Hitch Hiking ontario to British Colombia (2014) pt 1 ONTARIO

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My dad had always tried to teach us to never really be afraid of anything, and yet to know when something is dangerous and respect it. Guns Animals, Strangers these things were not always bad but not being prepared before you handle any of these things can be dangerous... i always believed that my dad was never afraid of anything...i was wrong, i found out that my dad could be afraid when my sister and i had told him we were going to hitch hike across canada. I could hear real fear in his voice when he told us not to do it...and yet i heard something else too. I could hear how proud he was of us, for doing something outside of what society thinks is normal... living the kind of life we wanted.

This wasn't the first time i had considered going on this trip of hitch hiking to BC and back to Toronto, but it was the first time i was determined not to let anything stop me. not my job, not a guy, not my friends, not the need to feel like a responsible adult. I was determined that this time would be different. I had let so many things become excuses in the past... and yes usually it was a guy or a new friendship that felt more real then any relationship sometimes it was how much fun i was having at that point of my life, i didn't want to miss out on anything here in Ontario. There were always a million reasons not to go and as i got older the reasons increased and became more and more convincing. many parts of me still wish i had started sooner that i hadnt let love or money get in the way of who i was suppose to be, but i did, and maybe i wasnt ready... maybe at the age of 28 that was the perfect time to become this person... the hippy gypsy redneck wanderlust girl... maybe i was never ment to do it when i was young maybe i wasnt done with whatever i was learning at that time... or maybe i just wasnt mature enough to fully appreciate what i was experiencing until i was in my late 20s.

My sister Andy and I didn't have much when we decided to do this. I was living with a bunch of roommates working as a maid and she had come to stay with me after her breakup with her boyfriend of 7 years, she wasn't in a rough spot just wasn't able to find the motivation to find a job right away and was starting to feel a little discouraged when she hadn't even had a interview after a month of job searching. One day she tells me she is moving to Alberta to see our friend Catherine and start over somewhere new. My first reaction was to basically interrogate her with questions of how she was going to do this with zero dollars any money she had when she moved in had been spent she had nothing or basically nothing. As I was questioning her and she told me that she was going to hitch hike, I realized I was jealous I wanted to go and that's how it all started. That day we started to make a plan. It was the Middle of march way too soon to just up and leave we had done some winter camping with some of my friends but a night or two drinking in the woods in the snow is different from possible weeks doing it we decided we should wait until the middle of May. May 24 weekend we decided to leave traffic would be slow because of the holiday plus more traffic means more possible rides the weather would be warmer and 2 months gave me to give my roomies time to figure out what they were going to do without my rent for the summer if they couldn't find someone to rent my room. I gave my boss about a month and a half notice and that's when things started to really pick up. I got both me and my sister 70 gallon hiking backpacks, and everything else we might possible need then realized that there was no way we could possibly carry it all. We had no idea what we were doing and being girls we also wanted to bring things we didn't really need... or maybe it was just me and my not wanting to give up things like my hair straightener which I regretted not bringing my whole trip anytime we had somewhere with a power outlet.

after months of planning packing and unpacking I had spent most of the money I was trying to save and when we left we had about 1000 dollars for us to share. We convinced our friend to drive us to the highway and I called my friend who lived in North Bay Ontario letting him know we were on our way. Our rides were amazing everyone we meet were very friendly and mostly worried about us being girls hitching across the country we had one guy who wanted to join us but as he was coming back to get dropped off we were getting into another car. We had amazing first rides, these amazing people offer us everything you can imagine. Guns, Knifes, food, a place to crash, drugs, money, and booze were all offered and most of the time we said no thanks. learning later that hitch hikers do a lot of trading of things they get or don't need for things they do. There is this whole hitch hiking hippy lifestyle that I never knew existed and was excited to learn about. We made it from Burlington ON to North Bay in just a night met up with my buddy and went camping and fishing with him for the weekend meeting random strangers who happened along our illegal random camp site and inviting them to stay, we had a blast. on our last day we went to my friends house having a hot shower before he dropped us off on the TRANS CANADA HIGHWAY. We got lucky our first ride was taking us farther then we planned on going that day. He was very nice dropping us off in the town of Wawa which is well known for being one of those places hitch hikers are suppose to avoid for fear of not leaving... even our father said we could possibly be stuck there for weeks.

Wawa is this cute little town, the people there are so used to hitch hikers that they all come to talk to you asking about your travels and willing to offer you help if needed. They have this Giant Canadian goose as you enter the town and this beautiful lake and rivers all around. it was truly worth the risk of getting stuck there. We were excited to meet two French hitch hikers who were also heading to BC we all went for beer at a local pub that was very rustic, wood panelling dark walls old beaten down place, but the beer was cold cheap and the staff was super friendly, not making a fuss about or 5 foot backpacks taking up a portion of there bar and trusting us not to dine and dash but not watching us like a hawk the way other places did. They told us about this trail we could take into the park, at this time of year we shouldn't be bothered by anyone and could get away with camping there for free. warned us about a bear in the area and wished us luck on our travels. As we walked up the path collecting fire wood and looking for a place to sleep we found a place near the water set up camp and made food freeze dried meals and a few things we had picked up in town. we decided since it was going to be chilly to all share our tent but we all smelled from travelling that we decided to jump into the freezing cold water to rinse off. the 4 of us sleep the night away the two boys were perfect gentlemen and we all went to Tim Horton the coffee shop the next morning. after breakfast we exchanged contact info to meet up later and Andy and I got lucky again we were picked up by Max and Mel.

As we were walking towards the highway on our way outta Wawa we decided that we would hitchhike a few cars passed, but with in 20 minutes a truck pulling a RV pulled over at first we assumed they were just pulling off the side of the road to check a map or something but no Mel and Max a cute French couple on there way to BC stopped to offer us a ride they were very sweet we spent two days travelling with them which was very lucky because it rained for both those days they offered to take us the whole way to BC but since we wanted to stop and see things along the way we got them to drop us off at a camp ground on the Manitoba/ Ontario boarder. They gave us pepper spray and a solar charger for our phones so we wouldn't have to worry about being left out in the wilderness without a phone, we exchanged numbers and kept in contact with them along our entire journey even meeting up with them later in our trip. Northern Ontario around lake Superior is by far the most beautiful area in Ontario I can imagine before seeing it I had always loved Ottawa for its beauty but our Capital barely even compares to driving around this lake its truly magical. On my way back alone I spent time at Sleeping Giant provincial park. This place holds a special place in my heart not only was it beautiful and the wildlife everywhere but they gave me my campsite for 1/2 price cause I didn't have a car and came in late at night, they brought me firewood and food because they didn't have a camp store when I went up to buy stuff. they also helped me get a ride to the highway when I left which would have taken me hours to walk and since there is little traffic on this road I probably wouldn't have gotten a ride without there help. I cant wait to visit there again someday.

Ontario has been my home all my life but I don't think I ever truly appreciated it until I travelled through it.

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Photos

ALL ARE BAGS ARE PACK WE ARE READY TO GO
ANDY AND MYSELF THE DAY WE HIT THE ROAD

CAMPING
our campsite view before we had visitors

nothern ontario
out a car window its hard to captor a picture in a moving car

WAWA
took this after our night with the French hitch hikers

sleeping gaint
like I said worth the risk

Comments

[taracloud]

Wise decision!
I think it's fantastic that you two took off on an adventure, trusting the universe to provide what you needed. I've done a fair bit of hitching since I was 20, and it's such a great way to go--you always meet amazing people. Some travelers even make whole lives of this, stopping in places like wonderful Wawa, earning some money to travel on. Incidentally, as a straight-haired person, I love wild, wavy, curly, frizzy hair. You might get used to it! Happy hitching!