Smeds Dagg Cross Canada Adventure 2013: Blog Post No. 7

After breakfast on July 11 we left the Sault Ste. Marie Wal-Mart and drove back west to an RV place we had seen the day before. They weren’t able to fix our step, but did sell us a smoke detector to replace our expired one. We then drove down to the river to watch some small boats coming through the old canal and locks connecting Lake Superior to Lake Huron, and walked out to see the rapids on the St. Mary River that flows between the two lakes. Continuing east, we detoured down onto St. Joseph Island and toured Fort St. Joseph National Historic Park. It was from here that one of the initial attacks of the War of 1812 was launched, catching the Americans at their nearby fort in Michigan completely by surprise, as they had not yet heard that America had declared war on Britain. The British and Canadians took over the American fort and left Fort St. Joseph undefended, and the Americans burned it down in 1814. After the war the British/Canadians built a new fort on a nearby island. It was fascinating touring the ruins and seeing the displays in the Interpretative Centre, and the kids enjoyed the activity book that they had to complete to earn a prize. (July 11)

We continued east past Blind River. In the song “Long May You Run”, Neil Young sings about driving here and missing a shift “on the long decline”, so I was expecting to see a steep hill on the highway, but the terrain was pretty flat. Poetic license I suppose. We camped for the night at Serpent River campground a short distance further on – nothing special, but it had a pool, hot showers, and a Laundromat. The bugs weren’t too bad but a seagull stole a whole square of butter off the table when I was cooking dinner outside and left things unattended for 30 seconds.

We had a ferry reservation at South Baymouth and had to be there by 12:30 (Friday July 12), and I wasn’t sure how long it would take, so I set my alarm and got up at 8:00 and started packing. Lyndsay was still sleeping (in our bed) when we pulled out of camp about an hour later. At Espanola we left the Trans-Canada Highway and turned south towards Manitoulin Island, which claims to be the world’s largest island surrounded by fresh water. It was quite rural, with lots of farms, and didn’t really feel like northern Ontario any more. We got to the ferry terminal about 11:45, had lunch, and did some shopping. The ferry Chi-Chemaun, which means “big canoe” in the local Ottawa native language, left at 1:30 for the 1.75 hour crossing of the strait between Georgian Bay and the larger part of Lake Huron. We sat out on the upper outside deck the whole time, enjoying the scenery and the sunny weather.