14 - Wonderful Wild Rose RV Park

It felt liberating to get on the road again but the journey to our next destination was a long one. We headed towards Wild Rose RV Park which is on Batchewana Bay about 40kms north of Sault Ste. Marie, a town on the US/Canadian border. We left at about 10.30am and drove in beautifully sunny conditions until we reached Tim Horton’s in Espanola where we took a break and
got mocha for Fred and hot chocolate for me. This Canadian fast-food chain was pioneered by the famous ice hockey player and is known for its coffee and cakes. It is more widespread in Canada than McDonalds and holds 62% of the coffee market compared with the second biggest seller, Starbucks, which holds only 7% (thanks Wikipedia!). Anyway, it’s slowly becoming our favourite place to grab a snack – I’m trying not to have any more Canadian Maple doughnuts which have maple flavoured icing on top and vanilla flavoured cream inside.
After our short stop the weather changed as it became a bit overcast and the road began to undulate.
As we neared Batchewana, we stopped to re-fuel the beast not knowing that it would be the last place to fill up for about 150kms.
Arriving at the bay we caught our first glimpse of the mighty Lake Superior. Superior is the biggest lake in the world according to its surface area (if we discount the Caspian Sea over which there is controversy whether it is actually a lake). According to volume it comes third after Lake Baikal in Russia and Lake Tanganyika in Africa. Basically, it's pretty big and holds 10% of all the fresh water in the world and half of the water of all the Great Lakes.
After driving 420kms we finally pulled into Wild Rose at 7.00 pm and paid our money to stay for two nights. We were surprised to find that the only other RV in the park belonged to the same Germans that we had met in Britt. We hooked up the RV then immediately went for a walk on one of the trails that led from the back of the campsite. It was great to arrive somewhere that had decent walking opportunities which is what we had been looking for.
We made food and fell asleep soon after.
The next morning we woke to bright sunshine so went for a walk along the sandy shore of the lake which was just bliss.
We returned to the van and Fred tried to work out our canoe route for Algonquin while I studied the Design Argument for the existence of God. After a couple of hours we went to the Voyageurs’ Cookhouse for lunch. What a fantastic place! The walls are covered with photos, pictures of the Voyaguers, snow shoes, paddles and other paraphernalia relating to the Voyageurs and canoeing. We were in our element. The menu was also based on some of the food that the Voyaguers ate and I opted for bannock and beans. We often make bannock, a bread made on the fire, when we are camping but it never turns out as fluffy and tasty as the stuff in the cookhouse. The bill came in a miniature birch bark canoe which gave a great touch.
After lunch, we took the trail at the back of the campsite and walked a good 4km before we turned around. The track is narrow for about 3km before it reaches a fork onto an old logging road. The odd Ruffed Grouse startled us as it flew from its ground hideout. We also heard frequent drumming and subsequently found out this was also the Ruffed Grouse. The Birds of Algonquin Park booklet describes it perfectly as ‘…a hollow repeated thimping, starting off slowly and accelerating into a whirring roll.’ We also spotted many moose tracks but the owners remained elusive. We had begun the walk all wrapped up because the wind was quite nippy but we returned carrying our jackets because the woods had provided a shelter from the wind and the sun
was beating down relentlessly.
We briefly checked our email at the small grocery store and the owner persuaded us to have a fire and try s’mores. For these we had to buy marshmallows, a milk chocolate bar and some sweet crackers (almost like Rich Tea biscuits). She was a good sales woman! We also bought a wheelbarrow full of wood from the campsite owner and after tea started our fire in one of the provided containers. Once the fire was ready, it was time to attempt to make s’mores. To make these, firstly a square or two of chocolate is placed on the cracker and then a marshmallow is roasted over the fire. The hot marshmallow is placed onto the chocolate and then another cracker is placed on top to sandwich the filling together to melt the chocolate. Well…that’s the theory! Our chocolate didn’t melt as well as it should have but it still tasted good and after each failed attempt we tried again until our bellies would take no more.
It was a beautiful cold starry night and we sat drinking Canadian beer, being warmed by the big flames and hoping the northern lights would appear. Unfortunately they didn’t but we’d had a great day anyway.