1140 kilometres in one big swoop.. wahoo!! What a rush! That was the distance I drove to get from Sioux Lookout to Shania Twain-land. In case you are not in the loop, Shania Twain (the goddess of country music, so hot) hails from Timmins Ontario. It was an amazing long haul drive through the Boreal Forest of Northern Ontario.
I left the campsite in Sioux Lookout at about 7:30 AM. I think? I was a bit groggy then. As some of you know.. I am not very human in the morning at times. The entire “tour de force” took me about 11 hours to get from point A to point B finishing up in Timmins.
I stopped a few times along the way to take pictures. But I probably stopped more times because my bum was numb from driving. Yup.. I had no feeling on one side. It would un-numb for a bit after walking it off. Bum numb is a good thing as it forced me to pull over more often than not and take some time to enjoy the scenery.
Did I see any wildlife.. no. Did I see a moose.. still no. But there is still hope for a real moose sighting this year! Now.. lets get things straight. I have seen fake moose in the form of statues, monuments and sculptures. And I have seen moose under the influence of drugs in zoos ( zoo animals always seem to be dozy and lazy.. you got to feel for them. They never look happy.) This is why after my first couple of zoo visits I have stopped visiting them. Plus I have seen most of the animals in the zoos in the wild.. except a moose dang it!
Arriving in a community late has its challenges. Plus I gained an hour on the clock crossing time zones. The info I had showed no campsites in town. Hmmm.. that was odd I thought, so I decided to find a parking lot in town and rough it for the night. In the morning I would check out the tourism office to see if they had information that I did not. My hopes were not high as from my previous experiences.
In the morning I checked the tourism office out and.. nothing but poor info.. except I was informed the campsites were located out of town. I took my list and headed for the closest one. Soon I was 20 kilometres down a dirt road with the travel pod behind me and nothing. I could not find the campsite, not even a sign and.. in the meantime I was getting slaughtered by rocks from all directions from the big trucks coming from the mines speeding by me. I high tailed it out of there and went back to town. No more gambles I thought and I drove 40 kilometres in the opposite direction to the next closest campground which was the Kettle Lakes Provincial Park. I had to be there.. right.
I arrived in the park and it was a gem. But again what is with the high prices. $37 bucks for a campsite with power. Are you serious Ontario.. this is not a Tofino! I decided for the non power campsite at $31 a night. What a deal ?! I picked my site grumbling under my breathe and began to set up my base camp. (main picture). There was no one around me on a long weekend. Makes you think eh.
The rest of the day I spent researching the trails and the many lakes in the park. It turned out the park was a a great find in the region for adventure. There were sandy beaches, mountain bike trails, hiking trails, canoe routes, picnic tables, viewing benches and playgrounds (not that I played). With the many lakes in the park you can only imagine how much I was drooling to try out one of the canoe routes. But that would take time and there was way too much work to be done. I made a mental note .. maybe on the return trip.
Kayaking on the Mattigami River in Timmins, Ontario
The next day I visited the parks, museums and trails in Timmins. I was plesantly surprised with some of the trails in town. The Bridge to Bridge Trail provided some great views of the Mattigami River. I soon learned that many of the walkways in town followed along the shores of, either, the Montjoy and/or the Mattigami Rivers.
The big trail network in town were the wilderness paths located in the Hershey Lake region. There were sandy beaches and plenty of sunshine. But where was everyone? Most of the hiking trails were tree root, mud and dirt infested trails. Just how I like it. So off I went hiking into the forest.
Boardwalk path in Gillies park in Timmins, Ontario
The most impressive park located right in town is the Gillies Park. It was also the most busy park in Timmins on my visit. People of all ages and shapes were walking, jogging, dog walking and biking on the gravel path that circles the lake. It seemed every 50 metres there was a picnic table or bench or interpretive sign – sometimes all three. What I really thought was a nice touch was the boardwalk section of the path that was uspended over the lake on the west side. Walking the boardwalk section put you right over the lake.
I continued researching the whole day till about 7 PM. Then by the time I hit the campsite it was getting late. I was just about to settle in and someone knocked on my travel pod door. Huh? it was a “campground cop”. Oh no I thought to myself.. now what? “I just wanted to know more about your business, ” she asked? So I rattled off my story and answered some questions and she seemed very interested and said she would look it up. Just another day in the life of EH Tourism.