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.