Day 45 - Wild camp through Ft. Francis into the night

So I woke t in my wild camp at around 7:30 in the morning and begin to pack up all the while being assaulted by mosquitoes. I was just south of Nestor Falls and about 70 km away from Fort Frances. I ate a quick breakfast and packed up my gear and then headed out onto the open road. I made it to Fort Frances where I had a big lunch and then continued on towards Atikokan which was another 170 km away from my destination in total.

One of my most memorable recollections on this trip was riding through the causeway on  Rainy Lake. It was a path through the dotted islands surrounded by water and trees-- beautiful. Some of the most beautiful countryside in the area if you ask me. The further east I went, the marshier the land became and the more moose signs I saw on the side of the road. Sunset was beautiful, but with sunset came a big group of mosquitoes and there were just clouds of them which whipped me in the face as I rode up and down the undulating hills. Eventually at around 10 p.m. it became dusk and I turned on my lights. The advantage of cycling through the night for me is the sparse traffic and opportunity to focus solely on the road rather than on the scenery.

I rode through the night without too many problems, except for the bugs and the occasional truck getting too close for comfort, and there were also a lot of animals on the side of the road. I saw a lot of wildlife including somethinmore..at looked like a wolf or a coyote. Truly, I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere. It was overcast but not raining, instead of stars there were glowing bugs all around me and I felt like they were making their own constellations. Sometimes it was magical, other times I felt really invaded by the mosquitoes and other bugs. The moment I slow down on an uphill there they were, but as soon as I started peddling fast enough again I didn't have to worry about them anymore they would fall behind. I felt like I was on a long-distance March through the woods at night it was really quite peaceful. Eventually I made it to atikokan at around 2 a.m. I set up my tarp wrapping it around me and leaned my bike against a picnic bench but just as with the night before there were hundreds of mosquitoes and I didn't know how to keep them out of my face even with a mosquito net on. Dealing with the bugs was one of the most challenging aspect of this leg of the journey, so at 4 a.m. I gave up trying to sleep and woke up to go have breakfast in downtown Atikokan, canoe capital of Canada. From my wild Camp to atikokan I cycled a good 240 km and although I was tired I was about to cycle more.

Wild Camp

Packing my gear

On the road

Wilderness

Residential School Survivor Monument

Beautiful Poem

Monument to Survivors

Before Ft. Frances

Fort Frances

Fort Frances

Causway

On the road

Hill and Clouds

Approaching Sunset

Dusk

Dark of Night

Made it to Atikokan

Day 44 - Kenora to wild camp south of Nester Falls

Okay South it is.

After philandering for a while, I eventually decided to go with my original plan even though the Eastern route seemed like a more direct route and it was going to rain. I just kept on asking people and the same answers came out. People said that the Eastern route was covered with trucks and wasn't so beautiful while the southern route had quite a bit of nature, less trucks, and I would get a chance to see more of the Lake of the Woods which I was really interested in.

I headed south and for most of the day it didn't rain, but when it did start it was steady and worsening.On a positive note, the land was really beautiful and I passed some really nice small settlements including Sioux Narrows and Nestor Falls. At around 7 p.m. the light rain which had been going for some time started to become heavier and I was caught in a downpour. All of my gear got wet. Fortunately my clothes and other stuff and dry sacks didn't get too wet, but a lot of my stuff was soggy. I decided at around sundown when it was getting quite dark that I needed to stop for the night before it was too dark to set up-- besides, the rain had stopped for a little while. I ended up pulling off of the road into a small driveway which hadn't been used in a long time and there was a little grassy field where I set up camp.

I realized something, mosquitoes love resting in the grass and in the trees, so every step that I made attractied a bigger cloud of mosquitoes around me and felt like the apocalypse. I had a difficult rest that night first of all because of the mosquitoes, but also because of the rain. Oh the rain... It was relentless. I found everything I own was damp.

On this day I traveled 150 km, so I was tired and did mange to get some sleep despite the unfavorable conditions. Anyway, I slept , originally planning on sleeping just a few hours and waking up at 4 a.m., but once I fell asleep less worried about bears and other wildlife, it was hard to wake up.

The next day was going to be a big one...

Saying goodbye to the campsite

There's a storm a'brewin'

Canadian shield typical scene. Hill with blasted rocks

Lake of the woods

Marshlands

Famous for its bridge

This bridge

Delicious lunch on a rainy day

Stop here if you're ever in the area

Beautiful Ontario in the rain

Lake

Nester "falls" Better watch out... Its a big drop...

Marshy...

Edit: cant forget this picture of my bike in a bed of flowers

Day 43 - Falcon Lake to Kenora

I woke up early in the morning just as I hoped. After packing up my stuff roughly, I went to the lake itself and sat by the beach watching the sunrise. It was really peaceful morning. I played the ukulele and spent some time chatting with others. One woman who I spoke with was a yoga instructor from Winnipeg and we ended up having a deep conversation about life. What a great way to start off my day!

After a while I decided to continue moving towards Kenora. It really wasn't a long ride at all, but the terrain had changed from The Plains of Manitoba to The Rolling Hills of the Canadian Shield. Seeing all of the trees, rocks, and hills reminded me of British Columbia, but it was also different in a way too. Rather than mountains being the backdrop to the trees in the foreground I felt that the main feature were all of the lakes which Western Ontario is surrounded by, and when I heard about the Lake of the Woods around Kenora I was awestruck by the concept of it.

The Lake of the Woods sounds like something from a fantasy novel and I never knew it actually existed before but it's beautiful and dotted with thousands of little islands where people live and work. For fishermen this area is paradise, but with all of the standing water there sure were a lot of bugs that came out-- especially at night. I really like the idea of the Lake of the Woods. It's almost like Venice of the wilderness in the way that thousands of islands with cabins create an interconnected community outside of the need for roads.

Anyway, I was deciding between going straight East towards Dryden or taking a detour South and then East through Fort Frances I decided in taking the latter rather than the former. The route was much longer (over 100k longer), and there was a storm on the way but it seemed like south was the best way to go.

I arrived in Kenora and stopped at the local Taphouse where they have a Craft Brewery. The food was delicious and I randomly met a couple of other cyclists who are crossing Canada for autism so we had a beer together. We had originally met in Moosejaw and they went ahead, but they had taken a day off in Kenora. They were also deciding whether to take the Eastern route or the Southern route. I was having second thoughts and I couldn't make up my mind. Should I go with the original plan south or to go the way that they were planning? East might be a way to avoiding the rain storms and thunderstorms coming in from the West. I said goodbye and found a campsite still undecided whether I would go east or south the following morning.

Falcon Lake Boardwalk

Dawn

Dawn at Falcon Lake

Packing my gear

Trying to strike a pose

What's this? Rocks!?! Ontario, here I come!

Canadian Shield

Don't blame me for taking so many pictures of rocks. It has been weeks...

Lake of the woods

Kenora

The Lake

Kenora

Kenora

Irresistable

Good beer

At the camp site

Campsite

Ok, so where's my tarp?

Oh, I forgot two very important photos:

Made it! ... Is this really the sign?

Ok good, there's also this one!

Day 42 - Winnipeg to Falcon Lake

I woke up in the morning and said goodbye to Tim and Loree. It was a sunny day and the winds were blowing to the east. On the trip,  I took the number one highway through Winnipeg and passed the legislative buildings where I played ukulele on the lawn for a little bit before continuing on. I play the ukulele whenever I get thenchance, but sometimes I don't feel like I have enough time for much more than cycling and eating.

Speaking of food, *wink* *wink*, I don't know what it is but they have a lot of really good donut shops in Winnipeg. I got my fill with a Coffee Crisp flavored donut and a coffee, and carried on. Later, I was on the outskirts of the city near where the national mint is when suddenly a cyclist rolled up next to me and said, "Hey you're going across the country?" We began talking for awhile and to my surprise he invited me to the bine shop where he works at near the Eastern limits of Winnipeg. I went along with him and he treated me to a coffee. We talked about the route from Winnipeg to Falcon Lake and I didn't feel confident that I would be able to get to Falcon Lake by the end of the day, so I didn't follow his advice which was to stay off the number one due to construction--bad choice.

My bike was fine and that was good news because I had had so many problems with my spokes beforehand. I was really pleased to see that my bike was in good running order for the next leg. Finally, after some time I went along on my route headed towards Falcon Lake. In the end I went around 160 km. As usual, once I was on the road, I found out that I had more energy and the conditions were better than I had expected. In this case there was one exception the road was under construction and I had to deal with all of the trucks and cars in a single lane highway with very little shoulder for 40 kilometers. I've never gone through such a stretch in my life where I had to keep complete concentration on my surroundings at all times to avoid problems like I did going through this construction stretch. It wasn't very fun. Also, exiting Manitoba I started to become acquainted with the different horse flies, black flies, and mosquitoes that Western Ontario is known for. There weren't many out yet, but I would get to know them even more soon.

I arrived at Falcon Lake an hour or two before sunset and a couple told me that I would probably be able to camp for free, so after eating in the local restaurant that's exactly what I did. I went to sleep under the stars planning to wake up early in the morning before anyone came to the campsite. Falcon Lake truly is a beautiful place.

Goodbye Winnipeg

Legislation Building

Another Angle

Keeping things Riel

Couldn't wait for the picture before taking a bite

Bridge

Leaving town

The mint

Beautiful Day

Just look at that grass

Clouds

Rollin'

My Camp

Sunset on Falcon Lake

Sunset