The trip so far!



Click on the above link to see the trip map so far.
Our Datastorm location



Click on the above link to see where we are at present
Thursday September 7, 2006

Grundy Lake Provincial Park

We got a site in Trailer campground for the night, to break up the miles between Sudbury and Erin.

We had or last campfire of the trip, looking forward? to geting back home.

Friday September 8, 2006

Erin Ontario.

We made it home around 2:30 pm today, it's time to sort out the mail and check out what's happening in our community.

The trip has been great, we will post some stats and highlight pictures!



Wednesday September 6, 2006

Chutes Provincial Park, Massey Ontario

The run from Pancake Bay was an easy one, we got into Massey about 2 pm.

We provisioned in Massey and are starting a campfire early.

There are quite a number of campers in the park, more than expected for this time of the year. Everyone is enjoying the good weather.


Tuesday September 5, 2006

Pancake Bay Provincial Park

This provincial park is about 80 km. north of Sault St Marie, we made a decision to travel about 100 km. from Rabbit Balnket and park here for a night, otherwise it would be about 400 km. to Chutes in Massey, the distance would have been tough on Kasey.

We are glad we stopped, this is the first time we got a site "right on the beach", actually across a small road from the beach. The beach is world class, Kasey enjoyed a good swim.




This is how the camper looks from the beach:






The sunset was beautiful, we took a couple of pictures.  The full moon disturbed the colour balance, I have to work on it.





I made an adjustment to the brightness:



Looks like I may need some more brightness! The full moon looks great!





Monday September 4, 2006

Rabbit Blanket Lake, Lake Superior Provincial Park

We made it into this campsite at 1:00 pm today. It's quiet, only 4 or 5 campers besides ourselves. It was 26 or so today, great fall weather.

No Rain is expected until later in the week.



Friday to Monday September 1 to 4, 2006

Pukaskwa National Park near Marathon Ontario.

We made it to Pukaskwa on Friday afternoon and provisioned in Marathon (including an A&W fast food treat including artery clogging poutine!) before settling down in the campsite and having a campfire. Pukaskwa is busier than normal because of the long weekend , but we got our favourite campsite which includes a break in the trees so we can aim the dish at the satelite. Plans for the weekend include lots of hiking, Kasey has been in Lake Superior already and plans to swim each day. Who knows, with the locals saying that the water is warmest at this time of the year, Suzette may even go in (but not Al!).

Halfway Lake Trail

We always enjoy taking this trail, it goes around a small lake and there are lots of opportunities to take pictures on the rocks. It also gives all of us (including Kasey!) a workout:

Kasey has lots of steps to climb!



The lake is much lower this year, as can be seen from the lines in the rock.This confirms what the locals are saying. It is also warmer than we are used to, probably the best time of year to come up for camping.



Kasey is looking down at a couple of other goldens swimming in the lake below:




The dried up marsh in the distance is normally the shallow part of the lake. We saw a heron standing beside a pool of water filled with landlocked fish, obviously the heron was well fed! Lake Superior is the body of water in the distance at the top left of the picture



Kasey' daily swim in lake superior:



Southern Headlands Trail

This trail goes along the Superior shoreline for the total length of Puckaskwa, we are taking the section along Hattie Cove on Sunday.

In the morning, we took the part that starts at the visitor center and ends at the beach. Like yesterday, Superior is dead calm, the first time we have seen two consecutive days like this.

This is a view of Superior from high up on the rocks:



Another view of the shoreline from the trail:



As a break after the morning's activities, Kasey got treated to a dip!





In the afternoon, we took the other part of the trail that covers the other part of the beach:


There is a lot of driftwood on the beach!




A lot of construction of forts and other structures with the driftwood








We are packing up today (Monday) and heading off to Rabbit Blanket lake campground in Lake Superior Provincial Park on our way back to southern Ontario.


Thursday August 31, 2006

Thunder Bay KOA


We made the 260 or so km. to TB after 1:00 pm today, in spite of losing an hour to the time change to Eastern Daylight.

We are relaxing here, we plan to make the run to Pukaskwa tomorrow, hopefullly there will not be a problem getting a site (they don't take reservations on the NP reservation system). The weather is great, quite warm and not windy, actually the best we have had at this location.




Wednesday August 30, 2006

Sandbar Lake Provincial Park, near Ignace Ontario

We arrived at this one nighter about 2:00 pm, it's a nice park to stay for a night or a  weekend. We had a campfire for the first time in a few days and met some great neighbours. The folks reserving for the long weekend are already arriving.



Monday & Tuesday August 28-29, 2006

Madsen Ontario

We made it to Red Lake/Madsen to see our daughter Chantal at the new house and community. Unfortunately, we missed Cam, who is back at work in Armstrong. We plan to be here a few days, I have been put to work on a shelving project, I look forward to inhaling sawdust again!

More details to follow!

Tuesday

The shelving was completed in one day with no injuries other than a couple of slivers!!




Another couple of shots of the great work, thanks to Chantal:





We also had time to tour around the area and enjoy the out of doors. There are 2 lakes within a 5 minute walk of the village. This is one of them:



The hamlet of Madsen exits as a result of a gold mine (abandoned back in the 1970's). With the price of gold, the mine is being looked at for re-opening:



We are packing up on Wednesday morning to head towards Thunder Bay.


Sunday August 27, 2006

Blue Lake Provincial Park, Ontario

We made it to this provincial park which is near Vermillion Bay in the early afternoon. The change from prarie to Canadian Shield is evident once you hit the Ontario border, the miles get more difficult than the easy miles in the praries.

We got a good site, but had some precision moves to make to get between some pines, and had to dodge some rocks that were part of the "shield". It was great to have a campfire again after a few nights of not having one.



Saturday August 26, 2006

Travellers RV Park, Winnipeg Manitoba.

We got into this campground, which is on the east side of Winnipeg about 2:00 pm this afternoon.

It's a good one-night stop,full srvices. We noted that the park is less than half full, it looks like fall is coming, although by the daytime temps (26+C) you couldn't tell.

We are headed to Blue Lke PP tomorrow, then it's off to Red Lake to see Chantal.





Wednesday - Saturday August 23 to 26, 2006


Riding Mountain National Park- Manitoba

We got into this park about 2:00 pm on Wednesday (it was actually 1:00 pm but we lost an hour to the time change!). It's nice to be back here, we booked a site on the net for three nights to ensure that we could get in.

Kasey got a swim in the lake while we were waiting for a pizza, we settled in for a fire during the evening. Thursday's  weather is scheduled to be wet, it's great to be at a location where you can do other things in rainy weather. The large Pizza turned out to be LARGE, enough for a party get together. Oh well, leftover pizza always seems to taste better than fresh!

Thursday

The weather forecast was accurate (unfortunately), we had some heavy rain and thunder this afternoon. Forever the optimists, we purchased some dry firewood for tonight's fire. Worst comes to worst, we can save the wood for tomorrow night when the weather is supposed to improve.

We've been enriching the local economy by purchasing our nightly dinner instead of cooking.

Thursday actually turned to be a washout with over 40 mm of rain, the first full day/night of rain on the trip. We tried to start a fire, but it got waterlogged.

Friday

A much better day, the sun burned off the morning fog, and the puddles are drying up. We walked into town for a "designer" coffee and the morning papers, Suzette went back before lunch to explore the many shops, I'm sure she will find some souveniers to bring home!

Here are some pictures we took of the day's activities:

The lake was much rougher today than we have seen before.



You can tell by Suzette's hair how much the wind was blowing!





At the end of the day, 2 park rangers came by on horseback