Lake Superior - Westboound

It was the end of August as we continued our westward journey along the north shore of Lake Superior. Hailey was out in the endless sandbox whenever she got the chance.  There are a lot of nice beach areas along the way to test the waters.

 

One might think that the park below was closed - like the sign says.  But no, it is simply another misleading sign on an open gate to an open park!

 

 Without thinking, I waved at this OPP officer running radar on the highway as I pulled out of my overnight camp spot along the Michipicoten river, and took this picture - with my handheld DEVICE!  Good thing he didn't arrest me ;-)

Couldn't resist stopping along the shore of Superior near Rossport for another quick dip, and to enjoy the scenery.

But for the night we needed a bit more seclusion, so we ended up in this huge flat area along the railroad tracks.  Right across the track was the lake shore and of course we had that all to ourselves.  The trains came by at all hours, but it was not that disruptive, and Hailey had a large hunting area to keep her happy.  We ended up spending two nights there - and enjoyed the aerial flying displays from some local falcons and eagles.

There is a pretty cool bridge in Nipigon, so we had to get airborne for a better look.

 

 

Headed for Manitoba and Saskatchewan next!

Lake Superior - the North Shore

 

Better start off this post with a few pics from the past.  Back when we were on the Northumberland Strait. This is the same spot, previously blogged about, but from a different perspective!

We woke up in the morning to the sound of some strange sea gulls.  Well, it turns out that it was actually a herd, pod, group, pack, of sea mammals!  Locals called them seals, and said it was an unusual occurrence.  I think they could be sea lions, but who knows?  They were just offshore, lounging on some submerged sandbars.  Didn't want to get too close and scare them ...

 

Just north of Sault Ste Marie, we came across this beautiful beach on the eastern end of Lake Superior

 

  

Later, we found an overnight camp spot along the Michipicoten river, just outside of Wawa, On.

Departing in the morning, an OPP officer was running radar at the entrance.  Luckily, I was not arrested for using a hand-held device to take his photograph!   I guess he knew that his Dodge Charger was no match for the big GMC!

At White Lake Provincial Park, the park was clearly closed, right?  

 

No, of course not!  If the sign is at 90* from you, on an open gate, you can clearly disregard it, right?  Misleading signs drive me crazy, if you haven't already noticed!

 

Just outside of Rossport, we stopped at a nice roadside pulloff, and managed a quick swim in the waters of Superior.  (Taking advantage of every opportunity, as any swim could be the last one of the year!)

 

 

Though not signed for 'no camping', it might have been implied, or covered by some obscure rules, and was right beside the highway, so it was decided not to spend the night there :-(

 

 Instead, we found this way more obscure spot, right beside the CPR rail line, but also right on the lakeshore - and managed yet another dip in the lake.  It was so nice - if you don't mind mile-long trains rumbling by in the night - that we spent a second night here!  The price was right.

There is a way-cool bridge at Nipigon, so we just had to take a closer look! 

Surprisingly, the blog is almost up to date!  Stay tuned ...

New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario. 'Alberta Bound'

After a great visit with friends on PEI, and a visit to the Temple of Tom (my name), at Skinners Pond, the home of Stompin Tom Connors, we headed off island.  If you read my blog comments from the last post, you would see that one of the readers actually picked up Tom and his guitar while he was hitchhiking in Ontario around 1959, still far from the fame of his future!

We headed up the east coast of New Brunswick, going through such places as Shediac, Bouctouche, Richibucto, and Kouchibouguac!  The bridge at Miramichi was a high one.

 Many areas of the maritimes they have some sort of box at the end of their driveways to hold the garbage for pickup.  Some of them are quite fancy, and this design seems to be very popular for some reason.  Other versions incorporate old tanks, barrels and a variety of wooden types.

In many parts of these provinces, there are many, many signs indicating places where ATVs and snowmobile trails cross major highways.  Strangely, although the atvs have handlebars, the snowmobiles don't!  Perhaps they now have self driving snow machines?  Sounds too cold for me - let's head for Arizona!

Sugarloaf mountain and provincial park near Campbellton provided some scenic relief from the generally flatter terrain we'd recently seen.They even have a downhill ski area.

After Campbellton, it was back into Quebec.  It was a relatively small border crossing, but I could see there was a check-point for those entering New Brunswick there, but I'm not sure it it was still in operation.

 

This time, instead of crossing the St Lawrence river at Quebec City and following the north shore, we stayed on the Trans Canada and cruised right through Montreal without stopping.  We lucked out and were going through on a Sunday, so that may have thinned the traffic somewhat.

As usual, there were a lot of road construction delays, but some people were making the best of it ;-)

 

While off highway looking for a suitable camp spot, we came across this cute cat crossing sign!

Other interesting signs in Quebec ...

And, while many Quebec road signs use the usual symbols, these text signs are in French only!  You just hope that it is a covid safety sign, not one advising that the bridge is out, and continuing further will plunge you into the ocean - or something!

After crossing back into Ontario, west of Ottawa, we made sure to visit the gas station on the reserve with the much cheaper prices.  And, of course the other signs, too!

From there, it was westbound again, the route taking us through the southern edge of Algonquin Park.

At one point along the route through the park, we turned off at a sign for a boat launch, thinking it might be a quiet spot to let Hailey out for a bit.  It was quite a shock to find a huge parking lot, almost full, on a Monday no less!  I guess it must be a major starting point for some of the many canoe routes in the park.

It looks like we are generally headed for home in Alberta :-(  But our speed will depend on the weather, and the number of diversions we encounter along the way.  The grass at home hasn't seen a mower since mid-July, so what difference will a week or two make now :-).