This year’s big summer trip is a drive from Ottawa to Whitehorse, Yukon Territories; a distance of around 5500 km one way. We’re planning two weeks to get there. Once there we will participate in the North-American Orienteering Championships, and set up our orienteering store to sell merchandise. We’ll be in the Yukon about 2 weeks, then take another 2 weeks to return.
Following pages will be a bit of a blog of our trip.
Starting with
Day 1,2 – Sunday, July 29th; Monday, July 30th
(Ottawa: 0km – Carnarvon: 335km)
Sunday morning we went to Lorna and Richard’s so Anne could chat with the participants of the latest O300 course. We followed this with a nice lunch at their house. After, we went back home just to get the trailer and say goodbye to our daughter and her boyfriend. All this of course added an extra 1/2 hour… We then went to Renfrew and then west through Bancroft to cottage country near Halliburton, for an interment of Margaret’s ashes. Steve and Margaret’s grand-children are a delight, and we spent a very nice 2 evenings with them, their parents, Margaret’s sister and her husband, Anne’s sisters Laura and Pat, Grandpa Bob and Anne’s brother Stephen.
Because the cottage was already overflowing, a friend of the family housed Laura, Bob, Anne and me. The lady who owns this cottage is a delight – a chatty almost-octogenarian who also lives in Ottawa (now only occasionally). Her and her husband both used to teach in Ottawa, so we heard lots of stories of Nepean High School, golfing in Kanata, the cottage, and many more.
Margaret grew up in this area, her sister still owns the family cottage. Her parents are also buried in this beautiful, serene spot, right beside the lake.
After the interment we went swimming in the lake, and then walked to nearby Buttermilk Falls, _thumb.jpg "IMG_4520 (2)")
with rapids and the end. Anne showed the under-15s how to have fun in the rapids.
It was hard to say good bye, but we did that evening, and started our next leg the following morning – only returning to the cottage to pick up our trailer from its parking spot.
Day 3, 4 – Tuesday July 31st; Wednesday Aug 1st
(Carnarvon: 335km – Manitoulin: 910km)
Our next destination was Manitoulin Island where Jeff was instructing some folks from the town of Manitowaning on how to organize an orienteering event, as well as making some maps for them. By staying one night on the island,
we could participate in the event. 
He was staying in a lovely lakeside cottage; on “the biggest lake on the biggest island in the biggest fresh-water lake of the world”.
To get to Manitoulin Island from the Huntsville area, we took highway 69 north past Parry Sound, where Ontario was suffering from a bunch of forest fires. We were actually warned that the highway may be closed. It wasn’t, but the sky was very hazy and it smelled like the day after a camp fire.
Day 5 – Thursday Aug 2nd
(Manitoulin: 910km – almost Nipigon: 1740km)
This was the first of a real driving day. We returned to the Trans-Canada Highway at Espanola, just west of Sudbury, then went west to Sault Ste Marie, and then north past Wawa, to Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, just before Nipigon. The campsite was very empty; we had about 10 empty sites either side of us.
Day 6 – Friday Aug 3rd
(almost Nipigon, ON: 1740km – Kenora, ON: 2394km)
Off early, until Thunder Bay, where we shopped for some food supplies. Then quickly on, because we were aiming to get to our friends Angie and Rudy’s cottage on Lake-on-the-Woods well before dinner time, so we could fit in a swim. We got there around 4:30 pm, Angie served a ton of great snacks at dock side, and then after Rudy arrived from work, she served a great dinner. Such nice people!
Day 7 – Saturday Aug 4th
(Kenora, ON: 2394km – Shoal Lake, MB: 2940km)
As soon as we got into Manitoba, we drove through a massive downpour, the same system that caused a tornado with loss of life north of Winnipeg. It was the kind of 30km-with-wipers-at-double-speed drive. We were sure our trailer window would leak (as it did during a regular rainfall on the first day), but everything stayed dry. We had a hard time finding a camp site we liked, but third-time looking was the charm, and Shoal Lake is a nice little place, even though we were the only tent, with all others being massive trailers being pulled by massive pick-ups.
Day 8 – Sunday Aug 5th
(Shoal Lake, MB: 2940km – Kitskoty, AB: 3760km)
The “ocean” in Saskatchewan. Hint: The camera is facing north.
That evening we stayed at the Kitscoty town campground in the town where Anne’s mum lived for 2 years as a small child in the early 1930s. We walked around and took lots of pictures. Now it is a bedroom community for Lloydminster (25km south-east), or just Lloyd as it is colloquially known.
What Anne’s mum might have experienced…
Day 9 – Monday Aug 6th
(Kitskoty, AB: 3760km – Edmonton, AB: 4021km)
Staying with our friends Cheryl and Gary H. in Edmonton. Their boarder is a nice young fellow from Estonia – working in Canada for a year --, who loves fast cars and managed to snag a job at a local Audi dealership which gives him access to their suite of luxury rental cars.
Also stopped at MEC and bought a new double sleeping bag. Ours was 30 years old and falling apart.
Day 10 – Tuesday Aug 7th
(Edmonton, AB: 4021km – past Grand Prairie, AB: 4548km)
Saskatoon Island Provincial Park. Named because of the abundance of Saskatoon Berries.
Sunset over Saskatoon Lake.
Day 11 – Wednesday Aug 8th
(past Grand Prairie, AB: 4548km – Tetsa River Regional Park, BC: 5223km)
Re-introduced wild Bison roaming beside the highway
The beauty of the Alaska Highway. You’re looking down this giant valley, and there are no towns, no industry, all more-or-less untouched wilderness. Nothing Hollywood here!
Day 12 – Thursday Aug 9th
(Tetsa River: 5223km – ??? Campground, YT: 5711km)
And of course Mountain Goats…
Day 13 – Friday Aug 10th
(??? Campground, YT: 5711km - Whitehorse: 6090km)