Camping in Ontario’s North

I have been all over the world, but not all over my own country. That statement is to be rectified with the current trip I am on. Two friends are getting married on the west coast and the weddings are about a month apart, so for me that means road trip.

With a limited budget, but an abundance of time, I decided to drive and camp my way across Ontario. Taking three days to get to Winnipeg should have allowed me a chance to visit some parks and do some nature journaling along the way. The drive is, theoretically, very simple; get on the highway and go to Sudbury, then the Soo, then Thunder Bay, then Winnipeg. I have a ten-year-old $1 map of Canada and a brand new $200 GPS computer, the GPS got me lost once when it said I was driving in a field and wanted me to turn left off the newly constructed highway. A GPS is no match for common sense, but excellent when finding directions in strange cities. The drive itself is beautiful.

What a better way to start the summer then listening to some Tragically Hip as you drive through the Canadian Shield. I had a cooler of food and water and a lot of distance to cover. I finally stopped at Pancake Bay Provincial Park for my first night of camping. Camping has proven to be less glorious in reality than it is when romanticized in many of our stories. That night I was trapped in my tent because of the mosquitoes and had to revise my stretching routine for the closed confines. I missed the sunset and didn’t even attempt a fire. After what seemed like hours of readjusting my position for a comfortable sleep, it finally happened; the rain came. Unable to get sleep I stared at the tent’s domed roof as the crescendo of raindrops danced all over the flysheet, the only distraction being the slight earthquake of tracker trailers driving by on the highway less than 50 meters away. I tried to count how far away the thunder was after seeing the orange glow of the lightening in the tent, but couldn’t get any real barring. At some point I realized my pillow was wet from brushing up against the side of the tent, again I had to readjust my sleeping plans. I don’t remember what time sleep finally came that night, but I was up at 6:30 with a desire to freshen up and start a new day.

I had to set some new rules for camping and driving if things were going to get better. Clean clothing and edibles in the back seat, bug spray and camping gear in the trunk. I also choose to put the camera in the trunk as well very quickly I had to make an assertive decision to not stop at every historic plaque or museum or photo opportunity along the way or I would never get anywhere. The drive west along the Trans-Canada highway across the top of Lake Superior is awesome; you are constantly looking at water on one side and the remains of one of the planets oldest mountains on the other. After another long day of driving I veered off the highway to find Sandbar Lake Provincial Park. One of my new rules is to drive around the park and find one of the best campsites to set up in. I choose site 47 because of its remoteness, access to hiking trails and the fact that it had grass to set up my tent on instead of pebbles like the night previous. I eagerly set up camp, surveyed the area, bought some firewood from the camp ranger and waited to enjoy the sunset over the lake. I eventually became aware of how far north I was, the sun set here at 10:15, I got some beautiful pictures, but probably not the rest I needed for the long drive ahead in the morning. Getting back to camp I gave up on the fire because it was so late and once again the mosquitoes seemed to be winning the war. I am not exactly Samuel de Camplain, but I am getting better.

As far as nature journaling was concerned, I would have to give myself a failing grade; failure to attempt being the reason. I identified one bird off the list I found in the park, a chickadee. I identified one type of tree in the park, a birch. I saw a deer near Barrie, and a few moose along the highway on day two. As of now I am not a master of fire, and haven’t even attempted to boil water. As a history teacher I have read many stories about great men adventuring across this country exploring and building a nation. This is a very humbling experience to learn a greater appreciation of how hard the people in those books had it.

For now I am 1560 km into my Cross Canada adventure, next stop Winnipeg, home of friends from Portugal, a clean soft bed to sleep in and a shower.