Day 03 - Sault Ste Marie to Thunder Bay

We were anxious to see Lake Superior today and after fueling up, got on the road at 8:20am. Temps in the 60s brought out my heated jacket, Rob was ok without. We expected to gradually warm as the day went on. Our first views of the great lake were just a few miles outside of the city.

As we made our way around the lake, temperatures plummeted to 52 degrees! We were getting colder and I spotted the Agawa Bay Rock park area, which is in Lake Superior Provincial Park, a location I found through Google images online with great scenery. We parked and found the trailhead. The trail was really cool, rocky and filled with evergreens. Climbing over boulders we reached the water's edge. This area supposedly has ancient rock drawings but we did not see them. No matter, the view was awesome.

We were already behind schedule and still with 350 miles to go after our quick hike, so we got back on the road without haste. The swarms of mosquitoes also urged us on (they're bad here like in Alaska).

Soon after, Rob cleverly spotted a black bear at the forest edge! He pointed at the bear so I could see him, and the bear promptly looked at us and bolted back into the woods. We were a safe distance on the road, but close enough to see its facial features. Exciting! This all happened too fast to get a pic.

Not much further down the road it started to rain. We stopped to put on gear. Rob thought he would be ok without rain pants and gloves (I learned my lesson on a trip in June to always put on all of the rain gear when the chance presents itself). Right when he said he hoped the rain would not get worse, it did. But only for 5-10 minutes. We stopped again down the road and Rob put on the rest of his gear, and soon thereafter, no more rain.

We made it to the town of Wawa where Rob wanted to see this Big Goose he had been telling me about. One greeted us at the town's edge (he seemed most official) and two others randomly around town. This goose was in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of completing the Trans-Canada Highway. It was nearly Noon by this time, and we had made little progress all morning. We got a quick lunch, and hit the road in uncertain skies.

The rest of the day the temps were only about 62 until we were just outside of Thunder Bay where the temps creeped up to the mid 70's. We rode close to the lake and inland at times, and were up in elevation at many points. Many small lakes appeared around corners, each with a different view. We saw a lot of moose signs, but no sign of them, despite our hopeful glances in each lake.

At one gas stop, a gentleman on a motorcycle approached me and indicated he was concerned about more rain ahead. He was hearing impaired, but we had a nice conversation--he expertly read lips and understood everything I said. He typed on his phone that he was from Massachusetts, but works at Dulles Airport for United Airlines as a mechanic. Small world! He and his adult daughter were headed to the Sturgis bike event that begins next week.

Back on the road, the majority of our route offered views of dense evergreen forests, either aspens or birch (we can't tell), and many views of the lake. We also passed two recent mishaps at different points in the day, with vehicles completely in the ditch and demolished, we suspect from either driving fatigue or distraction. It is a very long route--450 miles from the "Soo" to Thunder Bay alone.

About an hour outside of Thunder Bay, the scenery became briefly dramatic with red rock walls carved for the highway.

The only other wildlife today apart from our black bear, was one chipmunk, one groundhog and several huge black crows. We also passed through a very stinky area that Rob guessed was the result of a paper mill, but did not see any operations from the road.

A quick video of one of the vistas we saw as we crested a hill.

Tomorrow we continue west along the Trans-Canada Highway through the Lake District and into Winnipeg. Perhaps we'll see moose tomorrow.