Interesting Turns
You know how sometimes your day doesn’t go at all like you expected it to? That was today (not in a bad way). We were up and got the day started early around 8am. Went to connect to wifi and then walked along the beach back to the site. Jubs snorkelled for rocks while on leash. I saw another family with a doggo on the beach and we got to talking as I walked by them. They said their dog was 14 years old! They were telling me that Pukaskwa is their backyard because they live in Heron Bay, which is a small hamlet you need to drive through to get to the park, just outside of the reserve. As dog owners do, you talk about all things dog and I happened to say that this is my fave park but the only downside is that there are no off-leash facilities which is rough with a crazy Juno. They suggested that I leave the park and go to the beach on the reserve, not even a five minute drive) and that it would be no problem (they’re members of the reserve). I thanked them for their tip and had planned to go into town for some provisions anyway. Followed their directions and encountered a sign that said it was private property and you needed written permission from the reserve admin office to access it. So I decided that the tip was dead and just to go into Marathon instead. I figured there wouldn’t be anyone at the boat launch and so i could let Jubs off the leash there.
My suspicion was correct and we did ball on the beach nearby for a while. Upon wandering further down the beach, I discovered that someone I follow on YouTube was camping on the beach there so of course I had to say hi. That hi led into an entire day of great conversation and laughs. His name is Tom and he’s a Kiwi who has decided to canoe across Canada. At the point of meeting him today, he had done 152 days from the west coast. He’d camped overnight on the beach in Marathon and had had a slow start to the day because of the weather and voila - two paths crossed. We talked for a long time and then we decided to hang out for the day. I drove him back to Pukaskwa so he could have a hot shower and do laundry (why is laundry featuring so largely in my posts?). Afterwards we wandered back into Marathon to help him grab a couple supplies and then we had a beer and a bite at the local pub in town. By the time I dropped him back at his canoe it was 7pm! Somehow the entire day just zipped by. We talked about so many things that it’s impossible to recount everything - one thing though is he’s travelled extensively - to many of the same places as me and had done the Camino so there was lots of easy conversation.
His plan for tomorrow, weather dependant, is to start paddling down this direction. He said he’d likely paddle down to me which is about 25km. So we may see Tom again! New friend made. My hairstylist always laughs at me because I pick up random people along the way and make them my friends - my hairstylist is one of those on that list.
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