We are heading home. Sunday morning we pull out of Kingston KOA and head northwest to Pembroke where we will intersect with Highway 17 coming out of Ottawa. The destination tonight is North Bay on the northeast corner of Lake Nipissing. Home of the Nbisiing Anishinaabeg (Nipissing First Nation) for thousands of years, European visitation first occurred in 1610 or 1611 with the arrival of Etienne Brule. It was further developed as part of the “canoe highway”, part of the core route for the fur trade. We spend a very pleasant evening in a campground along the La Vace River, an integral part of that route and head out again the following morning.

Todays destination is Sault Ste Marie, the point where Lake Huron and Lake Superior meet. Along the way we pass through Sudbury, Canada’s nickel Capital and home to the “Big Nickel”  A requisite stop for anyone heading this way, The 13,000 kg monument is a replica of a 1951 Canadian 5 cent piece and was built is 1964 to symbolize the wealth that Sudbury has contributed to the Canadian economy. It is located at the “Dynamic Earth” , an immersive, hands-on science center and commemorates the 200^th anniversary of the identification of the element Nickel. It also happens of be the year of my birth.

THE BIG NICKEL, SUDBURY

After a peaceful night in Sault Ste Marie it’s off up the highway, next camp-over in Marathon. Marathon’s motto. “built on paper and laced with gold” makes reference to it’s pulp industry and more recently to the famous Hemlo gold deposit. An interesting attraction is it’s well known “pebble beach”. This is a two kms stretch of Lake Superior shoreline covered with smooth, multi-coloured rocks of volcanic origins, it consists of granite as well as semi precious quartz and agates. Very pretty and unique.

LAKE SUPERIOR VIEWS LOOKING SOUTH

PEBBLE BEACH, MARATHON

A way along the north shore we pull into a viewpoint for a panoramic looksee at Lake Superior. We have noticed a large number of Monarch butterflies. Apparently this area is the northern limit of the summer range of the butterfly, feeding and laying its eggs among the milkweed plants that inhabit the ditches along the highway. I managed to get a pic of one of them that sat still long enough for me to capture it. Note: this is an edit. This is not a monarch butterfly but a NYMPHALIS. Still lots of them around.

NOT A MONARCH, ALL THE WAY FROM MEXICO, BUT A NYMPHALIS

Our destination tonight is Thunder Bay. I have noticed on the map that really the only two ways through this part of the country is either Highway 17, the southern route, or Highway 11, which leaves Highway 17 at North Bay, heads up north to Cochrane, arches northwestward and rejoins Highway 17 just east of Thunder Bay. As I look at these highways on a map, my imagination likens them to a string of pearls, with the small towns as beads on the strands.

Speaking of beads, along this stretch of Highway 17 there are a number of amethyst mines. Curiosity gets the better of us and we pull of the highway to check it out. Eight kms later we pull into the mine site, people clamouring over the hillsides, carrying red plastic buckets and reaching down to scour the ground around them. We go inside and sign up for a tour. Very fascinating. This seam of purple quartz was discovered in the early 50’s during the construction of a fire tower. The bulldozer uncovered an outcropping of brightly coloured rock and the rest was history. Not much commercial use for amethyst apparently, mostly jewelry as it is considered semi-precious. It is also Ontario’s provincial mineral. Of note, a big block of amethyst forms the base of the Terry Fox monument a little further west. The people cavorting on the grounds of the mine site are literally picking amethyst off of the ground. It is weighed and can be purchased for $6 per pound. Not a mountain of wealth for sure. I bought $50 worth of multi coloured quartz, one piece big enough to be used as a door stop at our front door.

GRANITE BOULDER WITH A “VUG” FILLED WITH AMETHYST

$50 WORTH OF QUARTZ

We are soon in Thunder Bay and bedding down for the night. It has been very hot today; +34 and humid. As we head west out of town to Kakabeka Falls area to a campground, I pass a sign that says “Thunder City Raceway”. “Oh what fun” I think. A great activity for a hot, humid, sultry summer night. We set up the trailer and head back to the raceway. We spend the evening with the smell of high octane racing fuel in our nostrils and the roar of unmuffled  Detroit V-8’s in our ears. Great fun.

IN MY WILDEST DREAMS

We are now in Kenora for the evening. Tomorrow is Victoria Beach on Lake Winnipeg.