The Long Drive
Long drive from Chutes to Neys PP. It had rained through the night and it was pouring when I woke up around 6am. I checked the weather and it said there’d be a break at about 7:30 for a short bit so Jubs and I drifted in and out for an hour. Still hot and very muggy I was not looking forward to packing up.
The weather was spot on and the rain let up for about half an hour so I scurried to get everything packed up. It started to rain again as I was doing the last few bits and decided not to fight it, hopefully letting it cool me down. With everything in the car we hit the road at about 8am for a very long drive - 7 hours.
It continued to just pour down which on one hand made for icky driving but on the other hand made me feel better about being stuck in the car all day.
Stopped for a tea at Tim’s and some gas about an hour in and then set off for Pancake Bay PP which would be our stretch-our-legs-halfway point. I wasn’t thinking about much, just concentrating on the road and the prize at the end. Neys has an amazing off leash beach on Lake Superior. We stayed her last year and Jubs swam her little heart out and dug all the holes. So I decided on revisiting because it was just so great.
We drove and drove and drove. Passed through Sault St Marie where the road turns northward and headed on to Pancake Bay. It had stopped raining by the point but it was grey and overcast.
As the terrain changed into the jagged mountain ranges (for lack of better term) and the road started to trace Lake Superior I started to think back to when I visited my aunt in Cape Breton for Thanksgiving one year while I was living in the east coast for school. It felt the same, dramatic scenes and what looked like sweater weather.
When we reached Pancake Bay PP we rolled in to where the off leash beach was and hopped out of the car. It was much cooler at 20 degrees. I wasn’t thinking trying to figure out if all the rain had cleared out the heat or whether it was now because we were at Lake Superior - the world’s largest air conditioner. I checked the weather and it was indeed the lake. It was still stinking hot back in Massey.
Pancake Bay is probably my least favourite of all the provincial parks I’ve been to. The sites all are terrible and it’s right next to Highway 17 so you hear all the traffic. But the beach is amazing! I stayed there last year and had three nights booked but after one night, cancelled the next two and moved on. I decided it would be for day trips only.
We stretched our legs for about and hour and then hit the road again. And drove and drove and drove. Soon I was passing through Lake Superior PP and literally as I was passing by Gamitagama Lake the skies cleared and turned to blue with full sun.
Drove and drove and drove. Stopped at Tim’s for tea in Wawa and then again in White River for more gas and then did the last push to Neys.
Rolled in around 4pm and rolled down the windows for Jubs to see if she’d remember. The car thermometer said it was 18 degrees outside which is chilly but much more agreeable for setting up camp. Got to the site, got out of the car and we were both immediately swarmed with insects - black flies still out. I set up the bug net quickly so Jubs could hide but by then it was too late. She was running for her life around the site. Stupid me left her bug spray at home because we didn’t use it once last year. It didn’t even cross my mind to pack it!
Once I finally got the tent up and all the bits organized I hightailed it for my hammock which was in the bug net. Jubs was so freaked she got in and got out and got in and got out and ran around and around and yipped and yapped so I finally just took her in the tent where she just harrumphed onto the floor and licked all her wounds. She was finally settled. Her little fur-less undercarriage was covered in red welts and where she had fur she was swollen all over. Poor thing.
I had one bar of service so I was able to google pet stores in Marathon and there was one. Decided it would be our first chore in the morning to go into town and see if I could find dog bug spray.
Anyway, Neys was pretty busy - being a weekend. The parks up here usually clear out come Monday even in the summer. Despite that it was a quiet night. Lots of kids biking back and forth in front of my site but as soon as it got dark it was all quiet.
Didn’t eat dinner, just a light snack and then we went to bed early.
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