GTT Days 45-47

September 14 - Algonquin Provincial Park, ON.

 

I know I had some issues with the last post that I sent from the satellite wifi at the visitors centre in Algonquin. Sorry the spacing wasn't better but I can't fix it now. It is what it is!

 

Speaking of Algonquin, it's a beautiful park, the oldest provincial park in Ontario:

 

From the deck at the visitors centre. You can see that there's actually a hint of fall colour here! We checked out the excellent displays in the centre which included the natural habitat and the history of the park. It turned out that several of the campgrounds were closed but we ended up at one near the centre just off Highway 60. Our campsite was very close to a large lake but we couldn't see it for the trees! Oh well. It was quite late at this point so we just had dinner and gave up any attempt to explore further.

 

September 15 - Chutes Provincial Park, ON.

 

Now this park has everything we like: this time of year it's nearly empty, with a reasonable-length trail, waterfalls, bridges and hot showers. Perfect! The river was historically used to bring lumber down to Lake Huron - hence the "chutes". They are long-gone but the lovely waterfalls remain:

 

 

 

The Twin Bridges trail takes you over a couple of the falls and platforms give you great views from different angles. We enjoyed walking the trail and viewing the autumn forest and colourful mushrooms. We were pleasantly tired when we got back to camp.   September 16 - Brimley State Park, Upper Penninsula, Michigan.

 

Well, we discovered that we were nearly out of propane for the stove so that was a top priority of the day. It's not that easy to get it filled since it needs an auto-propane system and someone who is willing to lie on the ground underneath to connect it! Thom always makes sure to tip the person really well afterward for their efforts. We saw a sign on the highway near Sault Ste. Marie for a service station that filled RV propane so even though it was a kilometre off our route we decided to take it. Good thing we did because we haven't seen an appropriate vendor since! Now we're good for the rest of the trip.

 

We crossed the bridge between the "Soos" and got a great view of the St. Lawrence Seaway locks that allow the boats to move from Lake Huron to Lake Superior and vice versa. Right after that we went through US customs again without a hitch. We have decided that our enhanced driver's licence/ID that we got before we left home works much better than passports do. If they have it, you can wave your cards at the reader before you pull up to the customs officer and he has all the data on you already on his screen. It includes a lot more information than your passport has. As always we were careful not to have any meat or fruit or veggies on the banned list. So of course that meant we had to go grocery shopping. Luckily I had written out the directions for the supermarket in the US Soo and also the way from there to the state park.

 

We were a bit surprised that it's actually quite busy here. And we got a walk in along the long sandy beach at the edge of Lake Superior at Whitefish Bay:

 

 

 

 

We went beyond the park boundaries but there's no problem if you keep to the beach and don't trespass on private property. The water is very shallow and quite warm still. Nobody was swimming though!

 

Now at supper time the weather has changed and it's pouring rain on us. Thom left the awning partly out so we can leave the window open tonight. Tomorrow it's off to explore more of the Upper Penninsula. Continuing west. No matter what the weather we're on the homeward run.