17 – Good Times, Great Company

I was a little nervous about meeting Lorne, Kelly and Grace again considering they had so kindly offered a place for our RV even though they hardly even knew us. We are used to offers like that only coming from family or good friends and we’d only just met this family. However, my worries dissipated as Lorne welcomed us enthusiastically when we arrived in Rossport.
Rossport is another tiny community with a population of less than 100 and sits directly upon the shores of Lake Superior across from an eight-island archipelago. This provides a conveniently protected area for canoeing and kayaking.We parked our RV across from Lorne’s house and joined him as he was just saying goodbye to one of his friends. Kelly was at work so it was just the four of us including little Grace who had just finished school. We chatted over tea and coffee until we went outside to sit on the deck and Lorne made us burgers on the barbeque. He also let us sample some of his delicious homemade cookies. We were lucky to catch their next door neighbour, Ian, returning from work. Ian works as doctor and has travelled extensively worldwide including frequently taking himself off on solo canoe expeditions. He joined us for some food and kept us company while Lorne took Grace to her dance lesson.
Ian had lots of information about the areas we were hoping to canoe. He advised that Algonquin can get very crowded but should be fine during the dates we hope to travel. He also fetched a map from his house and we all discussed possible canoe routes. He has us seriously considering the Missanaibi river which would be a 7 to 10 day trip, paddling the bottom half of the river, from Mattice to James Bay. We have a book on the Missinaibi at home but had decided against the trip because of restrictions on the train regarding dogs. A train journey is the only feasible means of return since there are no roads in that area and a bush plane would be quite expensive. Ian only had great things to say about Wabakimi since it offers the ultimate wilderness experience so it will definitely remain on our To Do List.
Before long, Kelly returned from work and joined us. It was so lovely to see her again and, even though we had only met her once, it was obvious that she and Lorne were such great people.The air began to cool down so we retired inside their home followed shortly thereafter by Lorne and Grace returning from ballet. We continued chatting about canoe trips and Kelly’s career as a teacher and Lorne’s as a fireman, amongst other things. Kelly and Lorne also have canoes and kayaks so it was nice to also hear their stories of paddling in the area. Kelly highly recommended Quetico but we are slightly put off by the relatively high prices of the permits. However, it is an option and it’s nice to hear first-hand that it’s a beautiful place to canoe. Quetico and Boundary Waters Canoe Area form one huge wilderness area which straddles the US border, the former on the Canadian side and the latter on the American side. Each part covers an area of around 4500 km ².
It began to get dark and Ian departed but not before kindly offering the use of his canoe and paddles for the following day.
We left shortly afterwards and fell asleep in our van.
In the morning, Lorne banged on our window to let us know he was taking Grace to school and that we could use the shower and get a drink. Once he returned, Lorne kitted us out with life jackets and then we walked to the nearby jetty and got into his motorboat. It was a gloriously sunny day but once we were on the water, the wind was brisk and the waves were quite high. I sat in the back with Tala, who was a little nervous about a boat which, contrary to her experience in our canoe, made noise and went quite fast, and Fred sat with Lorne in the front. We drove around a couple of islands before we stopped at one on which was a little wooden hut – the Harry Hilton. Lorne told us he’d been coming here since he was a boy and the hut is for fisherman, boaters or anyone who wishes to stay the night or wait-out a storm. We signed the log book and read about the history of the Harry Hilton which Lorne and a few other locals help maintain.
We got back onto the water and drove to the lighthouse where Lorne told us about a massive storm in 1975 which sank the freighter, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, and waves crashed over and above the lighthouse! Then we crossed over quite an open expanse of water where the waves increased in size, the wind became icier and we bounced up and down more violently. We stopped at another island where we explored a bit before returning to Rossport having really enjoyed our little excursion.
Fred and I went to the local restaurant for lunch. It was a very artsy place, the walls of which were adorned with paintings and drawings for sale and it played beautiful folk music while we ate. It was a little pricey but the food was good nonetheless.
After lunch the wind had gained in strength so we deliberated whether or not to take out Ian’s canoe. Lorne had promised Grace that he would take her out in the boat after school and so we decided we would brave the waves and meet them at Joe Eagle’s Rock.
We were quite nervous especially since we were in an unfamiliar craft with unfamiliar paddles but the wind and waves weren’t as bad as we’d expected. This was due mainly to the fact that the wind was behind us for most of the paddle. We passed through a couple of islands before we had Joe Eagle in our sight and after a little more work we were on dry land again. We had finally canoed in Canada! It was about time too! Our tree-covered destination had a sandy beach with a picnic table, a fire pit and, around the corner, a large smooth flat rock which reached out into the lake.
Before long Lorne, Grace and their dog, Maggie, had arrived and the fire was roaring. Lorne had brought an array of food; hotdogs, veggies, beef jerky and, of course, the ingredients for s’mores! He cooked the hotdogs on the fire and roasted the marshmallows, under Grace's strict supervision, for the s'mores - we are of the same opinion that we don't like cremated marshmallows, like Fred and Lorne, but just nicely browned. Lorne had us in hysterics telling us a marshmallow story from when he was a boy. He had just roasted a marshmallow and held it above his head on the end of a skewer to blow on it t ocool it down. Well...I'm sure you guessed it...it dropped on him! Not just on his face...but in his eye! A roasting hot marshmallow in his eye. Luckily, the incident didn't leave any lasting damage, only a small scar and very infrequent impaired vision so I suppose he was very lucky. I don't think his mum was best pleased!
Lorne and Grace left, leaving us full to the brim, and still chuclking over the marshmallow story, while we waited for the wind to calm down before tackling the choppy water. Unfortunately, the wind didn’t ease off and, since the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky, we decided to go for it. Everything seemed fine as we paddled calmly along the island we had just left, with the wind behind. Then we rounded the corner and the wind and waves hit us side-on as we struggled with our paddles. We tried to align ourselves so we were going into the waves more because waves hitting from the side are extremely dangerous. We paddled hard as we crossed the open water between two islands and tried not to look towards the surging ominous waters. Finally we made it to the protection of the other island and things seemed calm until, again, we rounded a corner and the headwind blew against us for the final stretch to Rossport. If it weren’t for the steep rocky banks of the island, we would have got out and lined the canoe (a process whereby you walk on the shore and lead the canoe through the water with a rope) because we would have made more progress that way. At times we didn’t make any progress at all but we somehow carried on and made it back to beach of Rossport. The 40-minute journey it had taken us to get to Joe Eagle had been lengthened to about an hour on the way back!
We carried the canoe up the verge and were greeted by Ian back at his house. He was happy we had taken advantage of his offer and we were extremely grateful. He had just made a Thai curry so invited us into his warm home in our bedraggled state. The curry was fantastic, warming us up nicely, and we chatted again about Ian’s travels and possible canoe routes for us to follow.
We left at about 10pm and went to see Lorne who was waiting for Kelly to return from an all-day event she’d attended in Thunder Bay. This also meant we could see her before we left because she had been really busy since we’d arrived. Once she’d returned we chatted over tea and coffee until about midnight when we had to leave them because Kelly had already had a long day and had work in the morning. We said our goodbyes to Kelly, who would leave for work early in the morning, and retired to the RV. We felt lucky to have bumped into such great people at Neys and to have had such a brilliant time in Rossport.
The next morning, Lorne kindly let us wash and dry some clothes while he made us some excellent Finnish pancakes. True to form, I had too many, each drizzled in copious amounts of maple syrup. Mmmmm…
Not long before we left, a friend of Lorne’s, Darrell, turned up. Darrell works at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay teaching outdoor leadership based courses so it was extremely interesting and informing speaking to him. He is very experienced in canoeing the provincial parks in Ontario and, like Ian, said that if we wanted peace, quiet and wilderness, then Algonquin was not the place for us. He also admitted that it wouldn’t be as bad during the period that we have booked so we were not too disheartened. Regarding Wabakimi, he said we should visit him when we are next in the area (we have to pass through again on the way to Wabakimi) and he would supply us with maps and other information. Yet again another friendly Canadian offering to help us out. We love Canada!