Pre-visit reconnaissance report
On 16 July 1999 John Smith and Allen Cox made an
exploratory visit to Ontario Canada. The aim of this visit was to ensure the
viability of the Canada 2000 expedition in July next year, and to confirm local
support arrangements on the ground
Allen and John travelled separately to Canada, met at
Toronto’s Pearson International airport and hired a car for the Journey to
Northern Ontario. They had arranged to meet Duncan McKay a friend of Barry Ellis
(the chief instructor at the Air Cadet centre in Llanbedr) at his home in
Terrace Bay, some 250km east of Thunder Bay
The journey to Terrace followed the highway along the
shores of Lake Huron to Sudbury and Sue Saint Marie before following the North
shore of Lake Superior all the way to Terrace. The journey took 14 hrs to White
River where they took a rest, arriving in Terrace after two further hours of
driving at 09:00
The first day was spent looking around the local area and
meeting some of the people who will assist us next year. The people of Terrace
and the nearby town of Schreiber were very welcoming
A three-day expedition on the Steel River was planned,
using a canoe hired from an outfitter in Marathon. A lift to the start was
provided in the back of a Jeep pick up with canoe trailer attached. The start
was North of the main highway between mile 58 and 59. Dennis (Stan’s son)
dropped the group on the little Steel river at around 10:00
The weather was good with a temperature of around 29°C
and clear skies. This is ideal canoeing country. The route followed the little
Steel River, which flows into numerous lakes before joining the main Steel
River. The river sections contain several rapids of about the same difficulty as
Symonds Yat (on the River Wye) with perhaps slightly more difficult approaches
Starting the little Steel just after 10:00 the group
paddled until around 12:30 when a stop for lunch was made. Hot noodles flavoured
with soup followed by nan bread and jam and cake followed. All washed down with
cold tea. A short portage introduced John and Allen to the art of carrying the
canoe single handed. This first portage of around 250 meters was the first of
two on the first day. Paddling continued until 18:30 when they stopped at a
campsite on the shores of a lake. A tarp was erected, water put on for tea and
the tents erected. It was a surprise to John and Allen that the water was
drinkable directly from the lake without filtering or boiling (Water will be
filtered or boiled next year as we may well pollute our own supplies). Dinner
was spaghetti bolognaise, followed by cake and biscuits
They were aware of the blackfly and mosquito nuisance and
used insect repellent sun cream and Deet spray on their clothing. This proved
effective except that Allen had a row of blackfly bites on his lower legs where
the Deet had washed off in the water
Following a good night’s sleep they arose the next
morning to a hearty breakfast of cereal and eggs and sausage washed down with
tea. Setting off just after 09:00,
there was more spectacular paddling past beaver dams and logjams (caused by the
winter run off). The second night’s campsite was larger than the first and was
just after a spectacular portage
The last day saw them paddling down the Steel River to a
bridge where Duncan had arranged for Stan to meet them in his Jeep (any one who
is on the Canada 2000 trip will get to know Stan). The drive back to Terrace was
a delight travelling on dirt roads through the wilderness; the first people for
three days were seen
After the expedition, Thunder Bay was visited; this is a
very spread out town and it will be worth spending time exploring it next year
The trip was soon over and the long drive back to Toronto
had to be faced. This was made memorable by a Black Bear running across the road
about 20 meters in front of the car, and John locking the wheels. Fortunately
the Bear just kept running and no damage was done. Only happy memories of
actually seeing a bear from the relative safety of the car…
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