2015 Big Truck around Lake Superior, Day 4

While the rest of the campground (and our campsite) was sleeping, I snuck out for a quick walk to the visitors centre - the path ran right next to our site.  This was the reward.

The lake was perfectly still and clear. I can't imagine being a college student and calling this 'work' for the summer. Sorry, up here there aren't college students, only people that go to university after grade 13.

Once on the road, we only made it about 10 minutes and ran into this.

Two separate times we sat on the road at a complete stop, totaling over 45 minutes. When we got word at a gas station what had happened, and then drove past the scene a bit later, it was chilling.  I won't go into detail, but it was a fatal accident and we were a bit more understanding of the delay after that.

Acting on yet another tip from our buddy Dallas, we stopped at a roadside Provincial Park called Rainbow Falls. It was the perfect break from our drive and stoppages, and we had one seriously antsy 7 yr old.  Case in point.

A short hike down revealed multiple levels of falls, each one being explored more intently than the last.

Enjoying her time out of the big truck, Jordan was scampering all over everything. Ultimately I asked her to pose by the sign, and we all got a good laugh when she tried to brace herself against it and discovered it was swinging from hinges at the top and almost hit her in the face. Yes, we were a bit stir crazy.

While this was happening, Kimberly was heading back across the bridge, leading to this photo op.

We then worked our way back up the stairs to the big truck, knowing that any energy burned now would be repaid with momentary silence when we got back on the road.  I also had a full sandal blowout, and am now essentially employing one of these whenever donning the Keens.

Over the past 3 nights we had nearly exhausted our supply of Michigan beers, so we starting searching for the nearest Beer Store along our route. I was determined to drink some local Canadian microbrews, but the beer scene in Canada is still dominated by the big guys.

We found a Beer Store on the way, and I stopped with the full intention of buying whatever was made closest to that region. Then I met Bev, which may be the most occupation-appropriate name ever.

Bev explained to me that down by Sleeping Giant (where we were headed), there was a place that made their own beer. She then went in the back to rummage around and show me what kind of bottle they sold.  It was a growler. God bless Bev.  Only after we got on the road did we realize that Sleeping Giant Brewery was more than an hour away from our campground, and was closer to Thunder Bay. Either way, thanks Bev.

Once we made it to Sleeping Giant, we found out again that a site denoted as 'electric' just means that there is power in the general vicinity. After C$250 in deposit, we had the required 200 metres of 30amp extension cords for our site with electricity. It did not matter, as the site was more than worth it.

Not only was site 218-e large enough to turn around the big truck, but it was also lakeside and had the following view of the Sleeping Giant rock formation.

We set up camp and headed for the playground. Jordan had somehow gone multiple vacation days without a sniff of a playground.  Likely a record, but these aren't things we are interested in tracking. Once we got to the playground, we discovered a beach as well, although it looked like they trucked in some sand and dragged the beach with a tractor.  Either way, it wasn't rocks.

Now we both had our playground. I got to ride around on the beach, she got to chase seagulls.

We then found the elusive 'giant wooden single swingset', something that seems insanely impractical, but made for a cool picture.

Next up was another oddity, something I'll call the 'infant swing cleverly fashioned to resemble an old jock strap'. You be the judge. Also, any time you can mix in a few chains, rivets, and galvanized brackets into a toddler swing, you do it, don't you?  In the States someone's lawyer would own this entire park. We're moving to Canada.

We retired to the campsite, which to this point is definitely in our top 5 sites ever (something we also do not track, so there could be 27 sites in our top 5).  Here are a few shots of life at 218-e.

We played on the rocks (Jordan invented an obstacle course game, it ended when I fell in) for as long as we wanted.  Pretty tough to beat this playground.

Then it was time to bust out Slayer, Jordan's aptly named fishing rod.

Our jalapeno brat/bobber combo proved unsuccessful, prompting me to have this internal dialogue with Slayer.

We capped off the night with a few sunset shots of Sleeping Giant, then chased a few bats around the site, encouraging them to eat the hummingbird-sized mosquitos that ingest DEET like PEDs.

Day 5 takes us out of Canada, back to the States and on to Tettegouche State Park in Minnesota. Farewell Canada, we will miss thee.

2015 Big Truck around Lake Superior, Day 3

Day 3 started with us retracing our route north past Bathtub Island, headed into Wawa on another recommendation from Dallas, the Embassy diner/bar for breakfast.  Since we've never been to Wawa, we had no idea what we were in for, and with no phone/internet we couldn't do our customary research on the way.  This is the gem we sought.

Once we got into town, it was pretty apparent that we would be able to find it. The one main drag had a couple of restaurants, and there right in front of our face was the Embassy. We took no pictures out of respect (and fear) for the locals, but this was exactly what you'd expect a Canadian diner to be when there is no real town for a couple hundred kilometres in any direction.  The breakfast food was amazing, and when we told the waitress that we had come on a recommendation from a couple of bikers from southwest Michigan, they were ecstatic. We now have to pass on that recommendation, so someone go to Wawa, get the home fries with onions, and tell them it was recommended by some ginger.

On to Pukaskwa.  We had about 2-2.5 hrs of driving, all winding 2 lane with a 90km/hr speed limit. Lots of curves and hills, but fairly easy driving as the scenery is incredible. As we got close to Pukaskwa, we felt like we were finally leaving all of modern civilization. There is one road that leads to the park, and once it crosses the Pic River, you are met with a sign that says 'Highway Ends'. First, how is this a highway? Second, this is before you see any signs for the National Park. After a moment of panicked suspense, we saw the welcome sign and worked our way into the park. This gives you and idea of the location - we came in at the northern point.

Once we made it in (one more piece of evidence that to be a Canadian park ranger, you must be a female under the age of 19), it was a bit of a scramble to grab a campsite. It is first come, first serve and even as polite as everyone is up here, I can't imagine the rage and uppercuts that would fly if I drove all the way up here to find out all the sites were taken. There literally is no other destination.

Next up - visitors centre.

The centre itself is quite small, and is essentially a lounge with free wifi for campers/hikers.  We thought that was cool - our first contact with the outside world in a few days. Then we walked out on the back deck and saw this.

There was an eerie sort of mist covering enough of the sights in the distance to conjure up images of the moor from the Baskervilles.

We decided to do a few of the short hikes from the campground, but before we got started, I was confronted with this sign. So many jokes. Canadian icon designers must be far more mature than I.

We started on the Southern Headlands trail, and immediately got into some of Jordan's favourite terrain.

The mist effectively blocked most of the scenery beyond about a hundred metres, but in this pic you can somewhat make out how odd it was when we came across these chairs bolted into the granite atop one of the major rock formations.

Later we found out that this was part of a social media promotion for the park, asking people to post pics with a #sharethechair hashtag.  Either way, I wish they would #sharetheplans for those chairs because they were ridiculously comfortable.

After a few more twists and turns we came up to an overlook. Here's a few shots, very surreal atmosphere with some crazy colour contrasts against the black granite.

As has become customary on these trips, we try to shoehorn my huge noggin into a family selfie, and then we all break out into the 'HEEEED' jokes from So I Married an Axe Murderer.  Who am I to ruin a tradition, so here's the family selfie...

And here's the reference, complete with Mike Meyers' one Scottish accent which he has parlayed into about 15 characters (If It's Not Scottish It's Crap, Shrek, Fat Bastard, etc to name a few).

We looped back toward the campsite, and since Jordan was fading, we decided to split and I'd do the rest of the trails on my own. Probably for the best, as I soon found out what we had suspected from the previous few days. Canadian hiking trails are the best - no unnecessary railings, lawyered-up warning signs, or barriers at every sight worth seeing.  I'll throw out a few of the best images, but those 4-5 kilometres contained enough sights for days worth of hikes.

I was hoofing it trying to get back in time for the campfire & movie night (A Night at the Museum part 7 or whatever sequel is the latest).  By the time I got back, with the mist & humidity, this was me.

Admit it, you expected the Airplane pilot.

After the campfire to dry out my rainforest gear, movie night was a rousing success. The Big Truck comes equipped with theatre seating.

Day 4 - a fairly short trip toward Thunder Bay to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, our last stop in Canada.

2015 Big Truck around Lake Superior, Day 2

Day 2 started with leisurely ride around the campground, scoping out the visitors centre and experimenting with a beach ride on the rocks.  It was somewhat doable, but was worse than loose sand and was in no way enjoyable.  I lugged out a few hundred metres to get to this view at the end of the beach, but that was enough for me.

I did take this opportunity to climb the rocks at the end of the beach and scope out our bay. Ridiculous.

Back at the site, people were stirring and I got the first of what would turn out to be many questions about the fatbike. No one seems to grasp the concept completely, so it elicits many stares, head shakes, and a brave few that wander over to ask what in tarnation that thing is.

We set up shop a few feet from shore, slowly inching our way into the water. When I had checked earlier at the visitors centre, they had the water temp at 46F.  I believed every bit of that.  The rocks were fascinating, so we hunted and compared for quite a while.

After quite a bit of this,

we finally worked up the courage to do this.

I can assure you it was not a smooth transition, with much agony, tingling, and shrinkage going on. After we got out my arms & back were burning with a pins & needles-style sensation for a while. It was extremely refreshing, but I was good with being in my chair again.

After a bit more of this, we decided to follow up on a tip from the border agent about a place called Bathtub Island just up the road.  We loaded up the Jeep and headed north to find it.  We found the trailhead parking lot, and another ranger explained to us where to go. He described the hike as 'a little bit of beach, a little bit of climbing, but well worth it. You can wade from shore to the island.' Correct on all accounts.

Here's the start.  Pretty simple.

From there it escalated quickly, with some cool woodsy path (sorry for the fisheye - only brought the GoPro on the hike)

to some rocky shoreline, 

to some full on scrambling

As we rounded the corner to see the beach and Bathtub Island, we also discovered that our daughter Jordan has transitioned into a budding hiker. She was loving this one more than ever, and kept trying to take the lead. She was thoroughly enjoying the hike, pointing out cool views and features on the trail. We were beaming the entire way.

Bathtub Island is the one in the centre (ok, now I'm just abusing it), while the one on the right requires a swim and per the ranger, is just a big rock covered in bird poop.

We walked down the beach to a sort of sandbar, then proceeded to wade out to the island. Once out there, there was an interesting mix of families exploring and 20-somethings racing each other to the bottom of their well-stocked cooler.

Here's Jordan in the aptly named bathtub.

Here's me, failing to take the opportunity to blend in with a part of the population that actually may be more pale than me. I had already felt a solid sunburn coming on from 20 minutes of reckless beach activity back at the campsite.

On the hike back, the climbs and scrambles become more and more fun, with Jordan mostly attempting to lead. After we reached the Jeep, we decided to follow up on another tip and take a little backcountry road (Frater Road, if you're ever up here) to do some exploring.

If someone reads this and remembers, please thank Dallas Latsch for the suggestion. The road was a ton of fun to drive (a few Dukes of Hazzard moments, possibly even one or two of these), 

and rewarded us with a view of this lake tucked away by his buddy's cabin.

Fairly beat from all of the fun, back at the campsite we fired up some dinner and went back out to the lake, this time for some underwater shots of those rocks.  A couple of the better shots.

Finally, after a short beach hike with Jordan that led to this

and some Dad lessons in patience as we attempted to rendezvous with Kimberly to watch the sunset, something that was not aided by a 7 year old's desire to mimic seagulls on the walk back down the beach.

After all of that, we were treated to one of the more peaceful and beautiful sunsets we've experienced as a family in quite some time. It really helped solidify the tone of this trip - off the grid.

Day 3 - up the Trans-Canada to Pukaskwa (pronounced PUK-ah-saw, not any of the ridiculous versions I tried out when attempting to explain to the locals where we were headed.) National Park.