CAR CAMPING TRIP TO KILLBEAR, KILLARNEY AND MASSEY PROVINCIAL PARKS AND PHILIP EDWARD ISLAND, SEPTEMBER 7-27, 2017

Blog in Polish/w języku polskim: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2018/08/wycieczka-samochodowo-kepmpngowa-parki.html
More photos from this trip: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/albums/72157699705142605

Our trip in Ontario

After coming back 5 days ago from our camping trip in the USA and Ontario (http://ontario-nature.blogspot.com/2018/07/car-camping-trip-across-minnesota.html), we were again ready for another autumn adventure, just in Ontario—both of us drove separately and of course, we took the canoe with us. We had a reservation coming up in Killarney Park in several days and decided to spend this time in Grundy Lake Provincial Park. We left Mississauga early in the morning and our first stop was Parry Sound—we visited our favorite bookstore, “Bearly Used Books”. In the bookstore the radio was on and while Catherine was listening to the weather forecast, it mentioned Killbear Provincial Park—what an excellent idea, we had completely forgotten about this park! After a quick visit to No Frills & Heart Store, we had a traditional lunch under the railway trestle over the Seguin River and proceeded to Killbear. The park employee gave us a list of vacant campsites and we loved one of them, number 1042, it was gorgeous, overlooking the beach and rocks and allowing us to admire spectacular sunsets from our campsites. For some reasons it looked very familiar to me… As Catherine was backing up from the site’s parking, the van’s tailpipe got stuck in the gravel… and then I had the déjà vu moment: in 2014 we had spent one night at this park, camping on a nearby campsite number 1139 (just over the rocky hill from #1042)—but we had also checked out this campsite then and as Catherine had been backing up, exactly the same thing had taken place—her tailpipe had gotten stuck in the gravel!

We drove as fast as we could to the park office, paid for the campsite and soon I was setting up the tent. Usually I can easily do it by myself, but because of strong (and cool) wind, I had to ask Catherine to help me—as well as used the guy lines attached to the fly.

The view from our campsite. Amazing!

This time I brought with me a very absorbing book by Michael Weisskopf “Blood Brothers. Among the Soldiers of Ward 54”. The author, a senior correspondent for Time magazine and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, lost his hand while riding through Bagdad in the back of a U.S. s Army Humvee in 2003. He was sent for treatment to Ward 57 at Walter Reed Medical Center, the wing of the armed forces hospital reserved for amputees, where he met a lot of soldiers who had lost limbs in the war. It was a very powerful book, showing the usually unknown side of any war. Being wounded is one thing—but the recovery process, in many cases, was very long, torturous, painful and frustrating. It certainly presented that part of war we hardly ever think about. At 300 pages, it took me just a few nights to finish the whole book. It was very poignant and emotional.

We stayed at this park for 3 days (until Sunday) and every day went for a hike (a hiking path paralleled the road), saw plenty of deer, I took photographs of interesting-looking mushrooms as well as we spoke with a couple who had just purchased a new small silver camper. The Visitor Center was very nice, too—we chatted with a young employee for a while and she told us that in previous years the park had had plenty of issues with black bears: some had managed to break into locked cars (certainly without using the car keys!) and one bear alone had supposedly been responsible for over 20 such break-ins—it had to be euthanized and now we could see it on display in the Visitor’s Center. Every afternoon we admired sunsets from our campsite and later had a campfire. The campground filled up on Friday, but it was still quiet.

On Saturday we drove back to Parry Sound to do shopping at No Frills and Hart Store, as well as went again the “Bearly Used Books” bookstore, where we spent at least one hour. Catherine bough several autobiographies of Canadian comedy actors and audio disks to listen to on her drive back to the U.S.A. I spotted “The Secret Speech” by Tom Rob Smith, the author of “Child 44” and immediately bought it. Interestingly, but it was in Parry Sound where I had purchased “Child 44” in 2014 and devoured it while we were camping on Franking Island! This was the second part of the trilogy. Although probably not as good as the first one, I kept reading it every night while camping in Killarney and on Philip Edward Island. I also bought Leon Uris’ “Mila 18” and “Holocaust Journey. Travelling in Search of the Past” by Martin Gilbert—both books depicted many places which I knew or was familiar with. We talked to the bookstore’s owner for a while, who told us a lot of fascinating things about Parry Sound and her bookstore. I also spotted a few books authored by Terry Boyle (whom I had met twice, last time at “Gilly’s Restaurant” after the Franklin Island canoeing trip in 2015) and found out that he had passed away on July 11, 2016. He was just 63 years old. So sad-I loved his books about Ontario!

Parry Sound. Our traditional site, under the trestle, where we always have our lunch

We also checked out the abandoned hospital in Parry Sound (a new one had been built since) and a train station. It was closed—nowadays there were just several trains stopping there, going to Toronto and Sudbury.

Catherine just made a new friend, "The Hungry Bear"!

On Sunday, September 10, 2017, we left our splendid campsite at Killbear and drove up north on highway 400 to the Hungry Bear Restaurant, one of our de rigueur stops whenever we were in the area. It was still accessible from the highway, but there was major road construction taking place and when the two-lane road is turned into a freeway, there would be an off-ramp from the freeway leading to the restaurant and the Trading Post. I sincerely hoped that they would still remain in business for many decades!

Our campsite between Lake Carlyle and Terry Lake

Eventually we arrived at Killarney Park’s George Office. Even though we had a reservation, there was a big screw-up with the bill, they kept overcharging us and could not figure out how much we should pay (we had 2 vehicles), but at the end we left the office quite satisfied. I think that all provincial parks should simplify the reservation system so that we did not have to spend so much time lining up in the office—after all, in our case the whole reservation had already been made online months ago.

Our 'canoe parking'

It was very difficult to reserve a site in this park and of course, I had done it a few months prior. Interior camping does not allow to reserve a particular campsite—there were a number of campsites on each lake and in our case, we just booked a campsite on Carlyle & Terry Lake—once we came to the park, we could stay on any campsite that was not occupied. It was our fourth visit to this particular area and we knew which campsite we wanted (altogether, there were a total of 6 campsites). Luckily, all the campsites were vacant, so we got site #55. It was very nice, offering the view of both lakes (Carlyle and Terry) and there was a small waterfall, but whereas those camping on the opposite campsite could see (and especially hear) it, we could not. The only drawback was the very precipitous hill leading up to the campsite. We had to carefully attach the canoe to the rocks & roots and then carry all our equipment up the rugged ridge. I felt ‘at home’ and in no time the tent was up and ready for our habitation and Catherine set up a great kitchen, ready for our gourmet meals!

View from our campsite-from time to time we saw canoes

During our stay we had an excellent weather—it was sunny, not one drop of rain, warm and we did not see too many campers on the lake. Once we talked to an Irish paddler who had sprained her leg and was unable to follow her group on a hiking sally. From the outset Catherine refused to hang the food, but I insisted and after several attempts succeeded in throwing the rope over the branch. Although the food hanging area was relatively close to our tent and fire pit, it was certainly better than just leaving the barrel with food on the ground. We never saw any bears anyway, although twice we heard a very noisy thump or crash—Catherine thought it might have been a bear, but since no other noises followed, we assumed that perhaps a tree or a branch fell to the ground.

Some mornings were very foggy and I was glad Catherine woke me up; I took a lot of lovely photographs. In the evening we paddled towards Johnnie Lake, through a narrow channel, where beavers had made a dam (yet it was not very sturdy and we did not have to lift over the canoe) and we also saw a couple of beaver lodges.

Almost daily we paddled from our campsite to the parking lot (about 30 minutes) and drove to the town of Killarney, where we had fish & chips in the Herbert Fisheries Restaurant. It looked so differently now, as the small school bus (which had become almost a symbol of Killarney) had been gone and a new building had been erected. The food was good, but the décor in the new place was so-so… I think that more old, historical photographs from the area and fishing artifacts would make the place much more original—and it would not take a lot of money. In any case, each time we consumed the food outside, sitting on the dock. We also went to the LCBO store (which sold liquor and beer) and Pittfield’s (the only grocery store in town).

One evening we walked to the Killarney Mountain Lodge, which had just undergone very major & expensive renovations. We ran into Mr. Kelly McAree, General Manager, a very nice, no-nonsense man, with many years of experience in the hospitality industry. Considering that he must have constantly dealt with employees and guests, he certainly had to possess very exceptional qualities to successfully run such a place. He immediately offered to show us the whole property. He even took us to the chalet which used to be the residence of the original owner/builder and his family. The view from the Chalets was breathtaking and they offered very luxurious, yet still rustic experience.

From the hotel’s balcony we spotted a van towing a kayak. He told us it belonged to Traci Lynn Martin (http://www.justaroundthepointe.com/), a brave and extremely adventurous Missouri woman, who had embarked on an 8,600-mile Great Lakes odyssey in March, 2017, hoping to complete it in 2017. According to the “Detroit News”, she stopped her journey in late 2017 because of the rigors of wintry weather on Lake Ontario. Still, she paddled 3,582 miles from March and completed lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan. On October 15, 2017 she became the first person to circumnavigate the three lakes in one calendar year. She said she would try again in 2019. What a spirit!

The next night we went to Killarney Mountain Lodge and had a tasty dinner, sitting outside on the porch.

We also drove to the park and had a hot shower (what a luxury!). Then we did the 4 km Cranberry Bog Trail, which was very picturesque, meandering among bogs, wetlands, marshes and lakes. At one point we had to hike up and then down a very steep, rocky hill. We saw plenty of pretty looking mushrooms. I was quite sure I saw the most deadly mushroom, the Amanita Ocreata, a.k.a. the death angel, destroying angel or angel of death. Once eaten, it causes only a mild gastrointestinal and include abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting. They go away after 2–3 days, but all the while the damage to the internal organs us is taking place during this time, leading to a coma, liver & kidney failure, and eventually death. While hiking, we saw the La Cloche Silhouette Trail—there was a sign warning that once you started it, you had to walk for the next 78 km. Even usually courageous Catherine was not interested in following this trail…

We spotted this snapping turtle on the main road as it was trying to cross it. I made a U-turn and helped it safely get to its destination

On two occasions, when we were coming back to the Carlyle Lake access point parking from the town of Killarney, we saw two ladies, who were setting up their cameras on tripods in order to take photographs of the Northern Lights. They were quite surprised that we were going to paddle to our campsite in total darkness! While canoeing back to our campsite, we told the campers staying on campsite #56 about this phenomenon. However, I believe no aurora became visible that night—well, it is a hit or miss.

The new Herbert Fisheries Restaurant in Killarney

September 16/17, 2017 (Saturday/Sunday) was our last night at Killarney. We did want to extend our stay and each day went to the park office, inquiring if any campsites on Carlyle/Terry Lakes had become vacant, but none had, all had been solidly booked-up. On Saturday we left for the town of Killarney late afternoon—there was a lone camper on the site across from ours. When we returned to the Carlyle access point, it was about 9:45 p.m. and we headed to our campsite in total darkness. Although the route was easy and straightforward, as we were approaching the location of the campsite, we had to use my powerful 1,000 lumen flashlight to pinpoint our campsite—we had forgotten to attach a blinking light to a tree, which we usually did and it was always a great idea.

When we were disembarking from the canoe (which was tricky, as the rocks were slippery and it was dark) and unloading our bags, suddenly Catherine gave a shirking, very loud cry, as she spotted one or two water snakes, perfectly visible in the flashlights’ shining light, swimming near the canoe—and she was quite certain that at any moment they would try to jump into the canoe and attack her! I did not much care about the snakes, so I slowly lifted the canoe and pulled it up the sloping, rugged ridge and then tied it to the roots and rocks. Just seconds later I was startled by a very thunderous noise (considering it was so still and quiet around, it sounded absolutely deafening). The canoe simply slid down the ridge, ended up in the water and was slowly, but surely, floating away! It turned out that in the darkness I had not properly attached the rope to the canoe. We had to make a very quick decision. Catherine instantaneously took the initiative, unwaveringly stating,

“I’m not going into the water, no way!”

What a mess! Fortunately, Catherine is responsible for the kitchen

Fortunately, we still had the rope and a few powerful flashlights & headlights. Besides, long ago we had attached reflective stickers on the canoe, so even though it was drifting farther and farther away, we could still see it. I was a little reluctant to swim in total darkness and thought about wearing a lifejacket, but it was impossible: we always left lifejackets in the canoe, so I did not have one—but before I could even contemplate this predicament any further, I took my clothes off and got immersed in the water (forgetting about the water snakes and the legendary Killarney lake monster, if there was one). My headlight shining bright, the rope in one hand, I commenced swimming towards the canoe as Catherine kept shining the 1,000 lumen flashlight, using only 1/3 of its maximum output. I did not know how long it took me to reach the canoe, but once I did, I fastened the rope to the canoe (this time, correctly!) and swam back, pulling the canoe behind. Although the water was quite cool, it was warm outside. Within 10 minutes I was dry, dressed up and sitting near the warm campfire! I felt sorry for the camper at the campsite vis-à-vis ours… he must have thought of us as some total neophytes, with no canoe & camping skills and no outdoors etiquette!

The next several nights we were planning to spend on Philip Edward Island, which still constituted Crown Land. However, first we had to buy from the park office two vehicle stickers to park my car and her van at the Chikanishing access point. There was another major screw-up in the park office and it took us a while to finally make the proper payment.

At 4:00 p.m. we paddled on the Chikanishing creek, but once we reached its mouth, we saw it was windy and the water was relatively rough. Although we were going to set up our tent on the western tip of the island (South Point Island), we still had to paddle across the open water, some 700-800 meters. I kept trying, but each time we were on the open water, we felt the somewhat powerful waves. I still had fresh memories of our paddling the same stretch of the water, when the waves had been so big that from time to time the water had been flowing into the canoe.

We stopped near the mouth of the creek and even considered camping there, not sure if it was the park’s land or Crown Land (later I determined it was the park’s), but I did not like that spot. I pulled out my marine radio and listened to the most recent marine weather forecast—which fortunately said that the wind would subside in the late afternoon! So we waited for a while and in less than one hour ventured out again. I kept the canoe perpendicular to the waves, paddling not towards the island, but towards the open water of Georgian Bay, since the waves were coming from that direction. Eventually we made a sharp left turn, paddled very fast and entered a small narrows between South Point Island and some rocks. After exploring the area, we disembarked on the rocky shore and decided to stay in that pristine spot. On the other side was a family of 2 adults & 2 girls, with 2 golden labs, which came over to our side to say ‘hi’. They were very quiet and we hardly noticed them.

The view was spectacular—whenever I am paddling in that area, I just love the scenery! We set up the tent, but did not have the fire that night. We could admire blinking lighthouses and buoys in front of us. The family left the next day and we wandered at their former campsite and explored the island. We had stayed on a ‘campsite’ located just 50 or so meters in 2012, but this spot was much better. There were plenty of fire pits here and there, as well as broken layers of rocks, indicating that somebody had had a fire there long time ago. We chose one of the existing fire pits because it was large and there was also a primitive table.

The first morning, at about 4:00 a.m., we were awakened by some voices. We looked out the tent and saw a flotilla of canoes, moving towards the parking lot. Each canoe had a glow stick attached and it looked marvelously from our campsite! Of course, the canoers must have left very early to avoid potential winds and waves, which could have made their return journey impossible.

We were planning to stay longer, but the next morning (Tuesday) the weather was iffy—it did not rain, but the sky was cloudy and eventually it did rain a little. I was not concerned about the rain, but rather about the rocks becoming slippery and immediately we decided to pack up and paddle back. At least there was no wind, so we did not have to worry about the non-existent waves.

We went to Herbert Fisheries in Killarney for chips & fish and drove to Point Grondine Park. We had found out about this new park from a brochure, located on Native Land and run by First Nations, and called the number given in the brochure, but there was a recording directing us to their… website! Well, considering that there was no cell coverage in most of the park, it would have been quite difficult to follow their instructions! There was a map and self-serve payment station. We talked to a young guy with a big dog who was about to embark on a long hike—he had encountered problems while trying to make the payment, the machine did not want to accept his money and when we changed some bills for him, he was finally able to pay. There was a guest book and according to recent entries, some tourists, unable to make the payment, left the park. I hope that the management will eliminate those issues which discouraged many potential visitors. I think that there are only hiking trails and a water trail, which includes a 3 km portage—or the ‘portage-less’ loop around Philip Edward Island. Nevertheless, I though it was a great idea to have established the park and I sincerely hope that next year all the glitches would be resolved.

In Chutes Provincial Park, we got the same campsite we had stayed on just one month ago!

We drove to Sudbury, where Catherine went to the TD Bank regarding a money order: unfortunately, she had experienced so many problems with this bank and spent so much time on the phone that the quality of her vacations certainly suffered. And it was a clear fault of a TD Bank employee in Mississauga, who did not enter just one number on the money transfer!

There were plenty of falls and rapids in the park

We also went to Independent (a big grocery store), where we bought plenty of food items bearing the sign of quality (i.e., a pink sticker staying “50% OFF”). Then we drove to Massey, to Chutes Provincial Park—yes, the same park we had camped at just over 2 weeks ago and we even got the same campsite! The park was quite empty—very few people expected that the summer was going to start a couple of months later! Later, we spoke to a park employee, Amanda, who grew up in Massey.

We liked sitting at this scenic campsite, which was just vis-a-vis our

Catherine often went over to the other campsite, which was covered with falling leaves, to have her coffee, listen to the radio or just listen to the nearby falls and meditate. One day we met a young Thai lady with a 13 week old miniature dog (Chow/Australian Sheep Herder), she got it from a breeder and it was ADORABLE! I loved stroking it—its fur so soft! She caught a salmon in the river and wrapped it up to take home. Then her husband came and we chatted with him too. A few days later we again ran into them on the beach, talked to her husband’s father from Sudbury (he was wearing a pink ‘prison suit’’), quite an interesting chap in his 80s.

And this was another spot where we loved sitting, watching the falls and listening to sound of the water

My last book that I started reading at Chutes was “Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean” by Alex von Tunzelmann, which I had picked from a second-hand book store in Toronto. I immediately found the book totally fascinating and captivating—after all, I had been going to Cuba for many years and even in my teens I had been interested in that region and its politics. The book was about the Caribbean (Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic) and its leaders (Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Rafael Trujillo and François "Papa Doc") during the presidencies of Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. The superpowers thought they could use those countries as puppets during the cold war, but what neither bargained on was that their puppets would come to life. I could not put this book down, it was remarkable! By the way, I thought that the author was an older, distinguished looking gentleman, coming from an aristocratic German family. Nothing could be further from the truth: Alex von Tunzelmann was actually a British, Oxford-educated woman historian, born in 1977. And she wrote this exceptional book when she was just 34 years old!

On Sunday, as we were leaving the LCBO store in Massey, we saw about 10 Mennonite horse-drawn carriages on the road leading towards the park. There were plenty of Mennonites in the area—some were even selling home-made pastries at the corner of highways 17 & 553—and on the other corner there was a… how can I call it… a second-hand store with thousands of items, including furniture. The Home Hardware store had a special parking designed for the horse-drawn buggies!

We again walked part of the Twin Bridge trail. The weather, as I said before, gradually kept becoming summer-like, it was sunny and humid and the mercury in Sudbury hit a record of +35C. Several times we drove to Espanola and once Catherine went to the TD Bank there, sat with a consultant, trying to setup cross-border account—for some inexplicable reasons it was NOT possible!

Paddling on the Spanish River in Massey, ON

While in Chutes, we did a number of canoeing trips—it was a great base for paddling on lakes in the vicinity. We drove to Espanola, took Panache Lake Road and parked near the bridge. First we paddled on the Darkies Creek, which soon merged with the Spanish River. It was a lovely, quiet paddle; we did not see any other people around. The ridges along the shores were sandy. From afar we saw the Domtar Paper Mill in Espanola. We still managed to go to Hart, Independent, Canadian Tire and Dollarama for more deals.

Very picturesque road to Willisville

On Thursday we drove to Espanola, then took road number 6 (leading to Manitoulin Island) and turned left, to a small settlement of Willisville. By the way, the road was quite steep, but it was also very scenic and offered awesome views of the area. Once I reached the town, I kept driving on what I though was a regular road, but when that “road” became very narrow and rough, I realized that I was driving on the abandoned railway! So, I had to back up and finally reached Bearskin Resort.

Old train station in Willisville. By permission. Source: http://www.willisville.ca 

Willisville was settled over 100 years ago and at that time the Algoma Eastern Railway was opened from Sudbury to Little Current (on Manitoulin Island). Passenger service to Little Current ended by 1963 and the line itself beyond Espanola went into disuse and abandoned. Nowadays, much of the former right-of-way remains visible and is used in certain areas as a road or path—we spotted a few motorcyclists using it. Many Group of Seven members painted in the area.

The Willis family, from whom the town derives its name. By permission. Source: http://www.willisville.ca 

We parked at Bearskin Lodge & Outfitters and talked for a while with Darcy, who regaled us with many interesting stories from the area and told us that Franklin Carmichael’s (one of the Group of Seven’s members) cabin was on the lake nearby. The Lodge was situated on both sides of the narrows and a small ferry transported tourists to their cabins on the other side of the narrows. It cost us $5 to park the car.

Canoeing near Willisville

We paddled on Frood Lake—there were a lot of rolling, white quartz mountains. Then we paddled on the lake north Bearskin Lodge, reaching a small channel leading to Charloton Lake. There were lots of islands with nice cottages, otherwise known as “camps” up north here. The other day we paddled along the shores of Frood Lake towards the Lawson Quarry, there we saw the former right-of way of the Algoma Eastern Railway. We reached the dam—there were some small, abandoned buildings—and walked a little. I spotted a nice, albeit abandoned and dilapidated house—somebody had sprayed on the door, “Come In”, so we did. It must have been occupied not long ago, but now was deserted and covered with graffiti. I wonder why nobody had bought it—after all, there was a road leading to highway 6. Near the house I walked for a while on the former railway path and there were still some decayed railway ties deep in the ground.

Abandoned house near highway 6

We also drove to Espanola and then to Widgawa Lodge & Outfitters, where were wanted to put in the canoe, but it turned out that the lady charged $20 for parking (vs. $5 at Bearskin Lodge) and there was no accessible dock—we had to carry the canoe over a hill. Besides, I realized that we could reach exactly the same lakes from Bearskin Lodge, so we went there again.

La Cloche Provincial Park

Another day we took La Cloche Lake Road to the very end (upon the park warden’s suggestion) and reached La Cloche Lake—part of this lake was crown land, park a provincial park, part belonged to Sagamok Indian Reserve. It was very hot and sunny and it was very difficult to paddle on the open water, so we headed towards a rocky clearing with a rock table. There was a shady spot where we spent a few hours reading, drinking and then went for an invigorating swim.

Our last paddle was in Massey on the Spanish River, we put in near the old bridge (just the abutments remained). We were told that it used to be a very narrow bridge and had been abandoned decades ago, when the new bridge was built. We turned left into the Sables-Spanish River and paddled to the very end—i.e., three bridges—a train bridge, highway 17 bridge and an old, abandoned arched bridge, now used for foot traffic. As we were paddling back, we started chatting with a fisherman; he was, if my memory serves me well, from Hamilton and retired here with his wife. He loved this area. He said that his wife was volunteering in the Massey Museum—indeed, when we went there the next day, she instantly recognized us (or, to be precise, me) from her husband’s account of his meeting us the day before. We enjoyed a wonderful sunset on the river and I took a lot of photos. Once we arrived at the launch site and were loading the canoe on the car, a big truck drove up and we also saw a 24” pontoon boat on the river—both were waiting for us to drive away. The lady from the truck was Native and we spoke with her for a while—she was getting her Master’s degree at Queen’s University in Entrepreneurship. They just had a fishing tournament with big prizes! I told her that over 10 years ago my friend had won the 1^st price at such a tournament—a car—but he had not been able to even come close to repeating this feat since then. I think that luck always has A LOT to do with succeeding—especially catching a big fish!

The site of the Garnier High School. Only the pedestal remains, on which a statue of Jesus once stood in front of the school's entrance

The day before leaving the park we drove to the town of Spanish, called “the gateway to the north channel”. We drove on Garnier Road to the Spanish Municipal Marina. There was a modern building with fitness facilities as well as a trail which Catherine decided to do—I was waiting for her in the car and had to find a shaded location because it was extremely hot (September 25-unbelievable-over +30C!).

The Garnier High School for Boys, as it looked many years ago. The pedestal, with the statue of Jesus, is visible.

Very close to the marina there used to be two Residential Schools. One was for boys (The St. Peter Claver School and the Garnier High School, operated out of the boys school) and run by Jesuits. The other school, St. Joseph's School for Girls, was run by the Daughters of the Heart of Mary. The Garnier High School (also referred to as “Garnier College”) was closed by 1965 and the Garnier building was demolished in 2004. The St. Joseph's School for Girls closed in 1962 and the building sustained a fire in 1981.

The ruins of St. Joseph's School for Girls

When I had visited that very same area in 1994, I still remember the ruins of the Garnier School, along with the pedestal, albeit empty. According to old photographs of the school, the statue of Jesus, his arms outstretched, used to be there. When we were there in 2017, the school building was gone and the only remnant was that lonesome pedestal. There was also a new granite monument, on which both schools were depicted, with the following inscription:

The Granite Monument

“Dreams flash across the minds of many, gratifying, satisfying, unrelenting, but dreams pass and we find peace at last.” Mae Evelyn Smith, Buswa, a student. “This memorial is in honour of all children who attended these schools.”

An old photo of the two schools-the Garnier High School for Boys and St. Joseph's School for Girls

The building, or rather its shell, that used to house St. Joseph's School for Girls, still stood a few hundred meters from the site of the other school. The statue of St. Joseph was still there. The gate was open, so we entered the premises—I think that somebody was next to the building, the place was quite interesting and we wished we could have talked to the owner.

The residential schools had left a painful legacy and for many years those who attended the schools had often been publicly reminiscing about the years spent there.

Incidentally, since 1994 I have been attending annual Jesuit retreats at Manresa, Pickering, Ontario. Adjacent to the Retreat House is the Jesuit Infirmary (René Goupil House), where most older and infirm Jesuits come there to retire—and eventually die. Over the years I had read their obituaries and from time to time they mentioned that a given Jesuit brother or father used to teach or work at the Spanish Residential School. During my last retreat, at the end of 2017, I was told that only one Jesuit associated with the Residential School in Spanish was still alive and resided in the Jesuit Infirmary.

On our way back to the park, we stopped at Variety Store for ice cream and talked with a French couple who were tandem riding from Vancouver to Quebec City—they started in July. I always have a high regard for such adventurous individuals!

And then inevitably came September 26, 2017, our last day at the park and our last day together, period! After packing up, we went to the Massey Museum, but only spent 10 minutes there, getting low-priced books and videos. Just before noon, after 36 days travelling together, we bid farewell! Catherine drove west to Minnesota; I was on my way to Mississauga. I still stopped at Espanola as Catherine had asked me to buy her some headlights. I also went to The Giant Tiger to buy a simple t-shirt: it was very hot, +32 C, and I had run out of t-shirts, not expecting it would be so hot at that time! Next to the store there were rail tracks, leading from the Domtar Paper Mill towards the south. I believe it was the only existing and seldom used spur of the Algoma Eastern Railway.

I made a quick stop at the Hungry Bear Restaurant and went to the Trading Post and next I arrived at the intersection of highway 69 & road 522, where the Grundy Supply Post used to be located—and where we had purchased our canoe in 2010. Now it was gone, only the rusty shells of the gas dispensers remained. Fortunately, it had just relocated to the entrance of Grundy Lake Provincial Park—most likely the new highway would pass through its former location.

The former location of Grundy Lake Supply Post, at the intersection of Highway 69 & Road 522. In 2010 we bought our canoe here! Fortunately, it moved just 1 km and now is located in front of of the entrance to Grundy Lake Provincial Park

I was planning on spending the night at Six Mile Lake Provincial Park, but soon realized that I would not make it there on time. Instead, I drove to Oastler Lake Provincial Park, several kilometers south of Parry Sound. The park was almost deserted, the park offices were closed and I quickly drove to campsite number 132, where we had stayed once. Since I only had Catherine’s very small ‘emergency tent’, my inflatable matters did not even fit in, but well, it was for only one night, so I kind of made it fit! To make the tent waterproof, I covered it with a tarp. It was still very hot and humid, but the weather forecast called for a much cooler weather from then on—it was a perfect timing to end our vacation where we did.

Campsite #131 in Oastler Lake Provincial Park and my 'emergency' tent, much too small, but OK for just one night

I drove to the park’s office and made a call from the pay phone outside. Then for the first time I heard the train. OMG, it was so noisy! Without any exaggeration, I thought the train would suddenly materialize on the road and run me over, like in some horror movies! I had to postpone the call because it was impossible to hear anything. Then I drove back to the campsite and spent some time reading and sipping wine. Several times I heard the trains (there were two railway tracks very close to the park, one for eastbound, the other one for westbound trains). Whenever the train approached, first I hear the train whistle blowing, it became lauder and lauder and finally I could hear the rhythmic sounds of the train, so acute that sometimes I had a feeling that trains were crisscrossing the park, just next to my tent! I did manage to fall asleep after 1:00 a.m., yet at least once during the night I was awakened by the train. Just before 6:00 a.m. I woke up due to a shrieking train whistles—falling back asleep was pointless, as in no time I heard another train and yet another. I had stayed in this park several times before and honestly, I had no idea why those trains had not bothered me then! I quickly packed up the tent—which was a good idea as it started raining a little—and left the park just after 7:00 am. After making one quick stop at MEC in Barrie, I arrived at home before 11 a.m.

Blog in Polish/w języku polskim: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2018/08/wycieczka-samochodowo-kepmpngowa-parki.html
More photos from this trip: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/albums/72157699705142605

CANOEING AND CAMPING AT CHUTES, MATINENDA, MISSISAGI AND OASTLER LAKE PROVINCIAL PARKS & MANITOULIN ISLAND, ONTARIO. JULY 15-25, 2013

More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/sets/72157639454425246/

Blog po polsku/in Polish: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.ca/2014/01/wycieczka-do-parkow-prowincjonalnych.html

Our route from Toronto, to Chutes and Matinenda Provincial Parks, to Elliot Lake & Missisagi Provincial Park, then to Manitoulin Island, Oastler Lake Park and back to Toronto

During our trips over the past 5 years, we have visited almost every provincial park or region located relatively close to Toronto (up to 5 hours of driving) which are suitable for camping and especially canoeing and many a times have returned to the same place more than once.  Not that we were running out of locations to visit: Ontario has thousands of lakes or rivers to explore and canoe on, yet many of them are located quite far from Toronto, are only accessible by tough 4x4 Utility Vehicles or by planes, are quite remote and often require plenty of extensive and arduous portages.  Yet the good Lord, or rather the Ontario Government (or, even more precisely, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources) works in mysterious ways: after examining a map of Ontario, I spotted a rather new park called Matinenda Provincial Park, located 15 kilometers north of the town of Blind River.  This park, 29,417 hectares in size, was established 10 years ago (in 2003) and it offers such recreational activities as fishing, hunting, cottaging, camping, boating, canoeing, hiking, snowmobiling and swimming.  Since currently there are no developed camping facilities within the park (only unmanaged campsites), no fees of any kind are required.  There are numerous lakes in the park, Matinenda Lake being the largest.  I also contacted Ontario Parks and received a few emails from Ms. Tamara Flannigan, Park Superintendent, Missisagi & Spanish River Provincial Park Cluster.  Without doubt, the park appeared quite attractive & secluded; since Catherine never visited that area, we decided to visit it.

At Chutes Provincial Park, near the waterfall

We left Toronto on July 15, 2013 and headed north on highway 400.  It was a very hot and humid day and we stopped a few times to rest, did some shopping in Parry Sound, stopped for coffee & gas outside Sudbury and arrived to a small town of Massey, from where we drove a few kilometres to Chutes Provincial Park where we were going to camp overnight, as driving to Matinenda in one day and then paddling to a campsite would have been too exhausting.

Departing from the Matinenda Lake Parking Lot

Chutes gets its name from a log chute that once diverted logs around the main waterfall during the days of river drives and horse logging.  As per the park staff recommendation, we chose campsite no. 95, just across from the scenic rapids and waterfalls and we were very happy.  Half hour later the campsite beside us was taken.  There was at least one hiking trail, but we only had time to walk down a long staircase to see the falls.  By the time we got the fire going and grilling our T-Bone steaks, the mosquitoes were in full attack, biting us horribly.  We could hardly enjoy the dinner and the cold beer and quickly retired to the tent, soon falling sleep, listening to the soothing sound of the waterfalls.

In the morning we packed up and drove to LCBO in town to buy cold beer; while parking close to the LCBO building, Catherine almost hit the wall of the building with the canoe on the roof and for some unexplained reasons was very upset when I pointed this out to her.  After driving around the town, we took highway 17, stopped in the town of Blind River at KFC (Tuesday’s Toonie Special!) and tried to find the road leading to Matinenda.  We asked a local guy how to get to the park, but he said he had never heard of it, but finally found another fellow who gave us good directions.  After driving on road 557 for less than 30 minutes, we reached its end, with a huge, busy and free parking lot.  There were cars (and boats) coming and going; while unloading the canoe, I chatted with a few people who had cottages on the lake.  Funny, but they learned from me that it was a provincial park!

Canoeing on Lake Matinenda towards Graveyard Island

We departed at 15:30, as always grabbing onlookers’ and other boaters’ attention due to our above-average number of bulky bags piling up in our canoe (we told them we were going for a few months).  I had no clue where we were going to camp, yet according to the map the area near Graveyard Island, on Lake Matinenda, appeared to be quite appealing.  Thus, we proceeded north, moving quite leisurely in the hot and sticky weather.  We kept close to the shore on our left and after an hour a large bay opened up on the left.  We were quite tired and instead of continuing to paddle north, towards Graveyard Island, we decided to explore the bay and possibly find a spot suitable for a campsite.  Indeed, Catherine soon caught sight of a prospective campsite on the shore, but I did not like it and insisted on paddling farther into the bay. 

Monument Island on Lake Matinenda by Dave Moir. Yes, we were lucky to camp on this island for several days!  Reproduced by permission.  This image may be purchased from the author at  http://www.viewcanada.com

There were two islands in front of us; the one on the right was probably private, but no structure was visible on the other one.  When we reached that island, we immediately fell in love with it: it was round and rocky, approximately 100 x 60 meters, with some tall pine trees and plenty of blueberry bushes.  Its center was mostly flat and barren rock, where an old fire pit was built.  Yet the most amazing characteristic of this island was a massive, vertical rock sculpture, which looked like a giant gun, it remained us of the Monolith from the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” (all we needed was a tribe of shrieking and jumping man-apes and I could have made an alternate beginning of this celebrated movie!).  Only when I looked at my GPS’ topographical map, I realized that the name of this tiny island was, very fittingly “ Monument Island”.

Finally we arrived at Monument Island!

We left most of our kitchen equipment along the rocky shore, several meters from the rocky monument, set up the tent nearby and continued using the existing fire pit.  A few times we saw motorboats and fishing boats, but otherwise no one disturbed our privacy.  That first night a rather peculiar phenomenon took place.  I was lying down in my tent, and since there was no wind and everything was so still and quiet, I was slowly drifting off.  Suddenly, I heard a very distinct sound of waves crashing against the island’s shores, as if a motorboat had just passed by and created such waves — however, I was certain I did not hear any boat!  The reverberations lasted for about a minute and they ceased as abruptly as they had begun.

The fire pit and our tent on Monument Island

On July 18, 2013, we paddled to south-west of the island, where the bay became narrow, meandering and eventually turned into the Blind River.  We hoped to get to another big lake, Chiblow Lake.  We kept paddling until we reached a small dam; too lazy to portage, we turned back.  It was raining for a while, but since it was hot, we did not mind getting a little wet.  Once we left the ‘mouth’ of the river, we were again on Lake Matinenda.  It was noon; there was no wind and even the birds hid in the forest, avoiding the heat and humidity.  A log was sticking out of the water; we paddled up to it.  It was the end of a much longer log submerged in the water.  As I pushed it, it slowly gave way... and then something quite remarkable happened: all of a sudden, we heard a very conspicuous sound of running water, as if a dam came open!  Since this mysterious noise started almost the instant I dislodged the tree log, I almost suspected that I inadvertently unlocked some kind of plug or obstruction, thus causing the release of the water from the lake.  

Our campsite on Monument Island

Both Catherine and I heard that sound and we were looking everywhere to see the source of this clatter, but did not spot anything suspicious.  Soon, it stopped and again nothing was disturbing our sally.  We paddled north, leaving our island on the right, then passed a rocky island full of sea gulls and cormorants.  Some of the gulls became quite agitated and swooped and dive-bombed up to scare us away — quite spooky!  We paddled through Butterfield Narrows — there were several cottages, forming a small cottage community — and saw Graveyard Island as well as many other imposing rocky hills and rugged shores.  From afar we saw the Winter Portage.  We turned back, again passing through the narrows, near Paradise Point, marked with a white cross with the following inscription:  “Paradise Point.  Lift up your eyes on HIGH, and BEHOLD who hath created these things.  Isaiah 40:26”.  On our way back we were again ‘attacked’ by some frantic birds, but once they realized we were going the other way, they ended their harassing us.

Near the rocky island full of birds on Lake Matinenda.
The birds were trying to attack us!

On July 18, 2013, as we were having our supper around the fire, we saw that the weather was not looking very promising — there were plenty of black, massive clouds, yet no rain and even some fishermen in a small motor boat were circling our island, hoping to catch a fish.  I turned on my marine radio and listened to the weather channel.  There was a weather alert, indicated by a sharp, piercing sound coming out of my radio and we heard that a severe storm was on its way into the area, with gusts of wind of almost 100 km/h.  We hurriedly finished our supper and secured the canoe and camping equipment along the shore.  Less than 15 minutes later the first drops of rain fell... and in no time a hell broke lose!  Although we were safely inside the tent, we could hear the pouring rain and soon felt very strong wind which literally pushed one side of the tent’s wall halfway inside the tent!  We had no idea if the tent would withstand such tensions. Before long, we heard thunder and saw such intense lighting that I was blinded by it, even though I was observing the lighting through the tent’s walls and fly!  At one point the thunder and lighting occurred almost at the same time — I would not be surprised if the monolith had been struck by lighting!  In spite of the rain, wind and lighting, I donned my rain gear and got out of the tent in order to check on the canoe and other stuff left on the shore.  The canoe was OK, although partially in the water (of course, it was tied to a tree, as two years ago, while we were camping in the Massasauga Park, it had floated away) and our barrels were also safe.  The lake resembled a miniature ocean: the water looked as though it was boiling, its surface seething with white caps, fierce waves savagely battering the shores.  I shuddered, thinking what if we had been caught in such a storm while canoeing!  The storm lasted for about one hour and I can honestly say that I do not remember ever experiencing such a violent tempest while camping!  The tent passed its test with flying colors; not only did it hold out, but everything inside the tent also remained dry.

Around the Monument on Monument Island!

On Saturday we got up in the morning and started packing.  During our stay on the island we noticed that there were plenty of cockroaches of various sizes; most of them congregated either around the campfire or along the shore, where we kept our kitchen equipment.

Monument Island at night

While packing, Catherine suddenly screamed — as she took the knife out of its sheath, four cockroaches dropped out!  We decided to carefully go through all of our belongings, to ensure we were not going to bring any of them home!  We did find some bugs in the box as well as several in the base of the stove; fortunately, none managed to get into our waterproof bags and barrels.  This cockroach inspection delayed our departure by almost 2 hours, but we did not mind taking all those precautions; afterwards, Catharine wanted to re-christen the island “The Cockroach Island”.

Our canoeing trips in Matinenda Provincial Park

The paddle back to the parking lot was nice and quick (7 km, 1.5 hours).  Since it was Saturday, there were many people, including a great deal of Americans.  A dog constantly barking drove everybody crazy and caused me to pack the car in a record time.  We drove to Blind River where we visited LCBO and the Bargain Shop, then took highway 17 east and turned north into road 118, leading to Elliot Lake, thus ending the first part of our trip.

Elliot Lake Mining Memorial

Elliot Lake was established as a planned community for the mining industry in 1955, after the discovery of uranium in that area and at its peak the population reached 26,000, when the town was the world’s capital of uranium mining.  In the 1990s the last uranium mine closed and some predicted it would become a ghost town, one of many in Ontario.  However, a lot of retired people started moving in, attracted by cheap homes and the area’s beauty.  Today, the town has a hospital, malls, stores and even public transportation.

Elliot Lake Mining Memorial

I had visited this city for the first time in 1993 and I still remember a tour that I was given by a real estate salesmen.  Townhouses were priced from $20,000 to $30,000 and a house could be purchased for about $50,000!  That was why a lot of retired people, after selling their residences in Toronto for a substantial (and usually tax-free) profit, moved to Elliot Lake where they lived from approximately May till October and then drove to Florida and other southern states to spend the winter.

In 2003 I spent a week camping with a friend in the nearby Missisagi Provincial Park, located just north of the town.  One day morning my friend saw a small black bear near the campsite.  Barefoot, I bolted out of the tent, jumped in my car and started following the bear.  Eventually the car ended up in a ditch (and the poor, scared bear, vanished in the forest).  My friend Chris flagged a passing car and asked the driver to take him to the park superintendent office, who later came, attached a chain to my car and quickly pulled it from the ditch.  As I later went to thank the lady-driver for helping us (she was camping not that far from us), I realized that in 1995 she and I had participated in a canoeing trip in Florida’s Everglades and I even had a photo with her in a restaurant, having fried... alligator!  Because of her respiratory problems, she needed fresh air and she camped in the park from May till October.

Campsite no. 15 at Missisagi Provincial Park near Elliot Lake

Since Catherine had never visited this park, we decided to spent a night or so there.  Missisagi Provincial Park was supposed to be changed to non-operating status the Ontario government (along with 9 other parks), yet the city of Elliot Lake managed to reach an agreement with the Ontario government and in the 2013 season the park was still operational.  I was surprised to find plenty of campers in the park — something quite unusual for a park that supposedly did not have enough visitors and was to be closed!  Even though we were planning to stay just one night in the park, we still wanted to get a nice campsite and spent an hour, driving on meandering roads before picking campsite no. 15.  We set up the tent and talked to the couple next door waling their dog, then to a guy camping across from us and also to a family from Switzerland that rented a Travel America camper.  Catherine went for a walk and met an 80-something fellow who had had 2 hip replacements by a very bad surgeon, he experienced plenty of problems.

Door leading to the building where the Mining Museum
and the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame were
located.  The door originally belonged to one of
the leading mining companies in the area

Later that evening and the next day we drove back to town where Catherine took a shower at the RV grounds and then we set out to explore the town.  I noticed a new mining monument, erected along the lake.  There was also a granite wall that listed names of miners who succumbed to various work-related diseases while working in the area’s mines.  We visited the site of the Algo Centre Mall: in June, 2012, part of a roof collapsed at Algo Centre Mall and two people were killed.  Almost every day we could listen to the news of the ongoing inquiry regarding this tragedy.  We also visited the Mining Museum, located in the Lester B. Pearson Civic Center, which I found very interesting and informative, it showed the history of the mining industry and there was the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame, showing  photographs of many prominent individuals who contributed to the mining industry in Canada as well as plenty of other historical artefacts.  Pity we did not have more time to explore this place!

W Muzeum Górnictwa w Elliot Lake

One of the most prominent mining engineers responsible for the area’s development was Stephen Boleslav Roman, a Slovak immigrant.  In the 1980s he had an impressive Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Markham built (just north of Toronto).  He died in 1988, before the Cathedral’s completion, and his was the first funeral service held in the Cathedral.  Unfortunately, due to various problems, the Cathedral was closed in 2006 and is no longer considered to be a Catholic Church.

Our route on Manitoulin Island

The next day we packed up and headed towards Manitoulin Island.  This island, with the area of 2,766 square km, is the largest lake island in the world, as well as one of its 108 freshwater lakes, Lake Manitou, is the largest lake on a freshwater island in the world!  It is possible to access the island via a one-lane Little Current swing bridge (which used to be a railway bridge, but it has not seen a train in many decades) or, in the summer, via a daily passenger-vehicle ferry, the MS Chi-Cheemaun (meaning, in Ojibwe, “Big Canoe”), which travels between Tobermory on Bruce Peninsula and South Baymouth on the island.  At the beginning of the season in 2013 the water level was too low for the ferry to dock, so for the first few weeks it was unable to operate, thus negatively affecting the local economy.  Some locals also complained that whereas the news about the inability of the MS Chi-Cheemaun to run between Tobermory and Manitoulin Island was widely publicized in the mass media, once the ferry commenced its operations, that fact was not really advertised that much and thus many potential visitors to the island incorrectly assumed the ferry was still grounded and decided to go somewhere else.

Welcome to Little Current!

A historical plaque at Swift Current Channel provided some interesting information on the importance of this channel in during past centuries, when many prominent people use this waterway:

THE ROUTE OF THE VOYAGEURS

Through this channel at Swift Current passed the canoes of the explorers, missionaries and fur traders who opened up the interior of this continent. Their route followed the Ottawa River to its junction with the Mattawa and thence via Lake Nipissing, the French River, Georgian Bay and the North Channel to Lakes Michigan or Superior. This waterway was traversed by Jean Nicolet, 1634, Pierre Esprit Radisson and Médart Chouart des Groseilliers, 1659, Father Claude Allouez, 1665, Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Dulhut, 1678, Pierre de la Vérendrye, 1727, Alexander Henry, 1761, Simon McTavish and William McGillivray, 1784, David Thompson, 1812, and Sir George Simpson, 1841.

Our campsite at Batman's Cottages and Campground

After briefly stopping in Espanola, we drove on the Little Current swing bridge and went to the Visitors’ Center, where we picked up some brochures on local accommodations and attractions.  Since almost 40% of Manitoulin’s population consists of Native People, we were quite excited when we found a brochure advertising a native campground and immediately headed there.  When we arrived, there were several native campers, ceremonial grounds, open space and nobody in the office... we did not really know where we could camp without committing any disrespect to those sacred grounds and we decided to check out another place, called Batman’s.  I entered its coordinates in my GPS unit and foolishly followed its directions.  Wow, did it take us for a ride!  We were driving on some dirt, potholed roads, passing farmlands or pastures, hardly spotting a home or barn.  We had to turn around twice as the road became impassable for the van.  At one point we drove down a very steep hill — fortunately, the canoe was securely attached to the van’s roof, otherwise it would have probably slid off!  We saw numerous wind turbines popping up on the horizon.  I knew that GPS units were not perfect, but I could not believe that they were so brainless!

(Probably) abandoned church

Eventually we did get on the main road (which we should have taken in the first place) and soon reached ‘Batman’s Cottages and Campground’.  There were plenty of semi-permanent structures (i.e., RV campers and mobile homes), creating a small, dynamic community, as well as several campsites.  We picked campsite no. 142, with a view of the lake.  Well, after camping on remote islands, pristine lakes and desolate shores, this place certainly did not appeal to us, but since there were not any provincial parks on Manitoulin Island, we had no choice but to stay there for at least one night.  I quickly started a campfire and once it became dark, we enjoyed the stay, going to bed before midnight.  At about 4:00 am we were awoken by some noise; Catherine got out of the tent and then quickly came back, saying that there was not a bear, but an even worse creature at our campsite: a skunk, who got into our garbage bag!  We were very quiet, although it would be extremely unlikely for a skunk to spray without any provocation.  When we got up in the morning, it had been gone and the only evidence of its earlier presence was a few pieces of scattered garbage.

At the Kicking Mule Ranch, playing with kittens!

Then we headed to a very remarkable place called Gordon’s Park, near the town of  Tehkummahk.  It offered camping, tipi tenting (which especially appealed to Catherine!), stargazing cabin, wilderness campsite, educational hiking trails, solar heated swimming pool and dark star preserve, among other attractions.  The friendly staff showed us around and even drove us several hundreds meters up the road, where the dark star preserve was located, along with a few cabins.  We liked this place and thought it would be great to one day visit it with some other couples and stay in a cabin, but since a very large group (75) of young people were just about to arrive, we were afraid this place would become too busy and noisy for us and decided to continue looking for another place; as per Gordon’s Park employee recommendation, we drove a few kilometres up the road to a place called “Kicking Mule Ranch”.

At the Kicking Mule Ranch, ponies

We found a ranch with 4 tiny campsites and 2 bunkers — in addition to a ranch full of horses & mules, there was a petting zoo (with rabbits, chicken, goats and lama-like animals), ponies, a very friendly Rottweiler which, as the sign warned, ‘may lick you to death’ and four lovely kittens!  We picked a campsite next to a tepee and an antique Cadillac; except for occasional horse riders, we were the only ones staying there overnight.  For some reasons, it was a magical place!  The owner’s 8 year old grandson came over to chat and later he was riding one of the ponies.

At the Kicking Mule Ranch

We drove to the post office in Tehkummahk and tried to find a public phone, but to no avail; eventually somebody let Catherine use his cell phone so that she could call her daughter in the US.  We got back to the ranch around 6:00 pm and nobody else was there.  We walked to the petting area, took a bunch of photos and played with the kitties, having so much fun!  Kitties kept trying to get in our tent.  Catherine let one sleep with her, but took it back to his igloo house around 2:00 am.  Big Rottweiler Diesel was jealous of the kitties and eventually came over to our tent, looking for our attention!  Of course, we also had a campfire.

Gore Bay 

Next day we drove across the island.  There were lots of lakes on Manitoulin, many Indian reserves as well as the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve.  By the way, ten years ago I had driven to Wikwemikong, where I visited a catholic church and the ruins of an old, burned down church.  Since I had known the Jesuit pastor of this church, Father Doug McCarthy, I hoped to pay him a brief visit, but he was away. 

We drove on road 542 and eventually reached Gore Bay.  There was a lookout point from which we could admire the whole bay and the town, watching boats slowly coming into the bay and float planes landing and taking off.  It was quite windy, cool and rainy, yet we still drove to the Janet Head Lighthouse and then back to the Kicking Mule Ranch on road no. 540.  Fortunately, our campsite was dry, the bad weather had not managed to get hold of it.  The next morning we packed up (accompanied by one inquisitive kitty who was walking on the car and hiding under the canoe on the roof).  Before we left, we talked to the owner of the ranch, who took us to the corral and explained the difference between horses and mules.

Lighthouse near Gore Bay

We drove back to Little Current, where we looked at a Native Pow Wow site and a beautiful wooden church, with amazing architecture.  We also stopped at 10 Mile Point, from where a breathtaking view of Georgian Bay towards the town of Killarney stretched out; possibly I could even see the Fox Islands, where we had camped in 2011 and 2012.  There was a Trading Post with plenty of very unique and interesting books, Native art, paintings, carvings and original T-shirts.  The following historical plaque gave more details about the history of this area:

JESUIT MISSION TO MANITOULIN

1648 – 50

In 1648 Father Joseph Poncet, then serving at St. Marie in Huronia, was placed in charge of the Jesuit mission of St. Pierre by his superior Father Paul Ragueneau. This newly created mission was formed to serve the Algonkian-speaking Indians of Manitoulin Island and the north shore of Lake Huron. Poncet, the first known European resident of Manitoulin (called Ile de Ste. Marie by the missionaries and Ekaentoton by the Hurons), served on this island from October, 1648, to May, 1649. He returned to Manitoulin before the end of the latter year, but was compelled to abandon the mission in 1650, following the defeat and dispersal of the Hurons by the Iroquois.

At the 10 Mile Point Trading Post

After parking the van in Little Current, we walked along a waterfront, observing plenty of motorboats, cruisers and sailing boats.  We stroke up a conversation with one gentleman from Detroit whose big cruiser was docked nearby.  He enthusiastically answered my questions about his impressive craft (which, incidentally, was a new one, as the old one had perished in a marina fire in the USA, along with tens of other similar boats).  It turned out that the yacht could accommodate up to 12 people, it had two 300 or 400 hp engines, was using enormous amount of gas, costing probably well over $1 per kilometre, had all the latest electronic & GPS equipment so that once programmed, it basically navigated itself.  The more information I was finding out about this boat, the more I was glad we had our simple, light, inexpensive, paddle-powered and virtually maintenance-free canoe!

Dock in Little Current, Manitoulin Island

Later we had a cup of coffee in a nearby coffee shop and then spent over one hour in a discount shop which offered some amazing bargains!  Finally we drove over the Little Current bridge, thus officially leaving Manitoulin Island and stopped in a mall in Espanola, where we did some shopping and cold beer, and drove all the way to Parry Sound, where we arrived at Oastler Lake Provincial Park.  This is a nice park, just several km south of Parry Sound.  We had stayed a few times at this park, mostly for one night, while going to or coming from our vacation.  We got a nice campsite (no. 132), facing west and after quickly setting up the tent, we could still sit and, sipping cold beer, enjoy the sunset.  Next day we spend a few hours leisurely paddling on Oastler Lake and in the evening drove back home to Toronto.

More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/sets/72157639454425246/

Blog po polsku/in Polish: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.ca/2014/01/wycieczka-do-parkow-prowincjonalnych.html