Chapter 10 - The Time has come the Walrus Said

Here's the next post, pictures to follow sometime soon!! By the way, nobody comments on my blog stories anymore! instead of writing me an email, post a comment on here!



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After finally leaving Thunder Bay, I was really looking forward to Winnipeg where I was going to meet up with some couch surfing girls I met online. I still had a lot of ground to cover before leaving Ontario and into a new province - and I decided to take the less traveled route of Kakabeka falls and the long awaited Quetico Provincial Park. I had originally planned to camp at Quetico for a couple of nights but I spent those extra days in TBay. It seems funny now looking back that I was concerned about when I would be getting places but I had a rough schedule and wanted to stick to it to be in Banff on a particular weekend and again arrive in Vancouver and then Whistler with enough time before Christmas to find work.

It's funny now that I think about it, that when I left Brampton I wasn't even sure if I would be home for Christmas or if I would make it as far as Whistler or if I would continue on from there and go somewhere else... I remember thinking that I might just go back to Toronto or try and get a job in the Barbados. Somewhere along the way I convinced myself that Whistler was calling me, and that I would setup my new life there. By the time I reached Vancouver I was set in my mind on staying in Whistler despite the lack of potential jobs and the even more difficult task of finding a place to live. I hadn't even been there yet! More on all that later.

Kakabeka falls was really cool. Like a smaller version of Niagara, but the power of the water and ice was raw and wild, like the first nations must have witnessed Niagara or the pioneers when they realized they would have to portage it. It was only me there that afternoon and I would have liked to share that time with someone - other than the wild pigeons of course (which was really interesting esp. since I was so used to their urban cousins) I had tried to convince some of the cool people I met in Tbay to come with me, but the real world was back and they all had work/school priorities. My map for Saturday was going to be very different than the weekly warriors. Nevertheless I took lots of photos (like my profile pic on my blog here) and made my way from there onto Quetico. Ironically, this provincial park was open for business. No locked gates, no closed signs, and there was actually one staff working at the gate house. Ironic because all the other parks that I actually spent the night at were closed and/or not staffed and here was this amazing park that was open for me to stay, explore and really get into nature - except I had other plans to continue on. I still had some winter camping inspiration in me, and I knew if I didn't camp out here I wouldn't be camping again until the BC interior, but the prairies and Winnipeg and the thought of a new province was calling me. Not before I would spend a night in Fort Frances, Ontario however.

I wasn't going to waste a great opportunity to check out Quetico, and it turned out to be an amazing discovery. I opted for the 7km hike which turned out to be really interesting. I hiked the footpaths and cross country ski trails (not very much snow on the ground - which meant some of the x-country trails ended at rivers that would normally be frozen - and I had to turn around) and came upon something really cool. I crouched down in the bushes by the river and waited as I heard something splashing around. Stirring in the reeds just on the other side of the river was a litter of otters. They didn't notice me right away and made for interesting targets for my cameras which I never left too far from my reach. Except my video camera battery was dead - luckily I had my still camera and managed to get at least a shot or two before my hiding position was compromised and the otters disappeared. I followed them up river, wandering from the original trail to spot another glimpse of the otters, and I found myself a cabin. What an opportunity! I decided right then and there this was a place I would come back to and experience again and spend at least one night in the cabin. There was a guest book in the cabin and I took the time to read who had stayed there. I stole Dad's quote from Tony and Barb's framed picture and 'wished I could have stayed a while.'

So after getting lost on a bit of a side exploration I decided to head out for Ft. Frances and find a motel (as there were no couch surfers in the fort frances area - that had couches available anyways... ) I managed to find an interesting little spot called the Adventure Inn and actually a pretty good deal considering the accommodation quality. I had dinner in the hotel restaurant and chatted with my waitress about possible things to do on a Monday night in Ft. Frances. She let me know that I was in the hottest place in town and that the hotel bar was having it's big night tonight; a stripper. Oh small towns in Ontario! How simple. Not interested in the dancer, I asked the waitress what she was up to later - but she had school the next day (probably a little too young for me to be asking her out!) I think I ended up watching Star Wars II Attack of the clones and fell asleep.

Waking up to a nice sunny day, I was super excited about getting to Winnipeg. I threw all my gear into the van, which was running great and with plenty of heat and headed up the highway for Kenora and FINALLY a new province!!

This seems like a pretty good spot to itemize all the things I had lost, forgotten and/or found along my trip so far. Remember, at this point I was still in Ontario!
Killarney - Actually I don't think we left anything there? maybe a tent peg or clothes pin...
Spanish - 6 pack of beer cooler (not the beer, just the cooler)
Sault St. Marie - Graeme! He left on the Greyhound and I haven't seem him since!
Wawa - found couchsurfing.com (actually Jane told me about it last summer, but this is when I checked it out for real...)
Pukaskwa - I lost myself for a while, and had my 'into the wild' moment. Luckily I found my purpose.
Thunder Bay - white flowered cooking pot, van heat for a couple of days.
Duluth - almost lost a glove, but also dropped my laptop. (don't worry its under warranty and it hasn't failed me yet)
Ft. Frances - A nice big chip in the windshield on the drivers side that would have hit me right between the eyes had it gone through.