Sunday, May 6, 2012

Into the Wilderness & Out through Suburbia

It was definitely a nice change of scenery when we entered Ontario with the forests we rode through and lakes galore we passed.  There are many nice picturesque cottages on lakes in western Ontario.  We saw plenty of wildlife too… eagles, hawks, galloping deer, marmots, rabbits, coyotes to name a few.  We also saw 3 black bears but they all scurried off into the bush before I could snap a photo.  They are more scared of us than we are them.  We were a little worried about bears prior to the trip so Trevor brought along some rope to tie our food up at night.  We never ended up using it, mostly because of laziness at night.  We now even eat inside our tents which is a ‘no no’ according to being ‘bear aware’.  Bottom line is we aren’t really concerned with bears especially now since there are only black bears here.  I was concerned in British Columbia and Alberta with grizzlies, but they were just waking up from hibernation as we were making our way through.  Had we been met by one of them, I probably would be singing a different tune. 

Our first glimpse of Lake Superior was when we entered Thunder Bay.  We arrived there late in the day and quickly concluded that the city is pretty ugly.  Since we were low on grub we went to the Superstore to stalk up.  A first nations man who appeared discombobulated came up to me while I was waiting for Trevor and looked as if he was going to make a move of some sort but then backed off.  I thought nothing of it but really watched him just in case.  Later two Superstore employees chatted me up about the trip and then gave some tips on the road ahead and a camp spot around town.  They said to watch ourselves around Thunder Bay because a lot of First Nations people are addicted to OxyContin and recently the government put a stop to this prescription painkiller drug.  As such, they have been more aggressive since they are no longer getting high. 

From Sault Ste. Marie to Sudbury we saw signs warning about horse carriages on the road.  I was kind of confused by it until I saw some Amish people on the other side of the road in their carriage.  I never knew there was an Amish community in Canada.  I thought they were mainly situated in Ohio. 

From Parry Sound south it was quite a struggle to find our way down as cyclists are not allowed on the main highway.  At times we were on the highway when we clearly shouldn’t have been.  But sometimes we thought we were okay and then all of a sudden when we are already on the highway it shows a no cyclist sign.  Real annoying to see it there after we already made our way onto the highway.  You would think it would be wise to post the sign prior to entering the highway no?  Just a thought.  Anyway, we ended up taking the longer way round which turned out to be okay. 

Funny sometimes we meet people and feel like a D-list celebrity.  We have many people always approaching us asking us about our trip and even one person wanted to take our picture.  On another occasion, we met a few retired men at a McDonalds in Wasaga Beach and they said we were the first guys in a long time that had some celebrity status around there.  The last guy they remember walk into that McDonalds one early morning was 10 years ago, an NHL player who recently won the Stanley Cup!  It was flattering to say the least but pretty sure we aren’t on the same page as a Cup winner.  Another instance was in Grimsby where we were approached by a woman who wanted to shake our hands and was fascinated by what we were doing.  She said she has read about people like us but had never met anyone in person doing this.  She asked if we needed anything and we said we were good.  The man she was with guided us to a sweet camping spot right on the beach.  It was a great spot and later while we were setting up camp he came down in the dark with over $15 worth of Wendy’s food!  Seriously it was a super kind gesture.  We both didn’t expect that.  It was the first decent dinner we have had since Alberta.  I think they must have seen us eating our reduced priced food and thought we must be starving.  In addition to the food, he gave us a few coffees and since Trevor doesn’t drink coffee I drank his.  In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best move to down both coffees just before going to sleep as I didn’t get any shut eye that night.  I was buzzed throughout the whole morning.  

We are now in Toronto resting up at my friend Mark’s place.  Tomorrow we head northeast for Quebec and will likely take the Waterfront Trail for the most part.  Still a few days away but most of Ontario is now complete. 


One of many scenic lakes we passed in western Ontario.

Exiting Thunder Bay I got annoyed with Trevor because he went off into the distance and was too far for me to get his attention to stop.  I wanted to see the Terry Fox monument which was along the Trans-Canada Highway, the road adjacent to the one we were on.  When I finally got his attention we were about 7km past the monument and I got real pissed at him.  We exchanged heated words and I went back to see it and he went ahead only to meet up with me later.  I enjoy seeing sights along the way whereas he could care less.  I realize it is just a statue but it is interesting as it is around the spot where Terry Fox ended his great marathon of hope back in 1980.  The spot also afforded great views of Lake Superior and Thunder Bay.  What gets Trevor excited is finding something on the roadside like food or duct tape.  He will also gladly ride out of his way to hit up a Superstore or No Frills but when it comes to attractions he is not interested.  I will give him credit though for insisting we ride an extra 10km round trip and ascend 100m to get to Marathon, a small town on the Northeastern tip of Lake Superior.  There we cycled to an Extra Foods where we got a stellar deal on white chocolate… 99 cents per kilo!  This is going to be hard to beat.  I picked up 2kg and Trevor did 4kg.  It kept us happy for days on end.  Looking back we should have cleaned house but left one bag. 

One animal we didn’t see is the elusive beaver… alive that is.  Saw a lot of their work with cut down trees and dams but never saw these engineers out and about.

Trevor enjoys climbing things and so here he is in this heavy piece of machinery.  

Since I couldn’t take a photo of a moving bear I will take one of a stationary bear.  Here is Pooh Bear aka Winnie-the-Pooh again in his hometown of White River.  The story goes she was found here and purchased by Harry Colebourn back in 1914.  He named her Winnie after his hometown of Winnipeg and when he was sent to serve in France he gave her to the London Zoo where she became popular with the crowds.  A.A. Milne saw the bear in London and inspired him to name his bear after her.  Then Disney buys the story and makes the movie and wam bam, Winnie-the-Pooh is a household name. 

Never would have thought it but there are some nice, sandy beaches on Lake Superior.  

Here I am at Pancake Bay in front of a wood carving place where I chatted with a retired man who gave me a free coffee.  Interesting this man started out as a cost analyst in the banking industry after university but after a short while called it quits and eventually set up some businesses such as the wood carving.  He didn’t have fond words for the banking industry as he said it took forever to get something done what with so many studies to see if what was proposed was the best course of action.  Then when they did come to a decision or think something was alright it never got done.  So all for not.  I found his comments amusing.   

Here I am on a totally demoralizing day, May 2nd.  We were met all day with strong, relentless headwind that would not quit.  All day I had wind blowing in my face and believe me strong headwind or crosswind is really the pits.  You have to push twice as hard and it feels like a constant uphill battle.  The wind finally let up late in the afternoon but shortly thereafter we were met with fierce thunderstorms.  While I was scouting an area for a camp spot a man pulled up to Trevor and recommended a spot nearby.  He insisted we both hop in his vehicle and just leave the bikes on the side of the road because no one would take them especially when it is raining cats and dogs.  I didn’t want to leave them so I stayed with the bikes while Trevor jumped in the van to check the site.  I waited a good 10 minutes and got completely hammered by the rain.  It came down in buckets.  It reminded of the torrential downpours I used to experience in Singapore and SE Asia.  It was nicer there though since it was always warm and usually would pass quite quickly.  This particular thunderstorm didn’t let up.  As a result I had a really wet night and my tent, sleeping bag and other possessions got wet.  It wasn’t fun. 

Back to back bad days with the weather.  Well it wasn’t as bad as May 2nd but as you can see here we hit another fierce thunderstorm.  Luckily we were undercover when it came down like crazy.  We just waited until it passed and then continued on to look for a campsite.  Not as quite a wet night as the night prior but still it wasn’t great. 

Here is one of our first glimpses of the T dot O dot, Toronto.  We camped out along the coast of Lake Ontario in Mississauga and had a great view of the skyline. 

We made it the famous Niagara Falls along with 100 wild hog bikers.  Not sure why but there were loads and loads of bikers riding their loud Harleys and what have you around Niagara Falls on Cinco de Mayo.  Not sure why.  Anyway, here is Trevor not so impressed with Niagara Falls.  If it is any consolation he did say they are the most impressive waterfalls he has seen but he hasn’t really seen many if any.  For me, Iguazu Falls still reigns supreme but I do find Niagara Falls striking.  I must say the surrounding area has changed immensely since I first went to Niagara Falls 10 years ago.  So many casinos have popped up and the whole place is very commercialized.  It was nice riding from Mississauga to Niagara Falls as we used the Waterfront Trail for the most part.  There are plenty of beautiful lakeside homes which made the ride that much better.  A nice, elderly cyclist directed us to a more scenic route after we got sidetracked taking a more direct and trickier route.  He told us he rode from Vancouver to Halifax about 5 years ago in a span of 41 days.  Quite an impressive feat!

Here I am throwing back a delicious chocolate milk courtesy of the Toronto Marathon.  We rode passed some of the Mississauga marathon and Toronto marathon as we made our way into the downtown area of Toronto.  We got trapped at the finish line and then mixed in with the finisher crowd.  There they had volunteers handing out free drinks and sure enough gave Trevor and me a few. 

First stop in Toronto: the CN Tower.

A big thanks to my old high school friend Mark who let us crash the night at his place in Toronto.  We also had some delicious Chinese food in Chinatown which really hit the spot.  Yum. 

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