un-busy days in our lives these days?

Town of Nipigon + Rainbow Falls Provincial Park

Cochrane, Ontario near by :)

On the road early again today with Nipigon, ON in our sights. We come upon this sign to Cochrane...the other Cochrane in Ontario. We've heard of it in the past and here we are a mere 625 kms away. We'll be heading south so we won't actually visit our sister town. 

 

Nipigon emergency clinic

Chris has been struggling with an ache in his mouth but can't really tell which tooth is bugging him. We head straight to the one dentist in the Town of Nipigon only to find a big For Sale sign on the door. We stop by a pharmacist to see what they think and they suggest we head to the near-by emergency clinic and see a doctor. Well, it turns out to be a great solution. The doctor diagnoses an abscess and steps to take going forward. At least now we know what we are dealing with :)

Zechners Food Market mural

Next we head to the local grocery store in town as we are getting low on things and will be a bit remote for the next 4 days until we reach Sault Ste Marie. Zechners Food Market was established in 1937 and is still locally owned and operated. For a small town it's a great store with good selection. 

Paddle-to-the-Sea

Everyone has heard of or read the kids book "Paddle to the Sea" by Holling Clancy? We both remember the story but had no idea the story began in Nipigon. In the story a young indigenous boy carves a wooden figure of a man in a canoe. He sets Paddle free on the snow and when the spring melt happens, Paddle begins his journey from Lake Nipigon to the Atlantic ocean. The town has embraced the story and has a park with a statue of Paddle in it. 

Nipigon was also in our sights as we want to kayak the Nipigon Narrows, which are part of the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation area. The Nipigon River is the largest tributary of Lake Superior. Fun Fact: Lake Superior is the largest fresh water body of water in the world by surface area. It is the third largest volume wise. 

The Nipigon Bridge - still smoky today

As we get out on the river, we see The Nipigon River Bridge. That was on our list to see so this is a different vantage point to see the magnificent structure. It reminds us of bridges in Spain, built with cables.

Chris trolling his fishing line.

The river is almost impossible to paddle upstream against. We give it several tries and end up aborting and let ourselves be carried back downstream. Eventually we head through a narrow gap and end up in a side bay where Chris pulls out his fishing rod. 

Closest we get to the bridge :)

We enter the river again farther upstream via a narrow under pass. This has us much closer to the bridge but as soon as we hit the channel we are rapidly pushed down stream once again. 

Driving over the Nipigon River Bridge

On our way out of Nipigon, we cross the Nipigon River Bridge we were trying to kayak up to. Another view of it before it's in our rear view mirror.

Good diesel price $1.35/liter

Leaving Nipigon we stop for diesel at a First Nations gas station. We were told it will be the cheapest fuel until Sault St. Marie. We like these prices better than the $1.65/liter ahead we see on our GasBuddy app. 

Lake Superior in the smoke

Time to get underway to Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, our stop for the next two nights. It is a smoky evening so the views of Lake Superior are muted. 

Our home for 2 nights