Day 9 Circle Tour - Pukaskwa

Gary and I are at Pukaskwa National Park in Ontario.  It is also the land be longing to the Anishinaabe, First Nation People of the North Shore, though in fact Anishinaabe live in Wisconsin as well.  

We have finally found a spot that appeals to both of us.  Gary has his campsite set up and can move things around to his heart's content.  We have wi fi here at the visitor's center so he can check Facebook.  We have cool Ontario days and even cooler nights. 

As for me, I have a beach and hiking trails, the best kind.  The trail in Seymour is straight, built on an old railroad line.  I have yet to hike the full length.  Me, I want curves, climbs, roots and rocks to trip me up, the chance of running into a bear or some wild critter, and above all, a chance to get lost.  I had that today when I went hiking. 

First I took the easy boardwalk Beach Trail along Lake Superior.  The beach is sandy and about perfect except for one little problem.  Pukaskwa is famous for its driftwood beach.

 

The problem is that that driftwood goes in and out with the waves, so big logs, left over from the timber industry, wash in and out.  Last night the waves were a meter tall (when in Canada, learn metric!) and swimming became precarious.

If the logs came at me while I was swimming, I could have been batted around.  But when the lake is calm, the sandy beach is great.

Next I took the Manito Miikana Trail.  This one climbs up hills, going up 17 meters.  Though there are some stairs to help the hiker, there are still many tricky passages.  At one point, I got really lost, but I finally managed to get to the observation deck to snap this photo of Horseshoe Bay.

The haze in the background is caused by wildfires almost 500 kilometers away. Photographers here to film the Lake Superior wondered if they would be able to photograph at all.  But I learned that later, because other than one couple, I was alone in the woods.  

I came back from that hike thirsty, perspiring, and sore...and oh, so happy!

Circle Tour – Day 8 – July 20, 2012

Rainbow Falls to Pukaskwa National Park

Yesterday we found out our neighbors at the campsite were pipers on their way to a Celtic festival in Thunder Bay. Would we mind if they practiced their bagpipes? Wonderful we told them and pointed out a great rock jutting out into the lake and suggested they sit there, but watch out for the silkies. In fact, between my performance and their schedule we never heard them. I wish we had.

When I first set up the tour, I thought I would be telling in the Schreiber library, but instead it became a festival performance, part of the Schreiber Heritage Days.

Would I be willing to do an outside performance. I gave a firm “No!”

Festivals are great for folk singers and pipers. Audience members wander by, stay for a while and move on. This doesn't work for storytellers who need their audiences to be there at the beginning of the stories and stay until the end. A tent works better than the open air but best is a room somewhere.

We agreed that I would tell at the Schreiber Recreation Center and that is where we went. I found out later that the frantic librarian had sent me a message to tell me that an important Italian resident had died and the funeral reception was at the recreation center. When we arrived there were dozens of men in black suits coming out the door and one worried looking librarian.

My performance would be at the hockey arena next door. This was a first for me!

I was now supposed to tell stories in a narrow space in front of bleachers. I gave a firm “No!”

I explained that I have been doing this for thirty years and experienced everything (except a hockey arena). When a pre-schooler sits on bleachers he/she cannot help kicked at the wood beneath making a lovely drumming sound. Multiply that by two dozen pre-schoolers and even bagpipes can't be heard. This is fine at a hockey match but not at a storytelling performance. I spotted a space in a corner. There was a rug there, dirty but possible. The librarian found the last few chairs that hadn't been taken by the funeral party and we began.

In fact the performance went well and again, I am to e-mail next time I make the Circle.

****

We love the Canadian stories we hear. Marlene, a camper from New Brunswick, told me that when the Walmart opened, they closed all the businesses and schools and everybody went.

We've noticed all the workers at the provincial parks. I stopped to talk to two young people who were shoveling gravel and sand into holes on a park road. They were college students with summer jobs. Is the pay good? Only $10.50 an hour, the minimum wage in Canada. I told them the minimum wage in Wisconsin is $7.25 and Canadian money is worth more.

Doesn't it make sense for the government to hire more workers and pay them decent wages? Yet the US Congress keeps holding up the jobs program. People who earn money spend money, which is good for business. They pay taxes, too.

***

Gary packed up everything this morning and we are on the road. I say Gary because he's the one that brought an impossible amount of stuff. He thinks we have a dozen flashlights and at this time of year this far north the sun sets around 11:00. I went down to the shore to watch the waves fill the tide pools. Somebody has to make sure this is done correctly.

The temperatures are moderate during the day, almost cold at night. We are glad to be here and not suffering the Wisconsin heat.

***

Today Wade Peterson and I welcome a new writer to Black Coffee Fiction http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com  Bettyann Moore is a former editor and publisher who has been writing short stories since the 1970s.  Her first Porpoise McAllister story will be on line about 4:00 p.m. 

***

For the next three nights we expect to be camping in a Canadian national park.  I may not be able to post but I will keep writing and get everything on line when I can. 

Day 7 Circle Tour – Schreiber.

July 19

We learned a few days ago that Schreiber is pronounced “Scriber” but we keep forgetting, letting everyone here know we are foreigners.

We like some of the innovations at this Canadian park. Every five or six campgrounds there is a special stand with a rake and a shovel and an invitation to clean up the campsite. Gary likes that and immediately raked up the site and chided me for walking on his “clean” ground. There's a special bin for used green propane tanks. The government employees pick them up, express any unused gas and recycle them.

We talk to other campers. The family next site over arrived with a pop up carrier much like the one we used to have and Gary immediately went over to discuss gear. I think he talked the fellow, a professor at the University of Manitoba, into moving up to the HTT that we have. Gary would like to sell it and get something bigger. And then we would get something bigger after that until we were in a Class A motor home so big we couldn't actually take it anywhere.

While we were talking, we spotted a chipmunk going into the van. He may still be in there for all we know. The chipmunks here are even more aggressive than those at Laura Lake...and as cute. We are told not to feed the animals, but it is obvious these guys are world class beggars.

Today I perform at a festival in Schreiber (pronounced Scriber) at 2:00 p.m. Then the rest of the day we'll hike some trails. We'll have to leave here relatively early tomorrow to make our next stop in the Pukaskwa National Park.south of White Lake. We intend to stay there several days before I need to get to Sault Ste Marie for my next performances.

Meanwhile, we sit on the shore avoiding our own world. We don't look at Facebook and have no idea what is going on in politics. If there are catastrophes, we are blissfully unaware. Our cellphones don't work here, there's no wi fi.

For the time being, no camp gear is being moved and I am content.

Day 6 – Circle Tour – Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, west of Schreiber, Ontario

July 18

This post will be a day late since we never left Rainbow Falls Provincial Park yesterday. Why should we when we are in Paradise?

We are at the Rossport Campground, one of the two in the park. Gary and I explored the White Sands Lake Campground yesterday when we went over to photograph the falls. He briefly thought about moving over there today but I put my foot down. We've been traveling for days. Each time he sets up the campsite it takes three hours to set up and at least two hours to take down. (Unlike my tour last summer when I traveled alone and spent fifteen minutes setting up and fifteen minutes taking down. I take less “stuff”.)

We compromised and he moved us from site 32 to site 18, with me avoiding most of the work by reading at the shore. I approved because now our site is on the edge of Lake Superior. We are farther away from Highway 17, the Trans Canadian Highway and a railroad line. It isn't really any quieter at this site because the waves lap on the rocks but that is soothing “white noise”.

The Provincial Parks are inexpensive and lovely. We have showers, flush toilets and a laundromat. The neighboring campers are polite Canadians and most of them move on after one night. They all seem to be taking the Trans Canadian highway during their long vacations.

Today I talked to Marlene from New Brunswick. She and her husband were in Vancouver and are now returning home. Tomorrow they will leave Rainbow Falls. She told me that in their business they would like to purchase from the USA, but they need metric equipment and the USA still hasn't adapted. She and I complained about our pack rat men and all the stuff they bring along on trips and that they don't seem to want to stop for anything we would like to see.

My own thought is that in a year or two I could do another Canadian tour by myself, stopping wherever I want. I've been asked back by all my hosts so far, so it wouldn't be that difficult to arrange.

But today was heaven with Gary. We sat on the shore and watched the waves come in. We had the shoreline to ourselves until late this afternoon. When we got warm, we dashed into the frigid lake and cooled down pronto. I had hours to read, finishing two books in one day.

Tonight we'll watch the sunset then light our campfire.

So apologies for missing a blog. I'll try to post two tomorrow.  

Day 5 Circle Tour - Thunder Bay to Screiber

Last night, I went over to the swimming pool at the motel to swim and later sat in the jacuzzi.  Two women came in later and sat with me.  We chatted about their wedding.  They were married a year after Canada legalized gay marriage.  They said the world didn't cave in.  People now accept the law.  

Even more interesting is that one of them works for the Canadian hockey association.  Her job is to drive the zamboni.  I told her that impressed me more than anything!

Today, two performances at retirement homes.  Both were huge with incredible amenities.  It makes sense because as we discovered today, Canada is wealthier than the United States with the average Canadian earning more than the average American.   The residents in both facilities dined on white linen tableclothes with fine china and crystal goblets.  

Gary felt he must do something to keep us on an even keel, so sparing no expense, he bought a GPS for Canada.  This way we won't argue about maps, he says.  It, too, has that annoying woman giving directions whom he ignored.  He said sooner or later, she would say, "Return me to the store!"

Then we were off on the Trans Canadian Highway heading west.  There moose crossing signs everywhere but no moose crossed.  I've been in Canada several times and have yet to see a moose.  This is a major disappointment to me.  

Tonight we are at Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, the Rossport campground on the north shore of Lake Superior.  For those poor souls I left sweltering in Wisconsin, I must report that the temperature tonight will be 10 degrees C. which is 50 F.  Tomorrow will be a perfect day of 15 degrees C.   We shall frolic on the beach and hike the trails. 

Photos when we have more time. 

Circle Tour Day 4 - Grand Marais to Thunder Bay, Ontario

I'll do my best to post a blog every day but once we pass into Canada towns are few along the Lake Superior  coast. I may miss a day or two but will try to make up for it with longer posts.

Rain, rain and more rain overnight into the morning. I dashed over to the Cascade Falls State Park shower building to change and apply makeup. Instead of packing up right away, Gary drove me the ten miles into Grand Marais and delivered me to the North Shore hospital nursing home. Enthusiastic about my performance, the activity director bussed in the senior citizens from downtown and some students as well.

I was helped by Issac and Laura, two middle school students. Issac is Korean, adopted by an American family, but I told him he looked like he was Native American and that makes sense because North America was colonized by oriental people around 10,000 years ago. He said his father had just explained that to him. Laura's mother is from the Dominican Republic. An interesting pair, those two. They were volunteering at the nursing home.

It was a good audience, receptive, applauding after every story. They want me to come again, but Grand Marais is quite a way to go.

Gary and I walked around the harbor, had breakfast, and got a Grand Marais sticker for my autoharp case.

Back at the campground, we packed our gear wet. We hate that, but tomorrow I perform at Thunder Bay, Ontario and we had to move on.

We stopped once more in Grand Marais to get ice at Gene's Market.  I took a walk around because I always like to see what is interesting in the way of local food and came upon Gene's bacon cheeseburger bratwurst.  That is wrong on so many levels I still can't get over it.  Gary says he feels a coronary coming on every time he thinks about it.

We crossed the border into Ontario and right away the weather turned cooler.   We planned on camping tonight but more rain was forecast and we really were not crazy about the provincial park we looked at.  The  sites were overgrown.  We decided that for once we would stay at a motel and here we are.  I am about ready to hit the hot tub.  

Then I am going to put on something warm and have a cup of hot chocolate because I got a chill from this cool Canadian weather. 

Circle Tour Day 3 - Lake Wanoka to Cascade Riverdd

With clear skies above us, we thought we would dispense with the rain fly.  We unzipped the tent's windows and doors leaving only the equivalent of a screen tent.  Gary set up the rain fly so we could pop it on at any sign of rain, but it proved unnecessary.  We needed no privacy, the only other campers were on the other side of the campground.

From time to time, one of us would wake up to look out over the lake for northern lights but the sky was mostly clouded over so no such luck.

Next morning, we looked up to see the sun shining through the trees.

We could hear the eagle fledges calling to their parents, begging to be fed, but Mama and Papa Eagle were wise, letting the children fend for themselves, but watching them to make sure they were going to be all right. It was eagle graduation up there. 

From my side of the bed I could look down at the lake, way below our perch on the bluff.  

On such a sweet morning, it was almost impossible to get out of bed.  Gary took up his cell phone and played a song he had recorded, "Gentle Arms of Eden," by Dave Carter.
     This is my home, this is my only home,
     This is the only sacred ground that I have ever known.
     And I should I stray in the dark night lone
     Rock me goddess in the gentle arms of Eden.

Somehow we managed to leave our paradise, packed up and headed west again on Highway 2.

At Duluth, I told stories at an assisted living facility.  It was the usual performance, well received, and then we were off again, this time on Highway 61 along Lake Superior.  I watched the shore, thinking about the Oregon Coast.  Superior is not quite as grand, but still beautiful.  It is a world treasure, one of the last great sources of fresh water.

We wound up at the Cascade River Minnesota State Park.  Here we have access to flush toilets and showers, and really, the campsite isn't bad.  The problem is that the campsites around us are all filled, on one side with giggling girls.  Immature eagles are more interesting than immature girls, sorry to say.

So we will take our showers tonight and enjoy them, but think wistfully about Lake Wanoka.