Day 39 White Lake to Wawa, Ontario

 71 miles, 2,320 ft ascent

 

You may not know that White Lake, our current camping site, was near the home of the famous literary character, Winnie the Pooh.  Christopher Robin Milne named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian Black Bear that he often visited at the London Zoo, as well as after Pooh, a swan his family had encountered on holiday.  Winnie, the bear cub, was purchased in White River, Ontario from a hunter for C$20 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colbourn while Colbourn was en route to England during WWI.  Lt. Colbourn named the bear cub Winnie after his adopted hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Winnie was then surreptitiously transported to England with Lt. Colbourn, and gained unofficial status and recognition as the Fort Garry Horse Regimental Mascot.  This statue in White River tells the story of Winnie the bear cub, who became internationally known as Winnie the Pooh, special friend of Christopher Robin in the stories by A. A. Milne.

It rained some last night, but it looked dry when we broke camp this morning.  All of our gear is slowly getting wet here on the north shore of Lake Superior due to the high humidity, low temperatures, and the lack of real sunshine during the last three days.  The campsite was back away from the water, so fog did not obscure the sky the way it does near the lake, and it was possible to get a glimpse of the sky along with a sense of the weather conditions.  Near the lake we had to rely on weather reports and radar maps for weather.  This morning the temperature was just above 50F, a big improvement over yesterday.  I am sure, however, that all cyclists will dress warmly, since rain is once again predicted.

Essential gear items were packed in individual waterproof bags to prevent wet items from contaminating dry ones.   We are really hoping for sun and/or wind to help dry gear at tonight's campsite in Wawa.

The common area of our campground had a single washroom with only one toilet, to be shared by all campers.  To avoid the inconvenience of sharing one toilet, as well as to dry out gear, three separate groups of our riders rented cabins at the campground.  They generously invited others of us to use their washrooms, for which we are deeply grateful and indebted.  I braved the elements in a tent, thinking that, were Merry Ann here, she would have demanded a cabin.  

The idea of a dry day was short lived, as it began to rain just when we left the campground and continued for a long four hours.  Our itinerary was relatively flat and short, so we weren't in the elements as long as we had been on some previous days. 

At an A&W stop along the route, we met this woman riding our same route, although she was cycling independently and self supported.  She carried a considerably large amount of electronic gear to transmit her impressions and experiences.   

 

 

Here you see our French speaking cyclist, Louis, decked out in proper rain gear for Canadian touring. 

Yet another warning to beware of raging moose!  Still have not seen one, but our quest continues!

On our route today, we observed this area, which appears to be a perfect environment for moose.  Who knows?  Today may be the day we actually see one.

A Canadian Loon, the rooster of the north, who awakened us in the mornings, appeared in front of the small island.  This one was very wary.  When I stopped my bike, it took a dive and swam underwater to escape to a more distant location, resulting in a poorer photograph.

Eureka!  First moose sighting!  A lone moose munching grass in the ditch.  I stopped riding, dismounted to take a picture, and it casually walked into the opening between two pine trees.  Look closely.  I lightened the photo to make it more visible.  Thankfully, this moose was more intent on eating than charging a lone bicycle rider.

The Magpie River at Wawa Campground flows into Lake Superior.  I wonder how long that tree has been leaning so ominously and when it will finally fall.

 

I executed a repair of my bike, thanks to one of our British colleagues. I was having a front derailleur problem, and I had to ride the last 45 miles into camp on the small chain ring in front, because I was unable to get on the large ring.  A close inspection disclosed sand packed into a pocket around the shift wire near the bottom bracket.  I cleaned out the sand with a hose and sprayed WD-40 into the shifter, on the front derailleur mechanism, and on the shift cables.  That freed the cable, and when our British friend reset the cable tension, the problem was solved.  Thankfully, we were able to fix the problem in camp, because there are no bike open bike shops for another 6 days.

Tonight's dinner of pork chops with mushroom soup gravy and real mashed potatoes was the best camp meal yet.  It was much appreciated all around.

Tomorrow I am ready for a difficult day of riding Canadian Shield terrain.  It will be Monday before we have another rest day in Sault St. Marie.  Visit again to see how we fared riding on the big sheet of Canadian granite.