Dinosaur 4

Sunday, July 15th. Dinosaur Provincial Park to Drumheller, AB (110 miles). We drove back country roads, our favorite, through lonely farm country far from the Trans Canada Highway and off the beaten track for two hours to Drumheller, home of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, which houses many of the fossils found in Dinosaur Provincial Park. Before we left Florida, we got a Frommer’s Canadian Rockies travel guide from the library. It listed some recommended day trips and itineraries, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, in conjunction with Dinosaur Provincial Park, was high on the list. That’s why we came here, and Frommer was so right!

We checked into our campground, the Dinosaur RV Park, which bills itself as the closest campground to the Museum. Clearly, this Museum is the town’s raison d’etre; there are big, cartoonish dinosaur statues all around town, and dinosaur themed retail opportunities galore. After a quick lunch, we drove 10 minutes to the Museum, where we were directed to the overflow parking lot. The place was jammed! There were 3 lines of people waiting to buy tickets. When it was our turn, we asked the cashier if it’s always like this or if some special programs are happening today. He said no, this is typical of a summer weekend, and that they will probably have 4000 visitors today, whereas on a winter weekend, they might have 200 admissions per day. Here is Scott doing his best to tune out the surrounding throngs.

But after all, this is a very special place, and deserves all the support and popularity it enjoys. Remember this fragment Scott picked up on our hike yesterday? 

Well, the Museum displays an example of a complete specimen:  A 75 million year old turtle fossil, collected at Dinosaur Provincial Park! It’s a little hard to read the label, but at the bottom it says ORIGINAL, which means it’s the actual fossil, not a cast or replica. Exciting!

The quality of the scholarship, the curation, the collection management and conservation, the laboratory facilities… really world-class. And the way the exhibits are set up to appeal equally to the 6 year old dinosaur enthusiast and the 66 year old paleontologist, amateur and professional alike, is truly amazing!

One of most interesting exhibits was a room full of dramatic fossils found on the job by miners, drillers, construction workers, etc. Each specimen was accompanied by a story under the header “One Day at Work…” describing how the fossil was discovered, and emphasizing the importance of these contributions by non-professional paleontologists, and expressing gratitude for the cooperation and support of the associated industries and corporations. Refreshing! For example, here’s a story about a mine shovel operator who had just visited the Museum the week before he noticed something unusual in the rock he was scraping…

What a great place! ❤️ 🦖 🦕

Dinosaur 3

Saturday, July 14th. Overcast, cold, rainy! This does not bode well for our Great Badlands guided hike, described as follows: “Designed for the adventurous, the Great Badlands Hike is an extended trek into some of the most beautiful and rugged parts of the Park. As you are guided over steep slopes and through coulees you will discover how fossil hunters tackle “les mauvaises terres à traverser” (the bad lands to walk across) in their search for dinosaur bones. You will see how modern plants and animals have adapted to survive in this challenging environment. And you cannot help but locate some dinosaur remains along the way in this, the richest site in the world for late Cretaceous fossils!

Length of program: 4 hours

Difficulty: Difficult – up to 6 km distance over rough terrain.”

But, we show up as scheduled for a 9:30 departure, our guide Fiona appears and loads us onto a park bus, and we take off into a restricted area of the Natural Preserve not normally open to the public. 

It turned out to be a stunningly beautiful day. Details by Scott:

Since leaving Florida about 6 weeks ago, we have travelled over 5000 miles; starting from our first leg in May of last year, we have logged over 22k in trailer hauling miles, and 85 campgrounds so far!

The first big section of this trip, up the East Coast and along the Shores of Lake Superior,  was in part to make up for what we did not accomplish last year, after deciding to cut it short to clean up after hurricane Irma. So, this summer on many days we spent more time driving than we would have liked, and had many one-night stays at campgrounds right off the highway.

Just before arriving in Alberta, we really pushed things, and we got overly tired. It was a great relief to know we would spend a full 3 nights in this park, especially once we saw how special it is.

On this Saturday morning, we awoke before 6AM to overcast skies, a stiff wind, and some sprinkles… must have been in the high 50’s or low 60’s, and felt cold! Because much of the hills here in the badlands are covered in slippery clays such as bentonite, the backcountry treks are cancelled if it gets too wet. We were concerned, but by 9:30 the coast was clear. We boarded a small bus driven by Fiona, our group leader, and 17 other hardy souls, for what was advertised as a challenging and rewarding trek through badlands trails and dried stream beds, in what is described as fossil country.

The bus went through a gate for “Authorized Personnel Only,” and we drove for about 15 minutes throough some spectacular scenery, before unloading.

This hike was nothing short of fantastic, in so many ways. The weather gradually turned perfect, the entire group was friendly and respectful, so we made good time. Our leader Fiona was a marvel; she led us through difficult terrain, not exceptionally steep overall, but very challenging due to rocky sections, loose gravel, deep and narrow stream beds, one tight tunnel we had to crawl through, etc. 

She led us to some historical sites with special markers designating a famous fossil find, and to 3 areas rich with fossils. These were so many in places that at first blush I thought they had seeded the place. Exposed Cretaceous femurs, teeth, multitudes of fragments of arm, leg, rib and vertebrae. She was able to identify almost every fragment offered as a possible fossil.

We returned after about 5 hours… tired of course, but just so grateful for the experience.  We love learning about geology and paleontology, and this park is like one great laboratory. The terrain is great fun to walk in, and although the campground itself is totally full and noisy with families and many small children racing about, trails just a short distance away are almost empty. There is great signage, lots of information, and the scenery is varied. The air is exceptionally clear and the clouds, stars and sunrises and sunsets are marvelous.

It’s on the list for a return trip: we learned that best time for birding is early-mid May, and the Park would surely be less crowded then!

 

 

 

Dinosaur 2

Friday, July 13th. 

Got an early start doing laundry at the laundromat in the 24 hour washroom in back of the Cretaceous Cafe. Checkout time is 2pm but the people in our spot were gone before noon, so we were able to move across the way into our new campsite, S-16. A couple of cottonwood trees provide a little shade, but it’s mostly sunny and quite hot.

After setting up, we drove the 3km Scenic Road Loop, stopping at the two Fossil Displays but by then it was already too hot to take any of the 3 hikes that have trailheads off this road. We decided to do that closer to sunset.

After lunch, we realized that the AC was off, and Scott discovered that the circuit breaker on our electric pedestal had tripped so he reset it, but it kept happening, so we walked up to the campground check-in at the Cretaceous Cafe to let them know. Shortly thereafter, Ranger/Groundskeeper Justin arrived and said that the whole campground electric system is inadequate for providing 30amp service to RVs and that someone’s power cuts out at least weekly. Sorry, but there’s nothing he can do but notify his supervisor who will get an electrician to come out, maybe in a couple of days… We drove back up to the Cafe to see if they could move us to another site. Not today, but for tomorrow, they placed a hold on site S-44 for us. In the meantime, we turned the AC from Hi On to Lo Auto, and it turned on, and stayed on! No need to move! In the midst of all this, we spend most of the afternoon on the patio outside the cafe using their WiFi and strong cell signal to try to do some banking over the phone without logging in to our accounts over an insecure public network. Good luck with that! This experience taught us that if we do this full time we will need to set up our own secure WiFi or some configuration of a wired/wireless network/router/cell signal booster. Also, Helen’s cell phone battery and charger are shot. 

After consoling ourselves with ice cream from the Cretaceous Cafe, we decided the sun was low enough to try some hikes off the Scenic Road. We did all three: The Badlands Trail (1.3km Loop), the Trail of the Fossil Hunters (.9km), and the Cottonwood Flats Trail (1.4k. Loop). By the time we finished the 3rd trail, the sun was setting and we were overwhelmed by the natural beauty and diversity of these Badlands. These are well established trails but we were the only people on them, and you could easily believe yourself to be in a trackless wilderness, at viewpoints overlooking vast distances with scarce or no sign of human activity anywhere.

It cools off fast here in the evening, and we were able to turn off the AC and sleep with the windows open. In the middle of the night, the wind picked up and blew so hard that we had to pull in the awning. Also, we took advantage of being awake at 12:30 a.m. to go outside and look at the stars. Wow! The Milky Way is clear as crystal and the stars are incredibly brilliant. Next morning the temp inside the trailer was a cool 56F!

Dinosaur 1

Thursday, July 12th. Medicine Hat to Dinosaur Provincial Park, Brooks, Alberta (93 miles)

Thank you, Google Maps! For directing us to Dinosaur Provincial Park via a route that included 23km on a dusty desolate rough gravel road. A paved alternative was available, slightly longer by about 10 minutes, but Google Maps decided we would prefer the gravel. For the record, we did not.

Also for the record, Alberta wins! Of the 4 Provinces we have so far traversed on the Trans Canada Highway, Alberta is the only one that posts road signs 1km in advance of a rest area, and then again just before the turnoff. How civilized and thoughtful!

According to the park brochure, Dinosaur Provincial Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, world renowned for its abundant fossils from the late Cretaceous period, riverside cottonwood groves, and stunning Badlands. The campsites are set among the hoodoos rock formations of the Badlands, hot and sunny, unless you are lucky enough to be in a spot shaded by cottonwoods, some quite lovely, right next to the Red Deer River.

 

Today we are in S-17, a hot sunny site. Tomorrow we move to S-16, which is shadier, for 2 more nights. But we are comfortable with the 30 amp electric service that keeps our AC humming away. 

After lunch we took a walk to the Visitor Center. On the way we spoke to our next door neighbor in a gray Minnie Winnie 2101, a little smaller than our red 2106. He has been here all week, photographing the Milky Way. Although DPP is not officially designated as a Dark Sky Park, it’s in a valley that shelters it from any light pollution coming from the Trans Canada Highway and towns to the south. He said also around midnight Mars will rise, big and bright because it’s closer to the Earth than it has been for 50 years. I asked where he is planning to be for the Perseids, and he said Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan. Cool!

On the way to the Visitor Center there is a little log cabin, restored by a local Friends group. It belonged to John Ware, a Black cowboy pioneer who moved here and started a family after  being freed from slavery in South Carolina after the Civil War. By all accounts, an extraordinary individual.

 

You have to pay $5 CDN each to get into the exhibits at the Visitor Center, but they are an excellent introduction to the paleontology, geology, geomorphology, and ecology of this area. While there, we picked up our tickets for the guided 4 hour Great Badlands hike we have signed up for at 9:30 Saturday morning. Later in the evening when it cooled down a little we took the Coulee Viewpoint Trail, a 45 minute walk which climbs to ridge tops with beautiful views. Very similar to the Badlands of South Dakota. The hike was similar too, in that the trail is not well defined so you can wander across the sandstone, keeping oriented by the placement of info kiosks at points of interest in the landscape. There are boardwalks and steps to help navigate over rough places.

 

Clocking the miles…

Sunday, July 8th. Still in Ontario: Rossport Campground to Davy Lake Campground, Ignace, Ontario. (256 miles). Davy Lake is a slightly shabby commercial campground in the slightly shabby town of Ignace. But very helpful and friendly owners! All utilities worked fine. Everything we needed for an overnight stay. Used the laundromat – dryer lint not too bad! Easy on and off Trans Canada Highway. Check in time is 4 p.m. and they charge $3/hour extra if you arrive earlier than that during the week because apparently Ontario charges more for juice during weekdays. We arrived on a Sunday so they very kindly waived this surcharge for us. Plus, they exchanged our US dollars for Canadian at the current bank exchange rate, and saved us a trip to the bank. Couldn’t be nicer! We had a “premium” spot, which was a perfectly level pull-through with water and electric 30 amps for a total of $31 CDN ($24 US) with our Good Sam 10% discount. This is so reasonable, even less expensive than the Ontario Provincial parks, and with more amenities and more spacious sites. A great bargain! And a beautiful sunset! 

Monday, July 9th. Davy Lake CG to Turtle Crossing Campground, Brandon, Manitoba. (423 miles). Grueling, long travel day. We finally passed out of Ontario after a week of driving! Our predominant impression of the Trans Canada Highway as a transportation amenity so far is that the Provincial governments must want visitors to pee in the bushes. There are so few rest areas, with no advance signage, all with pit toilets (which makes sense because of the difficulty of maintaining water pipes during the winter here in the north country), and the only other turnouts are snowplow turnarounds which all the long distance truckers must have in their mapping apps because every one we passed had a huge tractor trailer already parked there — no room for us, even if we had known about it in time to slow down and make the turn. As soon as we entered Manitoba, we were encouraged because there was a well marked and well staffed Welcome Center and rest area, but after that the road turned into a washboard with no rest areas, and stayed that way for miles, until after we passed through the congested suburban sprawl of Winnipeg. Then it smoothed out a little. Our destination, Turtle Crossing: Another rustic (aka shabby) campground in the slightly more upscale and larger town of Brandon. They even have a Home Depot and a Safeway (in addition to the omnipresent Walmart). We paid a visit to both. Then, another beautiful sunset!

Tuesday, July 10th. Turtle Crossing CG to Wakamow Valley River Park Campground, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. (268 miles). Our AAA map shows a Welcome Center or at least an Information Kiosk on the border between Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but there is nothing there — only a sign announcing you are in Saskatchewan. But the road is relatively good, and there is much less congestion, fewer trucks and lighter traffic in general through the rolling farms planted almost exclusively in rapeseed, AKA canola. This is a Brassica (like broccoli and mustard) and Saskatchewan grows about 50% of the world’s supply. We saw a lot of this growing on the Bruce Peninsula and didn’t know what it was. Now we know!

The Wakamow Valley River Park campground has an interesting history. Originally called Tourist Camp, it was established here on the Moose Jaw River in 1927 and it has been open since then, making it the longest continuously operated campground in North America, according to the information kiosk in the park.

Wednesday, July 11th. Moose Jaw to Gas City Campground, Medicine Hat, Alberta (253 miles). The highlight of this day was our stop at the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Migration Interpretive Center in Chaplin, SK. This is a little rest area/Nature Center right off the Trans Canada Highway. Chaplin is a town of 200 on Chaplin Lake which has a salinity level 7 times higher than sea water. As a result, brine shrimp flourish there and attract lots of migratory shorebirds which spend about 2 weeks here in spring (first 2 weeks of May) and fall (late July-early August) doubling their weight before resuming their migration. The town’s economic engine is this lake because they mine it for sodium sulfate, a salt that is used for laundry and dishwasher detergent and which is sold to Proctor & Gamble and Tide. We learned all this and more from Kylie, who gave us a tour of the Nature Center.

Another highlight: at the rest area on the border between Saskatchewan and Alberta we met a truck driver hauling 4 enormous Bridgestone tires, each weighing over 10,000 pounds. They are manufactured in South Carolina for use on trucks in the Athabasca Tar Sands. This driver’s job is to pick up these tires in South Carolina and drive them to Calgary, making this round-trip TWICE A MONTH!! He seemed happy as a clam about it, too. 

In Medicine Hat, we set up at Gas City Campground and then headed out through rush hour traffic (!) to stock up at the local Costco in outskirts of the booming suburban sprawl. And: Another beautiful sunset!

Thursday, July 12th. Medicine Hat to Dinosaur Provincial Park, Brooks, Alberta (93 miles)

Travel Days

Saturday, July 7th.

These are one-night stands as we are booking it across Canada, but we are keeping a list of places we might want to return to. Lake Superior Provincial Park Agawa Campground is one such place. There are many intriguing hikes in this enormous park, and we got a recommendation from a young couple who was in front of us in the ferry RV queue, and who were also staying in Chutes PP.  They said we shouldn’t miss the Sand River Trail in Lake Superior PP. OK, it’s on the list!

Next stop: Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, Rossport campground. Another unassuming little campground with surprisingly extraordinary features! Campsites RIGHT on the beach! Lovely rock formations at the shore! Nice bathhouse and laundry! 30 amp extension cords available to borrow (for $100 deposit)! Although we didn’t need it because our campsite was wide open, close to the electrical outlet, easy to back into, almost perfectly level! Here is the view from our window: what a spot!

Lake Superior Baptism

Friday, July 6th. This morning, Scott decided that the narrow, winding road in this campground would be a good place for Helen to practice backing and filling with the trailer. Helen eventually did manage to get the trailer turned around and pointed in the right direction to leave the park, but not without developing an acute appreciation for Scott’s relative expertise in this area. At the time, “appreciation” was not the word that might have been used. Suffice it to say, more practice is needed.

But we did get underway to our destination, Lake Superior Provincial Park Agawa Campground. On the way we passed the big city of Sault St. Marie where we stopped at the inevitable Walmart to get supplies, and at an RV service center to pick up a new black water handle. 

The Agawa campground, like all the other Ontario Provincial Park campgrounds so far on this trip, has mostly tight, narrow sites, with encroaching trees and with awkwardly-situated electrical hookups. Even though our site #127 was a pull-through, it was purely miraculous that Scott managed to get us perfectly aligned and just close enough to the electrical outlet that we didn’t need a 30 amp extension cord, which we should probably have for the rest of our trip through Canada, if our experience so far is any indication. But other than that, this campground is gorgeous! Many sites right on the shore of Lake Superior – ours only a few steps away. Perfectly located for Scott to fulfill his promise to his sister – to get into that cold water! Here is proof:

Preparing:

Setting the intention:

Dipping a toe:

Wading in:

All wet!

There is also a wonderful Visitor Center here, with many fascinating exhibits about the human and natural history of this area; particularly interesting was the story of the “Group of Seven” Canadian artists who found inspiration in this (then) total wilderness during the early years of the 20th century, and who returned here year after year. Nice porch outside the Visitor Center!

Beautiful rocks along the shore during our sunset walk at 10 p.m.!

Chi-Cheemaun Ferry and Beyond

Thursday, July 5th.

We get up early to another cool, sparkling clear day. We have our standard breakfast and decide to head off to the ferry landing early, driving slowly and taking in the sights. We arrive over 90 minutes before launch, and are just the second rig in the RV and trailer line. Propane off! Cost is 190.00 US$, which is ok considering the time, distance and savings on fuel.

We spend the time roaming around the terminal, which has a small harbor, including launches for the sightseeing boats that skim the coastline; fun watching them head in and out of the harbor. We window shop at the local stores, check out the Ferry visitor center, with its historical photos and descriptions of the many ships that have served the line. Soon, our ship comes in!

Always fun to do this, and always interesting to see all of the crew doing their jobs… seems so routine but it takes skill and awareness.

The trip is very pleasant… great weather, nice scenery between Georgian Bay and Lake Huron; many islands are part of the Fathom Five National marine sanctuary. We roam the ship, walk on every deck, grab a snack in the cafeteria, people watch. Of interest: the many Mennonite families presumably on vacation like everyone else. The younger Mennonite boys had fun feeding Cheetos to the seagulls by hand!

 

We depart uneventfully, and start driving towards our next camp at the Chutes Provincial Park in Massey, ON. We are now aware that these Provincial camp sites have been designed to help us hone our parking skills, and to practice spontaneous expletives. It is not uncommon in both provincial and in US state parks to have to navigate posts that demarcate sites and that might delay an invasion by tank. The provincial parks add to the overall excitement with very narrow access roads, strategically placed pine trees around sharp corners, and a very curious design feature such that the only way to easily park the trailer also puts the electrical post, often hidden in the undergrowth, at a location one cannot reach with a standard 30 amp service cord. But, with surgical skill guided by frequent invocations to the Divine, we do manage to get settled in nicely.

After unhitching, S. heads back out to fill up on diesel. He also finds a small lumber yard and picks up abs pipe and fittings to repair the grey water discharge line, damaged previously by a marauding pine tree.

The sites here are very large and the bath house/laundry absolutely immaculate! Otherwise, the park seems unremarkable, although very pleasant. But, we hear water and Helen checks out the map of trails. She notes there are falls around and we decide to check it out.

What a wonderful surprise! We end up walking up and down the Twin Bridges trail along the Aux Sables River for 2 hours, passing powerful rapids, quiet places in the river, broad and complex falls (i.e. “Chutes”) and rock formations. Three local  young women (we assume high school track, one wearing “Espanola” sweatshirt) are running along the trail. Other than that, we meet only one other person, walking his dog. Once back down below the campground, however, we find the big Falls, higher and even broader and more complex than those upstream. Here, the waters crash into a wide area of quiet shallows surrounded by a sandy swimming beach, where a dozen or so campers are wading and climbing on the rocks near the Falls. We explore this area, marveling at the beauty all around, and when the sun gets low, we head back to camp.

What, Me Worry?

Monday, July 2nd. The subtitle for this journey should be “An Homage to Alfred E. Neumann — or What, Me Worry?” I spent hours worrying about which bridge we should use to cross into Canada, and once there, which route we should take to our next stop, 4+ hours north. Re: the bridge, the Lewiston bridge is closer to our campsite and with an easy connection from the interstate I-190 so that is the one I was planning to take. But before we set out, Scott asked our Canadian Airstream neighbor his recommendation, and he unreservedly advised that we take the Rainbow Bridge right downtown and next to the Falls. He said that the Lewistown bridge gets a lot of commercial truck traffic resulting sometimes in long waits at Customs. The Rainbow Bridge requires a drive through the city streets but not as likely to involve much waiting. So that’s what we did. Since it’s a holiday weekend, the roads were pretty empty and we breezed downtown and across the bridge right into Customs. We were the only ones there! No lines, no waiting! We parked the trailer and went inside, to be met by a Customs officer who said we should wait outside with our vehicle. He came out with us, and the only thing he asked was if we had any pets or weapons. When we said No to both, he seemed incredulous. He said you drove all the way from Florida with no weapon? We said No weapon. He asked do you own a weapon in Florida? We said again, No weapon. It was as if he couldn’t believe we lived in such a violent state in such a violent country but didn’t own a weapon. So then we went back inside to show our passports, and I asked the officer for his advice on the best route to take to our destination, Sauble Falls Provincial Park on the Bruce Peninsula. He said QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) to 403 to 6. He said the signage would be very clear. He was so right! QEW is directly outside the Customs Parking lot, every turn thereafter was clearly marked, and the roads are excellent! What a contrast to the crumbling washboard roads we have encountered throughout the US!

So all that worry… Pointless.

The only problem was that there were no rest areas along our route, and nowhere easy to pull over for a break, so we just kept going. By the time we pulled into the Park, we were pretty road weary. Our campsite was easy to find and it was a pull-through but the power hookup was in a peculiar location on the opposite side of the trailer from our power cord and it wouldn’t reach. If we hadn’t been so frazzled from the long trip we might have figured out that we should back out into the parking lot, turn around, and back into our site. But before that occurred to us, Scott decided to make a loop around the campground and approach our site from the other side, not realizing that the loops here are very tight. He took the first corner too close and clipped a good-sized pine tree with a loud crack, taking it out by the roots, causing consternation at the neighboring campsite, but he didn’t know he had done this, so kept going and disappeared around the bend… And now, let us never speak of it again. 

Later in the day, we took a walk down to Sauble Falls, a pretty little series of stone ledges in the River where throngs of campers splashed and paddled. 

Tuesday, July 3rd. We got an early start, having planned our day based on the Bruce Peninsula tourist rag, The Daytrip Companion. We learned that there are gardens that are open to the public, hidden gems of sandy beaches, and the Bruce Trail, a national treasure that stretches from Tobermory at the northern tip of Bruce Peninsula all the way south to Niagara Falls! First stop, Earthbound Gardens and Greenhouses in Red Bay. This nursery and touring garden specializes in plants native to the Bruce Peninsula and is a Monarch Conservancy Waystation. The pleasant co-owner, John, greeted us and showed us around, and imparted some of his secrets for amending his sandy soil, including the fact that he mixes blackstrap molasses into his irrigation water. His plants look exceedingly healthy… we may have to give this a try!

Next, Black Creek Provincial Park, Stokes Bay. This is how the tourist guide describes it: “A quarter mile of broad, sheltered sandy beach in a wilderness setting, miles from nowhere…. Ever wondered what Wasaga and Sauble were like in the 19th century? (May be overcrowded on summer weekends.)” Well, wonder no more— if in the 19th century there were 3 summer camp school buses in the parking lot, along with hordes of families with children and picnics, beach umbrellas, inflatables, large sunburned dads playing ball with their kids — certainly overcrowded, even though it was not the weekend. We figured folks were still on their Canada Day holidays. 

Finally, we had to get a taste of the famous Bruce Trail. This was a beautiful, rough and rocky trail through the woods with peekaboo views of the blue and aquamarine waters of Georgian Bay along the east side of the Bruce Peninsula. We saw no one else on this trail which started on a side trail and connected to the Bruce trail about 2 km south of the town of Lions Head. After our walk, we drove into Lions Head, shared a raspberry ice cream, drove down to Lions Head marina, in a very picturesque harbor with posters touting the dark skies policies of this little town.

On the way back to the campground, we filled up with Diesel which triggered the truck’s malfunction indicator light to go off, probably because the gas had a too-high sulfur content, and our truck sent us an email saying “Your vehicle’s Malfunction Indicator Light recently indicated your vehicle needs service. WARNING: Prolonged driving with the Malfunction Indicator Light on could cause damage to the engine control system. If the Malfunction Indicator Light is flashing, severe catalytic converter damage and power loss will soon occur. Have your vehicle serviced at your dealership immediately.” Since this happened before in Florida on our way home from picking up the trailer In Ohio, we knew that next time we topped off the tank with low sulfur diesel, the warning light would disappear, which it did.

Wednesday, July 4th.

Did a laundry at the park for “a loonie and 2 quarters” — $1.50 CDN, equal to about $1.12 US, before packing up and heading north 77 km on Hwy 6 to Bruce Peninsula National Park. Here we are in an unserviced (and very un-level) site but in a pretty area just across the path from Cyprus Lake. After lunch Scott spent some time diagnosing the fallout from the tree-felling incident (which shall never again be spoken of), which will require replacement of the black water handle, and repairing the broken grey water pipe, among other things. According to our Allstays app, there is an RV parts and service place in Sault St. Marie, 2 days ahead on our itinerary, so we plan to stop there for the supplies we need.

Then we took a very well-trodden Cypress Lake Trail to the Grotto Trail.

The Grotto is a pretty beach on Georgian Bay with dramatic rock formations and giant boulders all around … similar to The Baths in Virgin Gorda, and equally crowded. Big party scene. The National Park had to institute an online reserved parking system at the trailheads. We didn’t stay there long, but took a couple of side trails back from the Grotto to Boulder Beach to Marr Lake Trail back to the Campground. Those trails were almost totally deserted and very beautiful.

Tomorrow… we take the car ferry from Tobermory at the tip of Bruce Peninsula across Georgian Bay to Manitoulin Island, and thence to the Trans Canada Highway and points west!

Niagara

Saturday, June 30th.

We leave Cayuga Lake State Park, heading towards Niagara for our date with destiny. Much of our NY travel has been a pilgrimage to places Helen visited in her youth, and Niagara is no exception. The Falls are another stop we had intended to make last year, before heading home early due to hurricane Irma. Scott has never been, and it seems churlish to avoid this classic, despite his abhorrence of touristy sites and crowds.

One of the most enjoyable parts of our travels is to get off the main roads when we can, and meander through small towns and past fields and farms. We see the incredible variety in the ways people live, and often wonder how they make their living. Helen is often helped and frequently frustrated by Google Maps,  but we manage to make remarkably few wrong turns. Sadly, we often pass a park or wildlife refuge we know we will never see again, as well as intriguing signs for a local museum or other attraction. Perhaps, if we ever do this full time, we can strike out and stop whenever it suits us. Anyway, this trip brought us past many a farm… didn’t fancy seeing the veal tents, though… as well as some beckoning little towns and those that time and progress have forgotten.

We know the end of June and the 4th of July will mean packed State parks,  but we are psychologically prepared. We arrive at Four Mile Creek State park at a boondocking site (un-serviced but still pricey). It is blisteringly hot and the Nash is parked in full sun. But, that’s a good thing since the solar panel will have no problem keeping our batteries charged. We are able to fill our fresh water tank tank by combining hoses, and the water is cool. The area is historic, of course, and near Ft. Niagara, where the British, with Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) help, drove out the French, and were then able to plunder North American furs at will!

The park is on the shores of Lake Ontario, but on a bluff, so no beach. We manage a walk around the campground… always an interesting experience and, realizing how hot and crowded Niagara will be, we plot an early morning drive into town, and head to bed early. Just as we are drifting off, there is a commotion outside… it sounds like something is on fire, crackling and popping. H. staggers to the window and looks out… our Canadian neighbors who are camping in an Airstream next to us have set off fireworks to celebrate Canada Day, not at midnight which would be the actual Day, July 1st, but at 10 p.m., so as not to violate the campground quiet hours.

Sunday, July 1st.

We visit Niagara Falls which, we reflect upon with amazement,  turns out great. Planning can really help. We leave early and it’s still pretty cool. We find an empty parking spot for the bargain price of $30.00/day and begin walking. Here is the big surprise… the US side, which is on the upstream side, is like a big park, with nice walking paths, viewpoints, great signage, and with a good sense of crowd control, and the attractions are pricey but not obnoxious. Across the gorge, on the Canadian side, the bluffs overlooking the Falls are packed with high rise hotels,  observation towers, a giant Ferris wheel, etc. So from that side, you see the Falls head on, and of course you see the green parkland and smaller buildings on the US side.We take trails that overlook the falls from various heights and angles, and a real treat is experiencing the rapids before the vast quantities of water spill over the precipice. The sounds are simultaneously soothing and powerful. We bite the bullet and take the Cave of the Winds tour @$19pp done in groups of 70 or so. We are with Americans and Europeans of course, but outnumbered by huge platoons of Chinese and Indian tourists. We troop into a holding room where there are exhibits on the history and geology of the Falls and then into a “theater” ala Disney, where we see a video emphasizing the role of Nikola Tesla inventing AC current and then teaming up with Westinghouse to use the Falls to generate electricity. We descend in an elevator, don slickers and sandals and climb down a steep set of wooden stairs that take us to a platform directly under the spray coming off the Bridal Veil Falls for a direct experience of the mist and spray, exhilarating and blessedly cool. Refreshed, we head back to the truck, grab our snacks, and find a bench overlooking the rapids, cool, beautiful and remarkably free from foot traffic. We always find a way!  Well, usually.

Helen finds the visitors center, where we get printed directions on heading out the back way through the post-industrial wasteland that is the town of Niagara Falls once you get a few blocks away from the Falls. Our destination is an Aldi’s foodstore, where we replenish our stores, then head back along the poorly maintained scenic highway that leads directly to our campground, 16 miles north of the Falls. Clearly, the money generated by Niagara Falls State Park and the tourism associated with the Falls does not stay in Niagara Falls. Or if it does, it’s not being spent on infrastructure, I.e. roads! It’s still beastly hot, so we locate a Regal Cinema, drive back into town and cash in our Xmas gift from the Jensen-Morrisons, a Regal Cinema gift card. We see The Incredibles 2 in a nearly empty, air-conditioned theater – a perfect choice. By the time we return, it is past 10 and cool enough to sleep well, knowing we have contributed to the American Economy, and looking forward to being in Canada for the 4th… not that we’re unpatriotic. We’ll miss seeing the fireworks but the noise we can do without!