Rewind day 6: Driving around Lake Superior always takes longer than you think it will

We woke up at a campground in Northeastern Ontario and had breakfast.

Then we headed on to Thunder Bay.

We made a quick stop at the Terry Fox Memorial just outside of town.

Then we drove around Lake Superior. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world, by surface area – which is all that matters when you have to drive around it.

We made good time getting to Wawa.

But we had left too late. So we had to drive through Lake Superior Provincial Park in the dark, with mist and big clumps of fog rolling in.

Luckily, we had all that Rocky Mountain forest fire driving experience, so there was that.

We arrived at the next park much later than we had hoped, set up our tent, and fell asleep in our clothes.

Some stats:

Eagles: 3
Moose: 1
Total distance: 10 500

Day 4: Wheat Kings and pretty things

It’s hard to make good time when you are driving behind a line painting truck.

But that’s the middle of the story.

We woke up at Sandbar Lake Provincial Park in Northwestern Ontario. It was beautiful and the bugs and frogs had mostly disappeared.

We packed up our tent and went down to the beach where we hunted for seashells. There was a flock of American Black ducks in the middle of the lake.

Then we set off for Manitoba. After a while, the treeline switched from Boreal forest to Manitoba woodlands. When we passed the 7-11, we knew we were close. But then, we got stuck behind a line-painting truck on the single-lane highway.

We crossed the provincial border and stopped by Fort Whyte Alive! in Winnipeg to see their herd of bison. They also had an outdoor prairie dog coterie. And though not part of the official display, we also found a family of Canada geese.

Outside of Winnipeg, a fawn ran out in front of our car, but luckily we missed it and it missed us. Phew!

And we chased the sunset in under a big prairie sky.

Some stats:

Eagle: 1
Raven: 1
Flock of black ducks: 1
Lakeside shells: a handful
Near-deer collision: 1
Herd of bison: 1
Prairie dogs: 1 coterie
Salamander: 1
Baby Canadian geese: 1 gaggle
Total distance: 2759

Day 3: Muskeg, a beaver crossing the road, and a plague of frogs

The black flies of Northern Ontario will eat you through your jeans.

But that’s the end of day 3, let’s start this story at the beginning.

We woke up at Pancake Bay Provincial Park, which is spectacular!

First, breakfast.

Then swimming in Lake Superior. It was cold, but Pacific Ocean cold, not glacier stream cold. My kids had never been to a real beach before and they loved it.

Then we set off for the Canadian Shield.

We made our last major stop at Wawa, or as their signage says, “Wawa Wow!”

We had a long way to drive and we needed to make good time. But as soon as we hit the muskeg we hit a torrential downpour, then fog, then a beaver crossing the road. There were some delays.

We eventually got past Thunder Bay, then on to Ignace and the Sandbar Lake Provincial Park.

This park was pretty and very quiet. We set up the tent about 10 m from the lake in the drizzle.

The thing about camping by wetlands in the Boreal forest after a rainstorm is that the rain is followed by a plague of frogs. There were two types, the regular brown kind, and spring peeper tree frogs. They were everywhere.

There was one casualty, but I’ve refrained from posting photos until the next of kin are notified.