Thunder Bay, ON to Saskatoon, SK

Arrival in Thunder Bay brought the prospect of lots of stormy weather which meant Jon couldn’t hold back. Considerable time was spent designing and redesigning a suitable tarp strategy ensuring that run off would be away from any tent/dining shelter and eventually lead back to the lake. All the tarps were used, and after some adjustment and re-adjustment a well deserved glass of Shiraz was quaffed by the lake in the pre-storm sunshine.

Finally, after 2 days of constant rain, the weather broke, and we embarked on a hike up the Sleeping Giant, which has a special place in First Nation history. The hike ended up being pretty long (26km) which great views from the top across Lake Superior and Silver Islet, which was once the richest offshore silver mine in the world mining $3,250,000 between 1860 and 1870. Crossing a massive boulder field near the end was quite a challenge and just after that we had to use a beaver dam to get to the other side of a lake. In the evening we dropped by Silver Islet to have "Moonlight Tea" which was pie and ice cream and hot chocolate and whipped cream in one of the original buildings of the hamlet.

No visit to the Thunder Bay area is complete without a visit to the Terry Fox Memorial. If you have not heard of him, then please google the name and read about his marathon of hope in 1980. The memorial itself sits next to the Trans-Canada highway overlooking Lake Superior and we spent a few quiet and poignant moments reflecting on what can be achieved when we really want to do something. If you know someone taking part in the run this year (September 13) please chuck a few coins towards them.

Kakabeka Falls was our next stop, which is known as the Niagara of the North. It also has a hydro-electric dam associated with it and the water flow is increased on the weekend so that the falls are bigger for tourists! However we were still in Ontario. It was time to do some serious driving and break out of this province. We put together our biggest day yet, passing into the Central time zone through some seriously dull trees and some amazing cottages near Sioux Narrows. We still didn't quite make it to the boarder, stopping at Rushing River Provincial Park. Another lovely campsite and one particular Canadian moment where a pair of loons drifted by our tent calling noisily with the sounds echoing around the river.

The escape from Ontario finally happened and to be fair the flatness was actually a refreshing change from masses of trees and lakes. One of our targets for Manitoba was to find fields of sunflowers so we headed south to Altona, which also happened to have the world's largest easel, and it being sunflower country, has a massive reproduction of the appropriate Van Gogh painting. Heading back north west we found another big thing in St Claude. The world's largest smoking pipe.

Spruce Woods Provincial Park was our next stop which sits on the Assiniboine river. We rented a canoe and spent a lovely morning paddling down the river, past beaver, deer and bald eagles to some massive sand dunes know as the Devil's Punch Bowl. This river used to be a major trade and travel route to Saskatchewan before the advent of the railroad.

Well only one direction to go, yes, further west to Saskatchewan. We knew we were close to the border when nodding oil donkeys appeared. Moose Mountain Provincial Park was our campsite for the night and the next morning, we moved into Sasketchewan proper, the land of grain elevators and long, long trains. Surprisingly on the way to Regina, we stumbled across another of the world's biggest things, this time in Kipling. You may remember that in 2005 some bloke swapped a red paper clip for a house, well that house is located in Kipling, Saskatchewan, and in addition to put themselves on the map a huge red paper clip was constructed.

Heading north from Regina, the Qu'Appelle valley is great change from the rest of the prairies, with beaches on Last Mountain Lake and rolling hills. Our main reason for heading north was to swim in Little Manitou Lake, a lake with 13 times more salt than the Dead Sea. The lake itself was very chilly with a little too much green weed; nevertheless, we tested out the floatyness in a two minute dip. What we didn't expect, but looking back was pretty obvious, was visibly white salt deposits like an extra layer on top of our skin. That night we checked out the local watering hole overlooking the lake and watched a storm role in across the prairies.

Next stop Saskatoon.

km's driven - 4180
Tim Horton's visited - 6 (We've had some comments about the lack of Tim Hortons visited, unfortunately as we have taken roads away from the TransCanada, and this may be hard to believe, we've actually not seen that many.)

Cribbage score status-
Ontario Jane bt Jon 7-6
Manitoba Jane bt Jon 2-1
Saskatchewan Currently 1-1

Nights under canvas - 11
Diggers spotted - about 150 (more in transit recently)
Combines spotted (TMTC - one for you microbiologists)

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Part of trip: The Big Drive West

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