Thessalon, Ontario, Canada

Saturday, September 30, 2023

I’ve reached the point in our travels where it takes me a few seconds every morning to remember where were are. We have yet to stay in the same campground for more than one night during our month-long road trip as we tackle a pretty ambitious travel itinerary. Lots of miles to cover and a long list of places to see keeps us on the move.

Last night around 8:30pm, we arrived to Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada via the Chi Cheemaun ferry and drove to our campsite in Providence Bay. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but our campsite is located directly across the road from Lake Huron. Andi was excited to check out our surroundings this morning, so he woke Aden up around 8:00am and the boys headed out together to fly the drone around the lake. They returned to the RV about 30 minutes later giddy about their discovery. From the air, Andi and Aden could see hundreds of big, black fish swimming in Lake Huron.

What type of fish were they? They looked as big as sharks! This called for more investigation. Tory and I threw on our shoes and joined the boys in walking across the road to a nicely-built wooden boardwalk that follows the lakeshore. It was a beautiful fall morning on Manitoulin Island with a sunny, blue sky and morning temperatures in the 60’s.

As our family walked along the boardwalk, the four of us met a nice couple from the Toronto area. They were drawn to us by my Nebraska sweatshirt, and asked where we were visiting from. (Location-based clothing is a great conversation starter while traveling!) We shared travel stories with the couple, and they gave us some tips for visiting the island. Manitoulin Island is their happy place, they said: escape from their lives in the busy city. It’s true that Providence Bay was a quiet and peaceful place to be in nature.

Near the boardwalk, we saw a few people fishing from the banks of the Mindemoya River. Andi, Tory, Aden, and I walked over to check it out and saw the same big fish swimming in the river. A sign posted near the fishing pier said the fish were Chinook Salmon. Adult salmon living in Lake Huron return to the river during the months of September through November to spawn.

The four of us walked along the lake shore as we returned to Providence Bay Campground, stopping to dip our toes in the water. Lake Huron is the 4th Great Lake we’ve visited this month, and perhaps our favorite lake yet. With crystal-clear water, peaceful surroundings, and amazing wildlife, we were in our element.

Around 10:00am, we returned to the RV and packed up for departure. Fortunately, it doesn’t take us long to ready the RV for travel, especially since we were only parked here for 12 hours. The friendly couple we met on the boardwalk this morning suggested we visit Bridal Veil Falls as we made our way off the island, so Andi and I decided that’s where we’d go next.

Bridal Veil Falls is located near the town of Kagawong on Manitoulin Island and has several popular hiking trails leading to a waterfall. Since we had the RV with the Jeep connected, we parked in a big parking lot near the marina and walked about a mile to the falls. It was an easy path to follow, but there was so much poison ivy on the trail that it made us a little nervous. Andi said he’s never seen so much poison ivy in one spot. I’m guessing there are quite a few visitors that aren’t aware of this and end up feeling pretty itchy afterwards.

For the most part, Tory and Aden get along so well when we’re traveling but they’re siblings so they are bound to mess with each other until one of them ends up in tears. That was the case today while we were walking along the path & Aden accidentally smacked Tory in the face with an empty Gatorade bottle. Sometimes when you pretend to hit someone with an object you actually end up hitting them, and that’s the lesson Aden learned today. Of course, Tory cried and carried on about how much Aden hurt her, and stomped ahead of the rest of us. Aden felt terrible, and sulked as he dragged his feet along the trail. Ah, life with kids. Even walking along a nature path can be dramatic.

Further down the trail, another couple stopped us to visit when they recognized the print on Andi’s t-shirt. They live in a town close to ours in Wisconsin — small world!

The closer we walked to the water falls, the more stinky the air became and we noticed rotting fish carcasses washed up on the rocks. Similar to the fish we saw this morning, adult salmon and lake trout living in Lake Huron travel upstream in the Kagawong River to spawn. Some die along the way in the shallow river or at the base of the waterfalls. Several groups of people were gathered on the rocks watching the salmon run. It’s a cool thing to witness; I just hope they weren’t sitting in a patch of poison ivy!

Andi, Tory, and Aden took turns walking along the muddy path behind the waterfalls to see the view from another angle. The pool of water below the falls was shallow, but I read that a lot people come here in the summertime to swim. The smell of rotting fish didn’t make that idea very appealing to us today.

Most of the shops in the small town of Kagawong were closed for the season, but we did stop by Manitoulin Chocolate Works for some treats. Andi, Tory, and Aden split a few pieces chocolate as we sat underneath the cover of an outdoor gazebo. Then, we walked back to the RV to continue our travels today.

From Kagawong, we followed Highway 540 to the town of Little Current and then left Manitoulin Island via Highway 6. The vibrant red, yellow, and orange colors of the leaves were beautiful as we drove along the road. Andi and I had hoped to see fall colors traveling through the USA states of Vermont or New Hampshire, but we were a few weeks too early for them. Now, we finally saw fall colors at their peak in Ontario.

From Manitoulin Island, we drove 2 1/2 hours west to Thessalon, Ontario. Nothing special here, but a spot to camp for the night on our way toward Sault Saint Marie. Andi found a place online called Lakeside Campground, so we went there to see if we could get a spot without a reservation. A friendly city park employee told us to pick any spot we liked and someone would be back to the campground office tomorrow morning to collect payment. Lakeside Campground is located right on the shores of Lake Huron and looked like most people have permanent campers there for the summer. We picked an open spot in the back of the campground and set up our Starlink satellite internet dish on the grass.

I didn’t feel like going out to eat, so Andi and Tory took the Jeep to the grocery store in Thessalon and returned with some meat to grill. The four of us ate a simple dinner in our RV and then went for a walk around the campground. There were hardly any people around; it was a peaceful place to spend the night.

Tomorrow, we’re planning to cross back into the United States via the border crossing in Sault Saint Marie, Ontario. We’re nearing the end of our road trip, but still have two more destinations to visit in Michigan before we head home.