Day 40 Wawa to Pancake Bay, Ontario

 95.7 miles, 4,740 ft ascent on Canadian Shield granite hills

The name Wawa translates to wild goose in the language of the First Nation People, the Ogibwe, who inhabit the regions around Lake Superior, including those areas of Minnesota on and near the lake.  The sculpture you see below is actually goose number 3.  The original figure, built in 1960 lasted but three harsh Canadian winters.  This one was unveiled in 2017 as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations for Canada.  It stands 8.5 metres (8.5 feet} tall.  The Ogibwe word, "Wawa", is mentioned in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, the "Song of Hiawatha", Chapter X, Hiawatha's Wooing, and is translated as "wild goose"in the poem.  https://englishverse.com/poems/hiawatha_x_hiawathas_wooing

 

 

Today's ride included a 100 mile stretch with no services, i.e., no gas, no water, no food, as this sign warned in both English and French. 

Our moose sighting yesterday must have brought us a change of fortune, as today, thankfully, we had both sunshine and a low velocity tail wind to help us along!  It was an afternoon of glorious sunshine at Lake Superior, NO fog or rain.  This is a three day "bank holiday" weekend in Canada, however, there were no crowds at the lake.  There was plenty of room on the beaches, but I observed only a half dozen swimmers, presumably due to the cold water.

As you probably noted in the stats listed above, there was plenty of Canadian Shield climbing along the route.  It is difficult to say whether climbing is more difficult in the Canadian Rockies or on the Canadian Shield.  Our legs are now stronger than when the tour began, and we hit the Rocky Mountains in the very first few days of our tour.  Climbing on the Cabot Trail near the terminus of the tour is likely to be the most difficult of all.

The beaches of Lake Superior are unique to the shore of the lake where they are located.  Old Woman Bay, promoted by the sign below had nice, sandy beach, and a lovely shoreline, as you can see.

This is one of many rivers feeding into Lake Superior.

We had a nice descent to Lake Superior on this glorious, sunny day!  Who wouldn't want to cruise down this nice highway????

As I noted before, the beaches were not crowded.  A few people were enjoying this particular site.

A large part of today's route took us across Lake Superior Provincial Park designated by the circle in the upper right corner of this map.

Agawa Bay is another beautiful bay on Lake Superior.

This beach on Agawa Bay is not sand, but rocks and pebbles.  We saw more rocky beaches than sand beaches as we rode along today.

Here you see Lake Superior framed by two of  many birch trees, which can be seen throughout the region.

 

We sighted the first windmills of the entire tour on a hill above Lake Superior.  This is surprising, considering the high winds we encountered across the plains coming east.

This is the beach at our campsite on Pancake Bay.  Water temperature is in the 60sF.  The dog hidden behind the two women on the right seemed to enjoy the crystal clear water though.

Tomorrow we ride again, then we rest in Sault St. Marie on Monday.  Visit again to hear the next chapter in our saga.