Our route on this day went from Agawa Bay Campground to Marathon, Ontario. A mainly inland route, it was a short drive – about 4-hours door to door. We left later than we planned, so we decided to make no stops en route.
Best laid plans. There was an unexpected stop. Continuing along the TransCanada – Highway 17 in this part of Ontario – began with a slow-down. We stopped because of construction. Damage caused from a road washout less than a week previously was under repair. Very interesting to see the process, and how quickly the work was being completed.
We had long realised that the roadside views through this epitome of the Canadian Shield would include bogs,
lakes with islands in the middle,
and a new feature – rivers.
Occasionally a raging river ran right beside the highway.
These were all quick sightings. The passenger (me) was looking all the time. The driver (Nigel) was looking as much as he could, but his concentration was on the road. The Trans-Canada was in excellent condition, except for the washout-bit. However, there was constant vigilance for wildlife, especially moose. We spotting nothing like that. The wildest thing we saw was Nigel’s neckerchief.
As well as all those natural features, there were many human created features along the road. Every 2 km there was a distance marker indicating how far it was to the Manitoba border.
The road passed through many rock cuttings created to construct the smooth highway . They showed off the underlying igneous rock so typical of this area. Sometimes there was red in the rock, possibly hematite used to create the red ochre in the rock art we saw at Agawa Bay. Possibly an indication of iron deposits. All speculation on our part.
Logging is a major industry in this area. There was evidence of that in several places. It is not a beautiful industry, but we all like wood and paper so it is a necessary industry.
Human created structures, like this seemingly delicate metal bridge over White Lake revealed the industriousness of the early settlers in the area. Roads were built. That led to bridges to cross the lakes and rivers facilitating transportation of the logs and other primary industry products gleaned from this region.
Mining is another primary industry in the area. Barrick Mines are gold mines. There were three mines near Marathon, it dwindled to one, but there is discussion and promises of re-opening one or maybe both of the closed mines. This is the working mine, I believe.
We rounded a corner in the road, and there ahead was Lake Superior, a sapphire drop sparkling at the end of the tree tunnel that we’d been driving through.
Our long drive through fairly similar landscape, led us to Marathon. This is a small town on the shore of Lake Superior. Historically, most people worked at the pulp mill. As that industry was closing down, the gold mines began opening up.
We were there to visit our friend Wendy. She is a long-time friend from Botswana days. We were glad to see her again, and to meet her friend Wayne.
Our all-too-short pause with these friends was filled with activity, conversation and laughter. One day was so rainy that we stayed inside, but on the other day we got out to explore a bit of Marathon. Wendy and I went on a tour of the town – Pebble Beach, with smooth rocks the size of watermelons,
the swimming beach in the harbour,
and Penn Lake, surrounded by a large municipal park, nearly in the middle of town.
Nigel and Wayne played golf at the Peninsula Golf Course. This course was the last course designed by Canadian Stanley Thompson, a world-renown golf course architect.
The course, as outlined on the sample score card, seems challenging. Nigel said it was challenging to score well, but it doesn’t punish high-handicappers too badly. That being said, both men played well.
When we visit friends, we are there for the craic – wide-ranging conversations, catching up, and then extending to current activities. At Wendy’s we were assured of some quiet times, just being company in the same room, an amusing ourselves together on the rainy day, e.g. talking while playing online games,
and very tasty meals.
And except for the rainy night, we enjoyed seeing the sunset from Wendy’s back patio. A memorable ending to each day.
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