Into the Unknown

Now that I had made it past Waterloo everything I would see would be entirely new to me. The first of all the new would be northern Ontario. I didn’t know much about northern Ontario other than it was a rather large area and a spot I’ve hardly ever heard anyone ever talk about. Well large was an understatement as I’d come to find out. The reason I’d never heard much about it I’d also find out (it’s just because it’s pretty empty and there aren’t many people there).

The first part of my trek through northern Ontario started in Sudbury as I would need to ride the length of Lake Huron. After my rest day in Sudbury, avoiding thunderstorms and resting from my large ride to the city, I was off again. I did find out right as I was about to leave that Abraham had made it to the city the night before. He went downtown (more northern) while I had stayed in the southern part of the city. He made it to the city absolutely drenched from the downpours and then apparently was welcomed to the city by crackheads he wouldn’t leave him alone for most of the night. With Sudbury being such a widespread city, he was quite a ways from me so we didn’t end up seeing each other before I left.

I started on the highway but quickly found smaller roads which admittedly weren’t that much quieter and in far worse condition. I would get back on the highway where I would see a bear for the first time, just unfortunately not how I wanted to. It was a dead cub lying on the side of the road that looked like it wasn’t hit too long ago. This was a sign though that I was now in bear country and would have to be careful of them. The highway here was awful for biking. A lot of the long distance bikers I would meet all asked about the Ontario highways as they had heard many bad things about them. Well if I had to guess, this stretch was probably the main cause of the warnings. The shoulder was about 2 inches wide (no exaggeration), the road was head on single lane on each side traffic and loaded full of speeding cars. This was easily the most nerve racking part of my trip so far. The odd chance I could get off the highway, I would, but they came few and far between. Not only that but more often than not the off roads sucked too as they would regularly be gravel roads that had turned to washboard and I might’ve hated that even more than the busy highway. When I reached a stretch that had a wider shoulder later in the day, I emphatically cheered just to find a few kilometers later that it would disappear. After a stressful day I made it to Espanola where I found a beach. I got cleaned up here and was able to enjoy a little part of the day, that was until I got swarmed by black flies that drove me crazy. Back in town I was able to find a lot for sale that had some bushes in that I was able to hide in for the night. Northern Ontario was off to a poor start and I hoped that things would get better as I went on.

Well the weather wasn’t getting better as a heat wave with high humidity was rolling in. If that wasn’t already enough, I had strong headwinds fighting against me as well. I felt incredibly sluggish the whole day, whether I was riding or not. At least the scenery was nice to begin the day as I was able to start on a road that reminded me a lot of the back road I live on at home.  To make it even better, when I stopped and sat on the side of the road to take a break, the woman who lived in the house across from where I stopped came out and offered me ice water for my bottles and even to jump in her pool if I wanted. I took her up on the water but passed on the pool as I would just get as hot again and with Lake Huron and rivers flowing into it being along my route, I planned to just hop in the water after I got done riding. The nice road soon ended, putting me back on the dreaded highway for the rest of the day. The rest of the day wasn’t super long however, as I stopped early due to the heat, as it wore me out. I reached Spanish and immediately hopped into the river there and felt much relieved in the moment, but would get hot and sluggish again after coming out. The insect swarms continued, as they would for all of northern Ontario. I would get swarmed by either mosquitoes or black flies every night. Tonight’s variety was mosquitoes.

Hundreds of mosquitoes between tent layers (zoom in)

The heat and headwind were slightly better the next day but hardly. Feeling so hot, I decided to ride without a shirt on and received a very nice sunburn in return that didn’t feel so great when I tried sleeping at night. With me not feeling nearly as sluggish today, combined with being stuck on the highway and wanting to get past this awful portion of it, I cycled all day and made good distance. It was almost like I was being rewarded for pushing through the mostly unjoyous day at the end however. I made it to Thessalon where there was a nice beach on Lake Huron that I camped on for the night. I set my alarm for early enough that I was able to get up and watch the sun rise up over the beach in the morning, feeling like I had the town to myself as the day had yet to start for the majority of the town.

My view from the tent on Thessalon Beach

Sunrise over Thessalon Beach

With such an early start to the day, I was hoping to finish the final stretch I had to make it to Sault St Marie by the afternoon. Being stuck on the highway, as the side roads mostly continued to suck as they were primarily gravel washboard, I was able to push along making good progress like I hoped. The highway was even getting slightly better in a way as the traffic was getting to be a little less busy as I got further away from Sudbury and the majority of the population of Ontario.

One thing that I had never considered about meeting other cyclists, was the route I took. Before Parry Sound, I had mostly stayed on the roads that weren’t the most busy. Now that I was on the Trans-Canada and it was the only route to take through northern Ontario, all the cyclists were being funnelled onto the same route. Turns out in general, most of the cyclists crossing Canada (at least that I met), stayed on the Trans-Canada for the whole crossing. I would start to find this out now as I would begin meeting a cyclist going the other way most days in northern Ontario.

In Echo Bay when I was stopped for a break, I met the first of the many cyclists I would see in northern Ontario. This was Lucille, an older woman on her own who had started from BC. While we were talking, another cyclist pulled up. This was Lucas who had also started from BC. Turns out they had previously met earlier in their trips and were now crossing paths again. In all this, I found out that I am in the vast minority of cyclists travelling west, as they each told me of how they’ve met more cyclists going in the same direction as them rather than opposite (think of this like if you had more cars go by you/you pass then cars you meet going the other way). I knew I was in the minority as more people would want to go in the direction of the wind, but I didn’t know it was this inproportionate.

Giant loonie in Echo Bay

I continued on after meeting the others and very soon finished crossing Lake Huron, as I made it to Sault Ste. Marie. When I made it to the city, I felt like eating out and managed to find a wing place that had an all you can eat wings special on that night for $21 (I think that’s a good price considering what everything else costs now). I spent the next couple of rainy days in the city as well. My body got some rest, I checked out the city and I did some reflective work. In doing the reflective work, I figured out that I was making a lot of progress mentally, like how I was hoping to when I started the trip.

The USA side of Sault Ste. Marie, across the river

With my body rested, I felt good and prepared for the next stage of northern Ontario: crossing the remoteness of Lake Superior.

Distance Travelled: 408.6km

Total Distance Travelled: 3693.8km