Chapter 5 - Into the (Pukaskwa) Wild

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"I was beginning to think I was the only one in the park.

You are. You're trespassing. You passed through 3 barriers to get in here.

Oh I thought the park was closed, optionally."

I finally got my solo winter camping trip when I left Wawa and got to Pukaskwa (apparently pronounced puck-a-saw) National Park. I was very dissapointed when I arrived to find this park closed, as every other park had been (with the exception of Killarney). However there was a difference. The closed gates on this park were not locked, so in I went. Once I got inside I found some stacks of logs from a run down staff shack, and everything fell into place. It was an interesting park, very high in elevation so a short stack of pines and spruce trees were all that surrounded me. Moss and lichen covered the ground and the beaches were littered with drift wood. I thought about having a fire on the beach but I wanted to get my camp fire going before dinner. After some hiking around, and setting up my camp, I began to cook supper. It was about 4:30 by the time I ate, just in time to catch the overcast sky turn dark as the sun went down.

It's a strange feeling to have darkness fall so early when you are outside in the cold and there are a good 5 hours at least before you're tired enough to sleep. This would be a particularly cold night. Sitting in front of the fire, carefully placing the wet old logs strategically to avoid the constant smoke in the eyes, I found exactly what I had been looking for; myself - with absolutely no distractions and lots of time. For so long when I had been planning this trip, I quit my job and left my (career) life behind with the hope to finally be able to get down to my core. My inner strength and sense of self was something I had to find again, as if it was something that I had forgotten about. Like that money you stash away and actually forget about, when you do find it, it's like an incredible reward. That was my experience.

The paranoia of going through barriers to get into the park I think caused an unnatural fear of what was all around me. Thinking about it now it seems crazy to imagine that I was in danger from bears, wolves, etc but when you are cold and alone in the dark - what you really have to face is yourself. The one piece of evidence that there was something around my campsite however, was something I would realize the next morning. (check side link for videos)

Asked for by popular demand, I'll give you the low down on how I got kicked out of the park - After a night in the darkness, I got up around 7am and it was still dark out (the self portrait) so I went for a hike on the beach. Not having seen anyone the night before I figured it wasn't a big deal I was camping come morning because I was leaving in any case. So I took my time packing up my campsite. At about 930am I heard distinct voices from people off in the distance as well as heavy machinery. Someone had arrived for work. It wasn't long before someone drove by my campsite and realized some crazy guy was camping in a closed park (and they wouldn't be able to continue cutting trees - because of safety concerns?) Anyways they soon found a couple of park rangers and they screached out to my campsite and then we had our conversation as above. I gave them my story, life in my van, headed out to whistler, really wanted to camp there - and immediately they changed their tune. They were very interested in my quest and allowed me to pack up and leave (which of course I was doing in any case)

After getting kicked out of the park, I was off to the Sleeping Giant and Thunder Bay and a new start on my adventure with a new sense of direction and purpose. What a difference! Will I ever leave Tbay!? Stay tuned!

Chapter 4 - The Eagles have Landed

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"Do you know where the mission is?

It's on Mission St.

How do I find Mission St.?

Take the highway down to the mission, it's right there."

I barely spoke to anyone on my trip from the soo to Wawa, and every conversation I had was about trying to find directions to Rocky Island Lodge where I was supposed to be able to camp. When I did finally find the lodge, of course it was closed and I was forced to go and pay to stay at a motel. That chain of events however would lead me to check out http://www.couchsurfing.com/ which I now believe is going to be bigger than facebook. A community of like minded people travelling the world on a budget find each other to make the journey a reality. A reality full with incredible experiences.

Before I got to Wawa however, I found one of the most beautiful places in Canada I've ever seen. Lake Superior Provincial Park is a long stretch of park with a particularly nice campground called Agawa Bay right on the shore of the lake. I biked down the campground and wished I was able to stay there. That would have been a long haul with all my gear plus having to spend the afternoon getting (wet) firewood. I was hoping to be able to camp near Wawa in any case, so I enjoyed my afternoon. I'm beginning to get a bit of a 6th sense when it comes to spotting wildlife. In natural parks during the winter, somehow the isolation of being completely away from other people puts you in touch with the animals that are in your space. While taking a picture of the shore I looke up over my shoulder and saw three bald eagles take flight from a nest just above me on an outcropping. Unfortunately my camera skills only captured these shots;

The drive from the soo to Lake Superior was definetly the best part of the driving I've done thus far. I can't even imagine what lies ahead of me in the rockies. Anyways, I was now alone on my trek and still wanted to get my 'into the wild' moment so I would have to wait. but not wait long...

Chapter 3 - The 'Gonk in the "Soo"

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"Is there a place in town that has wifi?"

After leaving Spanish (and the beer cooler) behind, we fiinally began our trek to a new place, somwhere neither of us had ever been. The drive from Spanish to the "Soo" wasn't all that interesting, especially after having driven north of there now - it just doesn't compare. The whole Soo experience was kind of like a whirlwind. In order to have gotten a big picture of what it's like I should have stayed another day there. We spent the morning/afternoon getting there, found our sketchy ghetto hostel - the Gonk (Algonquin) Hotel. Full of some very colourful people, though at first we were worried about our safety (i got up throughout the night to look out the window at BERK to see that she was still intact) it turned out they were all very helpful and interested in what we were doing. There seems to be a line that we crossed somewhere north of Sudbury where the people just change. I can't put my finger on it yet, but I will come back to this. So anyways we found a cool little coffee shop called the Steamy Bean and we hung out there for a while - walked around the Soo waterfrount for a while and called it a night. Early the next morning Graeme hopped onto the Greyhound bus and that part of the trip came to an end. I'm really glad Graeme came with me that far - it was great company and even better conversation. I am going to have to ask wikipedia when I need answers now.

I will be entering a much new chapter from here on, going solo. Next stop will be winter camping or some kind of adventure I am sure!

Chapter 2 - The Spanish Goat

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"So you guys have had goat before?"

Leaving Killarney was fine, knowing how it's always hard to leave but this time the cold and the lack of dry wood (and people? - the isolation was nice...) and we were off to Sudbury. After making all our required pit stops, we needed our technological fix and found it at the Green Star Laundry. 1 hour of our high. It wasn't long and we were off to the Great White North - well not really but it had been the furthest either of us had ever gone; Spanish, Ont. The Outhwaites were awaiting our arrival. Tony and Barb are two very unique people with a very different lifestyle and some very interesting and engaging perspectives on life. They live off the land, and off the grid. All the energy they use is accounted for, and everything has a full use life cycle or it simply does not make sense. They do not buy flourescent bulbs because they are trendy or feeling guilty about global warming. They buy LEDs because they use so very little power and can be very inexpensive. They do not choose to not eat beef because it factors into a large environmental footprint or that it fuels the cycle of animal abuse; they choose to not eat beef because raising them is expensive and difficult, and if they lose one to predators or otherwise that's there food supply gone for months. Instead they raise goats.

Goat meat is a lot like beef, and if I hadn't been told what I was eating I probably wouldn't have guessed. Tony, Barb, Graeme and I talked for hours and hours that first night and it was great. our politics are so similar it was like dinner at hazelwood, our perspective on life and society was so fresh and new on the other hand. It was like finding someone who had long been forgotten about but who speaks the truth from experience instead of posturing and theoritcal schmoozing. Like Luke Skywalker finding Yoda, and having to re assess life for what it was going to mean to him, instead of what it had previously meant to him.

All in all a great couple of days. I would have liked the weather to be nicer so that we could have helped out around the farm more, and maybe even got some dry firewood out of the deal! I left a beer cooler there but it seems I'm leaving things everywhere I go because i just brought too much stuff.

Leaving their farm we finally had a sence of new adventure, of going somewhere neither of us had ever been. I am really glad Graeme was along for this part of my quest.

Chapter 1 - The Fox's Letter

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"Please give me food. NOW."


The sly fox turned out to be the only other soul in the park the 2 days we stayed there. Although there was definite evidence of bigger creatures wandering the park. Killarney is a place where I grew up. Every summer for as long as I can remember has included some time at Killarney with some major or minor event that impacted us Brampton Cheadles and the friends/family that came with us. Like the little guy from New York that said Ornch juice and the time Graeme and I repelled down that cliff (ok big rock). The first time I jumped off the biggest peak into George Lake and the time Graeme and I made it to the Silver Peak. Phil coming up there and our adventure with the Lesbians and the time I invited 2 different girls up and they both came!

Fox gets the asparagus

This time was different. Not just because for the first time it was November, and all the deciduous trees had no leaves, and there was a sprinkle of snow on the ground. What Graeme and I experienced was complete isolation, and it was kinda surreal. we were busy and cold enough to not think about it too much but we were the only two in the park, the place that was always full of people, noise, action... was now deserted. Like a town that enjoyed the hustle and bustle of an era past that now sits silent and rustic and calm. but not entirely empty. Maybe it was the familiarity. Maybe it was the fact that Killarney is a part of us even when we're not there, and we were returning the favour. Or, maybe it was the fox.

In any case, if I do not see Killarney for some time, it was good being there in the winter (and for free, but only having wet wood to build fires makes for smokey nights) and I will cherish it among all the Killarney memories.