Chapter 4: Around Lake Superior

 Chapter 4: Around Lake Superior

All kinds of weather from snow, to rain, to sweltering heat, and some spectacular scenery!

April 24, Thursday: 47 miles (1099.9)

 As Phillip French had predicted, it was cold last night and snowed again, 1/4 inch maybe, with flurries still this morning, so I debated whether to even ride, but it gradually warmed enough that I could at least put in a short day. In Garden River I chatted with three Ojibway kids; they were fascinated. They also told me about bears and various maulings... warmed my heart, as you can imagine. I rode just far enough past Sault St Marie that I could find some woods to camp in, or "bush" as they call it here... (where the bears live!) 

 

 

*A pause here for a brief editorial note:

I'm realizing that the subject of my broken heart and the woman behind it will be a thread that is woven throughout this account, and it would be awkward to continually refer to her as "the woman who... etc." But she didn't ask to be in this story, so I feel I owe her at least the courtesy of not using her real name. Instead, I will use the pseudonym Laura, in part because it is one of the few female names that don't belong to someone I dated during my tumultuous twenties, and also because it is a fitting acronym for Lingering Ardent Untenable Romantic Attachment.

 

April 25, Friday: 45.7 miles (1145.6) 

Gray and chilly this AM, but seemed OK so I packed up. I hadn't gone 2 miles when it started raining. I pressed on, got some food so I can hide out tomorrow, and made it to Pancake Bay Provincial Park. Is it ever beautiful, even in the rain. I'm camped 100 feet from the waves lapping on the beach, and I have the entire place to myself.

Once safe inside my tent, with dinner done, my emotions caught up with me. Re-reading my last letter to Laura, I gave in to the tears. "I'm sad to think that so much of the reason for this trip is to overcome my attachment to her. The tears are also for homesickness, for all my other friends, and just for general loneliness. Here I am at this incredible campground on beautiful Lake Superior, and there's not a soul I can share it with."

April 26, Saturday: 0.9 miles (1146.5) 

As planned, I took a rest day, to save the rumored gorgeous road ahead for a nicer day, and also because I didn't want to arrive at my next mail stop on Sunday. I wrote a lot of letters. A couple of highlights: 

"I'm feeling strong and healthy - my legs have more definition than a dictionary!" 

"I realized last night that I have a frostbitten toe. I noticed the black spot over a week ago, but thought it was just a bruise. I've had awfully cold feet at times, though, and last night I made the connection. I'll have to be more careful."

 A few people came to the campground today, including Donny and Paul, two fishermen who camped next to me and invited me into their camper for dinner and plied me with their Canadian beer. (urgh!) We traded stories and laughed till our sides ached. 

 April 27, Sunday: 79.1 miles (1225.6)

"I cannot believe how incredibly beautiful Lake Superior is! I saw what it's really about today: ragged rocky shoreline, balsam fir trees, crystal clean blue water that breaks snowy white on the rocks near shore, rough weathered islands dotted with seagulls..."

 

"A lot of people waved to me today, even some truckers. It occurred to me that a lot of truckers will probably pass me several times, since I'm traveling the only truck route between the Sault and Thunder Bay. " 

"As in the Adirondacks, I noticed a change when I entered the Lake Superior Provincial Forest. I started seeing snow again - large areas of woods with as much as a foot of snow on the ground. And again the lakes are frozen, this time with thick ice."

 

 April 28, Monday: 64.0 miles (1289.6)

"MAIL TODAY! I got a flat just as I reached Wawa - my own damn fault - a maladjusted brake pad wore through the sidewall of the front tire."

 

I got 6 letters, which made me so happy, but they were all at least 2 weeks old, and so much has happened in that time. They were written before any of the many letters I've sent had even arrived. Oh well...

 

"I made Obatanga Prov. Park. It was sure closed, and I can see why." Here's a picture:

On the plus side, I got an upgrade from my previous (4-stall) snowy-campground accommodations! "I found a nice dressing room in the picnic area that will be my home for the night! I have a complaint, though. It doesn't seem fair that I should have to deal with mosquitoes after dragging my bike through so much snow!"

 

April 29, Tuesday: 90.0 miles (1379.6)

"Wow! I don't know what I did to deserve this weather, but I hope I'm still doing it. Up early, quick sandwich for breakfast, and hurried to get going, hoping to reach a payphone before 8:00." (For readers who are too young to remember a time before cell phones, it used to be much cheaper to make calls before 8:00 A.M.) "This is the 'bush' though, and I had to go 25 miles to find one. I called my parents - $4.35 for 5 minutes." Then I tried calling Laura. She wasn't there, but I had a lovely talk with her housemate, who was (and still is) a dear friend.

 

I had gone 50 miles by 2:00 and was already beyond where I had planned to camp. It was so nice out that I stopped by a lake and lay in the sun for a while, relaxing and hoping to give at least a little color to my ghostly white stomach, which contrasted comically with the rest of my increasingly tanned self. It was so hot I was sweating, and I decided to go for a dip. I thought it was worth setting up my camera on a timer to document it, since there was only a 6-foot wide strip of water along the shore that was not frozen solid!

 

 

"On a depressing note, I heard Saturday from the fishermen I camped with that Carter tried to rescue the hostages, but the mission failed. Then today I heard that he started the draft... don't know for what ages. SH*T!"

April 30, Wednesday: 64.3 miles (1443.9)

"The weather is unbelievable!!! So hot I was almost afraid I'd get heatstroke going up some of the hills. At one point I stopped and dunked my head in a brook to cool down."

"I treated myself to some canned juice, and some maple butter also - 'light brown death.'

Staying in Rossport Provincial campground tonight."

May 1, Thursday: 62.7 miles (1506.6)

I did things all wrong today; I dawdled this morning, writing and washing up, so I ended up riding in the heat of the day. But I've rounded the corner on Lake Superior... yahoo! 

A little past Nipigon some kids yelled a greeting to me as I rode by, so I stopped to chat. They were Dave Carney and Steve Aubut, and I ended up having dinner at Dave's house with his parents Patrick and Mal, and his (as Dave put it) "corked" Uncle Abe. They even offered to let me sleep on the couch, but I figured I'd sleep better in my tent, so I camped in a field across from their houses. 

May 2, Friday: 53.4 miles (1560.0)

"Packed everything except my tent which was covered with frost, and went over to the Carney's for, of all things, coffee. I really don't like coffee, but it was difficult to turn them down, so I drank 2 cups. They also gave me eggs and toast - really nice people. Uncle Abe was much more coherent this morning, told hunting and fishing stories, and was actually rather interesting."

"I got going at 9:00, before it got hot. Found a store with good prices and did a major resupply - $23 worth. I got fuel for my stove, more (and stronger) sunscreen, fly dope, and lots of staple foods. Also got my General Delivery mail at Pass Lake - a letter from home and one from Laura! That made me happy."

I stopped at a youth hostel just short of Thunder Bay. I tried calling Laura 6 or 7 times today, and finally got her after midnight. I felt bad because I had called collect, and we ended up talking for over half an hour. I decided I would pay her back out of the money friends had given me to buy treats for myself on the trip, because that phone call was really a treat. But I'm not sure that it did anything to help me get over her.

Moonrise over Lake Superior

 

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