Day 24 – Off the grid

This morning the gang picked me up at the Timmins airport at 9:30am, and we started our journey west along highway 101 toward Chapleau. We stopped along the way to check out some of the fire damage caused by the May forest fires. Also, to rescue Mike’s laptop bag which was momentarily resting gently on the platform of the trailer’s open side door (it opens down) as we hurtled along the highway in the rain. (The door locking mechanism snapped when we had that flat tire, and we’ve been jimmying it closed and hoping for the best ever since). Luckily, Mike was riding behind us and noticed it right away. So, after many pinched fingers and wrists and mosquito bites and almost a whole roll of duct tape, we devised a new closing mechanism: a ratchet strap hugging the width of the trailer. It’s pretty effective.

We ate your standard diner lunch at the very sweet Gus’s Family Restaurant on the main drag in Chapleau, an interesting little town with a lot of history — especially the lumber industry — right on the railway line. After lunch we met our host for the evening, Alain Gervais of Ride the North ATV Trails & cabin. We headed out to stay at his rustic log cabin on Racine Lake just on the border of the Chapleau Big Game Preserve for a little RnR sans internets. Al suggested we leave the trailer and BMW in town as the logging roads into the Preserve are pretty hairy. Mike dropped his bike off at Al’s shop and the lovely folks at Gus’s let us park the trailer in their lot overnight, and then off we went.

The 47km ride out to Al’s cabin was beautiful — and kinda fun with the Chevy 4×4. The cabin itself was in a gorgeous spot — the white sandy drive lead to a big clearing with blueberry bushes all over, and a little path down to the water, which you can see glistening through the trees at sunset. Mike even found a wild orchid growing by the shore! Al took the boys fishing for trout and pickerel at his favourite spots, and entertained with too many stories to count about his interesting encounters in the woods with bear, wolves, moose and even a horned owl. He headed back to home to Chapleau for the night, leaving us alone — with the bears and wolves — at the campfire in the dusk. With no internet, no electricity, and no running water, it really was a little vacation. There is no hunting or trapping allowed in the Preserve, and so it offers some of the best wildlife viewing in Canada. We saw a bear walking down the road!

Tomorrow — toward the shores of Lake Superior! West on highway 101 with a picnic stop at the Potholes, then we’re meeting Roger from Motorcycle Mojo Magazine at the Wawa Motor Inn. To the Goose!

For more information on motorcycle routes, accommodations, attractions
and restaurants in Algoma Country check out www.RideAlgoma.ca.

Photo by Alexandra Sawicki