Thunder Bay

The second day we drive on to Thunder Bay. We have plenty of time to explore the back roads, drive along some of the lakes and take pictures of small churches, in good and bad repair, have a leisurely lunch at a café/shop/ lunchroom/take-away where the locals gather and chat. From Dryden on we see more logging trucks, heavily laden. The landscape also changes and is less rocky. I think I prefer the rocky outcrops the road cuts through at regular intervals between the Whiteshell and Dryden. But here we get more vistas. And more showers, although not till we cross the watershed. From there it is downhill, towards Lake Superior, which is the cause of the rain.

Before that we admire the silvery light on the lakes, W. admires a water plane, an old one, the type in which he was transported into the bush when he had a summer job. Canoes were tied to the drivers and thus transported. It is a nice, bright yellow plane, an Otter.

We also stop at an outfitter at English River, a nice spot also on a lake. As it is in between seasons – the fishing is over and the hunting hasn’t started yet – the place is closed. When open there is a coffee shop with a view of the lake – and of any piece of game hanging out in the trees opposite. Once W. and J. faced a moose hanging there. There are trucks in bush colours, one even creatively painted with tiny leaves and flowers, which are used to drag the killed animals home. It is not exactly easy to carry a dead moose!

In Thunder Bay we stay for a few days, enjoying the hospitality of my friends’ relatives. On Saturday J. takes us for a drive to Silver Islet, on the Sleeping Giant peninsula. Here we see beautiful autumn colours, vivid reds and yellows, especially in the undergrowth. On the map the distance is negligible, but in fact the distances are deceptive. Besides, we only have road maps which give no indication of the landscape  at all. Everything is just white with red or black roads. National Parks are green. Altitude is not indicated. So it is a surprising trip, the map being coloured in in my mind, unfolding as if building up the landscape.

The shop cum cafe. Below some of the shelves of the shop

Silver Islet is another surprise today. It is a quaint old place, on the shore of Lake Superior. It was once a mining town, as silver was mined on a very small island off the shore, not very far away. How they could build shafts on that island, and a mine, seems a mystery. But the mine was successful. Many of the houses facing the lake are original, some dating back to the 1880-ies. Theylook very picturesque, but it is also clear the will be very cold and uncomfortable in winter with the wind blowing down from the lake. It is cold now, only 7 degrees. We meet some people who tell me that a bear cub is in a tree nearby, so we take the car and carefully drive further along the road. But all we see is a doe and a stag with antlers, grazing in between the houses.

There is an old-fashioned store which sells anything one can possibly need, and with a tearoom, attached to it which opens this Saturday at 2 o’clock. It is marvellous, as an old couple is serving us, making coffee and soup. By the locals it is used as a pub, a place to meet and exchange the news, gossiping about this and that and the other.

The shop is painted a bright blue, which reflects in the water of the lake.

On our way to Quimet Canyon

We go back via dirt roads and on to Quimet Canyon, an amazing canyon with lookout platforms hanging over it. We can see the lake, the autumn colours and the awesome granite rock formations. But the wind is very cold and we wouldn’t mind a pair of gloves. So we walk back via the boardwalks. It is an hour’s drive from here via the Trans Canada to Thunder Bay, where we arrive just before 6 o’clock. It was a wonderful day, and we warm up on red wine, a lovely meal cooked by our host, and enjoy each other’s company.

 Some views of the Canyon and the road towards it.