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| Campsite #337-fortunately, only the entrance turned into a small 'lake', but the campsite was dry! |
So, I'm again in Arrowhead Provincial Park! I was lucky to get campsite #337—it was spacious, private and quiet. I hardly saw any mosquitoes. About 20 meters behind the campsite there was a cliff, leading to an oxbow lake, once part of the Big East River (since it is a meandering river, there are plenty of such oxbow lakes everywhere).
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| The site was spacious and private |
Besides, I befriended a very amiable chipmunk, quite tame and (as always) hungry. In no time it was literally jumping all over me, looking for food. Some people do not like those creatures, but I have always enjoyed their company, even if it is a little bit too annoying. Judging upon huge puddles here and there, it must have rained a lot before my arrival, yet I did not see any mushrooms-another mystery!
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| Campsite #254, where we camped in 2020. I'm so glad it did not rain then! |
During my stay, it poured overnight. My Eureka tent once again proved to be totally waterproof. A huge puddle formed in front of my campsite and I had to use a different path to leave the campsite. Yet it was nothing in comparison to what happened on campsite number 254, on which Guy and I had camped last year: at least half of it got flooded, including the areas where our tents had been! I also visited campsites #223 and 224, where I had stayed in 2001, 2002 and 2006. Unfortunately, they were gone, or rather converted into “Roofed Accommodation”--probably the park could earn more money by renting them vs. campsites! Well, some years ago Bon Echo Provincial Park also erected log houses on former group campsites.
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| Tom Thomson monument in Huntsville, Ontario |
I also visited the nearby city of Huntsville a couple of times—Patrizia, who drove a Tesla, was happy to discover there was a Tesla charging station just 10 minutes from the park, at the Metro's parking lot—we hardly finished shopping when her car was charged! In the evening we attended mass in town.
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| One of the murals in Huntsville, Ontario |
I was quite impressed the sizable reproductions of paintings by the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson, placed on buildings all over Huntsville. Whoever had this idea should certainly be applauded and congratulated! This free and open-air gallery was an excellent way to show off and promote the amazing artwork of Canada’s famous artists, who had been able to depict the Canadian scenery uniquely. Even those not interested in art or visiting museums/galleries had no choice but to become familiar with the paintings! In addition, I loved the Tom Thomson statue, unveiled in 2005, which also featured one of his most famous paintings, “The West Wind”.
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| One of the murals in Huntsville, Ontario |
In 2002, while camping in Arrowhead Park, I had driven a lot on often narrow and remote roads, exploring the area. One such trip took me to the town of Novar, just north of the park, and then, while driving on Maws Hill Road, I saw a farm and a canoe-making shop, Northland Canoes (67 Maws Hill, Novar, ON P0A 1R0)—and a minute later I met Mr. Albert Maw, the canoe maker! I spent a while talking to him about canoes and canoe making—I had always been fascinated by canoes made of wood, and admired those able to make such canoes! Mr. Maw said that in the past he had made well over 100 canoes per year.
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| Mr. Albert Maw's canoe workshop |
During my next visit to the park, in 2006, I again visited Mr. Maw. While chatting with him, his neighbor, Mr. N. arrived. He lived several kilometers from Mr. Maw—a private, narrow road in the forest led to his home. He told me that he had retired from his job in Toronto and decided to move here along with his wife. As the road was impassable in the winter, he was using a special 6-wheel vehicle to reach “the civilization”. Since I told him that I liked foraging wild mushrooms, he invited me to go mushroom hunting on his property and I even found some edible fungi.
I decided to visit Mr. Maw again in 2021—as well as pay a visit to Mr. N. and finally see his home. After passing by Mr. Maw's farm, I continued driving on the rather rough road and finally saw a driveway leading to his property. After a minute or so I arrived at his house, surrounded by the forest, and facing a very picturesque lake. A dog started to bark and soon a lady came out of the house. I quickly explained the reason for my unexpected visit. She was the wife of Mr. N.—or rather his widow—regrettably, her husband had passed away of cancer in 2014. We talked for a while—I told her that I would love to live like that, surrounded by wilderness and animals (she said that sometimes black bears visited her property). Many people say that they would like to leave the city and move to more remote locations, but very few of them do so—well, Mr. and Mrs. N. had realized their dreams! Only one other individual was living along the lake, farther up the road—and since he plowed the snow in the winter, she sold the 6-wheel vehicle and was able to just drive in the winter.
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| Narrow road in the forest |
Afterward, I drove back, stopped at Mr. Maw's farm and walked to his home. I was glad that despite some unfortunate predicaments and his age (86 years old!), he was still very active and in good health. Not only was he still making canoes, but also running a small farm and even selling eggs. He showed me HUGE onions he grew in his garden! He told me about his family from Scotland that had originally settled here—he was born in this very house, his property had 1000 acres and his sons were logging some of the trees. I wish he could write a brief history of his family and his life, I am sure it would be quite intriguing!
As always, I brought several books with me to read. “The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle that Set Them Free” by Hector Tobar gave a very detailed account of the mining accident in Chile, quite an enjoyable reading. Then I read a book that I had bought quite a long ago, “Es Cuba. Life and Love on an Illegal Island” by Lea Aschkenas. Since I had been to Cuba 15 times, I found this book quite absorbing and very relevant to my own experiences in this country. By the way, the expression, “Es Cuba” is quite used when referring to the way things are in Cuba: if your hotel room has no hot or cold water, if the food is somehow substandard, if the hotel restaurant runs out of beer, wine or whiskey, or is the bus is late or never arrives—instead of wondering why it happened and complaining, just say, “Es Cuba”—it's Cuba, meaning that it's normal that things never work the way they're expected to work!
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| Tom Thomson's Mural in Huntsville, ON |
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