Wow – it feels like another planet up here
in the north, compared to the string of humid days in the mid-90s were experiencing
back home! Timing wasn’t quite right, as we should have left BEFORE the heat wave
set in, but it sure was refreshing to ride our bikes around for even a short distance without feeling
like we were going to collapse into a totally dehydrated heap.
In anticipation of departure early
Monday morning for our trip through Canada to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, we
had all of our packing done Sunday night. Sue and I had parked our van under the
big maple tree that shades our driveway in order to get some relief while we
strapped the kayaks to the top rack. The rest of the loading seemed much less
painful (but not much less sweaty), and as everyone knows, the Larimer bikes always
go safely inside the vehicle when transporting them!
During our many journeys to the Midwest and beyond,
we have always traveled the PA Turnpike, then I-70 through Ohio and Indiana in at least one
direction of the trip. Quite frankly, this route is pretty boring, so we decided to go “up
and around” through New York’s Southern Tier, cross into Canada at Buffalo and
make our way across Ontario.
I hadn’t done any cycling for a few days, as the temperatures
weren't exactly inspiring me to get outside, so I had hopes that I would have an
opportunity to ride during our short stay in Barrie, just north of Toronto. I had
mapped out a route ahead of time, featuring the city’s waterside trail that
followed a nice portion of Lake Simcoe.
There was a large volume of traffic at the
border checkpoint, which then put us into Toronto’s rush hour, so we were later
into Barrie than we had planned. I realized I was going to have to scrap my
plans for a longer ride. We had also been in and out of showers almost the
whole drive, but conditions were dry enough for Sue and I to take a nice,
relaxing spin in the wonderfully cool evening air!
The neighborhoods around Barrie gave us the
feel of New York’s Finger Lakes towns like Watkins Glen, Ithaca or Skaneateles,
but there was a greater population base here and more high-rise development in
the city center. Being only a little more than an hour outside of Canada’s
largest city (Toronto), I guess that is to be expected.
I always enjoy driving to new places,
especially when the traffic is light, so the next day’s journey up Ontario 400
was really nice. It is amazing how much of the area from Barrie to Parry Sound
(home of Bobby Orr) was covered by water. There was a constant crossing of creeks
and small rivers, and it seemed we were always in sight of lakes or marshlands.
Farther north towards Sudbury, the highway
was frequently passing through dramatic sandstone cuts. An obvious geologic change to the landscape was happening as we
neared the region known as the Canadian Shield. To our left we would catch occasional glimpses of Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay, which sits behind Bruce Peninsula
and Manitoulin Island. I’ve seen Lakes Erie and Ontario before, but it never ceases
to amaze me when I look out over these huge bodies of water and can’t see anything beyond the
horizon - they seem like mini oceans!
Our next destination was Sault Ste. Marie,
which is in reality a city split in two internationally. The St. Mary’s River
separates the U.S. and Canadian sides and serves as the junction between Lakes
Huron and Superior. Shipping traffic through the Great Lakes system
bypasses the rapids at this location via the American Soo Locks, the
world's busiest canal in terms of tonnage passing through them. We plan to stop
on our return trip to visit the locks and hopefully time it right to see a
large ship coming through.
I did enjoy a long, late-afternoon ride
around the area, following the “Hub Trail” into town along the waterfront. I
saw a couple small freighters, but not any of the huge Laker ships out on the
river. The trail passed the Bushplane Museum, the marina and Station Mall, from
where the Agawa Canyon tour trains depart.
I headed north on the Hub Trail along a
street called Carmen’s Way, then turned west to head out toward the airport and
Shore Ridges area west of the city. To my left was the Essar Steel Algoma plant
that receives much of the iron ore shipments for which the Upper Peninsula area
is so well known.
As I pedaled along Base Line, the wind picked
up with pretty vicious gusts and was only getting worse as I neared the
lakeside, so I decided to cut my planned route a bit short and save my legs. I
hung a right on Carpin Beach Road in order to reach Third Line and turned back east. I
was flying with the wind at my back and weaved my way back over to the Hub Trail,
just a couple blocks from where I left it on Carmen’s Way. The trail crossed a
couple of high trestle bridges through the Fort Creek Conservation Area, a beautiful
forested park surrounding a reservoir built here in the 1970s.
There are not a whole lot of options to loop
back north of the city, as you are soon out in the wilderness, but I made an
attempt using Fourth Line and Old Garden River Road, which on Google Maps had looked like it might
become an unpaved surface. I was thinking gravel but was soon to find out it was
much worse.
I was initially delighted to find a
relatively new housing community in place and hoped that it was an un-updated map I had seen and that the excellent road quality would continue.
My mood quickly changed when someone let their chocolate Labrador loose. I am
not a dog person in any way, shape or form, and the owner was not calling the
dog back! I had to do a half-mile sprint to keep it from biting me or getting
into my wheels. The worse situation was that I had no option to turn back when
the road deteriorated BADLY.
At a cul-de-sac, the asphalt abruptly ended,
and I was left with a rutted, rocky path that had occasional deep holes filled
with water or thick mud that was nearly impossible to ride through. About a
mile in, I was facing a death-defying, rickety bridge over a creek. It seemed that some ATVs had been over it, and I figured that I was much lighter. I held my breath and went for it.
I was getting absolutely beat up, bouncing
around on the ruts and rocks in this "road", until I finally came to a golf course, which I
cut across on its cart path. I soon reached the main highway back into Sault Ste.
Marie, and it was just a couple miles back to our lodging off of Queen Street. Sue
had been a bit worried about my late return, and I was still fuming about the
dog owner and the situation he had forced me into!
We’re off next to
Marquette, Michigan, and I’ll fill you in on the details next week.
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