Pancake Bay Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

It was a rather boring day of driving in the rain yesterday. There are almost no pictures to show for the day until we arrived at our final destination of Pancake Bay Provincial Park. That is not to say I didn't take any pictures...oh no. It's just that none of them turned out because they were taken through rain-streaked windows. Nevertheless, I do have a few things to show you.

The most exciting part of the day was realizing we'd picked up a big chunk of wood in one of our tires while leaving Pukuskwa National Park. We had to stop off and have the tire checked.

They were able to peel the tire away from the rim (or something like that), clean it all out, and check for leaks. The tire was fine, and no charge for their efforts. Thanks, people of Canada!

Also, I want to say that we've seen hundreds of these signs along the highway, and not a single moose. I'm beginning to think it's all a snare and a delusion. Just sayin'.

You'd think for all those signs you'd get at least one moose, but no. Not one.

Eventually, we pulled into our campground at Pancake Bay Provincial Park.

We splurged for the beachfront campsite with electricity. This is the view from our windows, and we can hear the surf from Lake Superior.

There's some pretty fall color here.

We were able to get Smitty out for a walk...or, something more approximating a "stand." He doesn't walk a lot, but he does seem to be happy to be outside the confines of the trailer. There was a busy chipmunk just outside, gathering stores for the winter, and this was fascinating to both kitties.

And, no, Ms. Sadie...you are not coming out no matter how pathetic you look.

Not from here either.

Here's our campsite.

About ten paces from where I was standing, there is a bridge leading out to the beach.

Once out there, one can see a long beach. Look to the left, and this is what you see.

Look to the right, and this is what you see.

See those people down there? They're walking barefoot, but not us. We're Oregonians. It's never warm enough to walk barefoot on our beaches. No, not even in summer.

There was this one single blooming thing there...blooming for all it was worth.

Looking back...there's the bridge.

And some beach grass.

The lines in the sand there would seem to indicate tidal action.

And so I asked my friend, Google...Do the Great Lakes have tidal action? This is what Google says:

True tides—changes in water level caused by the gravitational forces of the sun and moon—do occur in a semi-diurnal (twice daily) pattern on the Great Lakes. Studies indicate that the Great Lakes spring tide, the largest tides caused by the combined forces of the sun and moon, is less than five centimeters in height. These minor variations are masked by the greater fluctuations in lake levels produced by wind and barometric pressure changes. 

Consequently, the Great Lakes are considered to be non-tidal.

So there you have it. If I weren't already disappointed to the max about the dearth of moose, this might cause me to be utterly depressed. Instead, I'll just forget I knew this. I mean, really. I forget pretty much everything the minute it's learned these days. By the way, can anyone tell me the name of my traveling companion?

Okay, so today we're headed off for one of two places. We'll either be heading to Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island where there is a brewery associated with Harvest Hosts, or we'll be headed to Sudbury, Ontario. The latter is the shorter trip, but the former sounds more interesting. You can see the location of the island within the Great Lakes in red there in the image below.

Our tour book mentioned something about a ferry, and that would have been a nonstarter. As it turns out, the highway will take us out there. I've spoken to the brewery folks who inform me that we'd be parked in a public parking lot across the street from the brewery. It sounds as if parking there is free, and the brewery is just a bonus. In other words, we wouldn't be obligated to purchase anything from them since we're not technically using their property. We'll see. Looking at the distance on the map, the driver will have to give his final approval on the distance. You'll just have to find out in my next blog post. I know...it's a cliffhanger from one day to the next.