Manitoulin Island

From Sault Ste Marie Highway 17 Eastbound follows the North Channel Coastline which runs between Manitoulin Island which bills itself as the largest freshwater island in the world and the mainland of Northern Ontario.   Since much of the forest here is hardwood and the leaves are just now opening the forests were a riot variegated greens, reds, and yellows.  By contrast once one turns south along Highway 6 onto the island itself evergreens take over again as the predominant trees on a land underlain by the limestone of the escarpment of which this is an extension.  I stopped a night in Thessalon where I parked on Main Street and had a bowl of soup and half a sub at the Thessalon Bakery and Pizzeria.  Both the Carrot Soup and the Sub were good, two types of olives gracing a sub with a Greek influence.  The double-scoop of Chapman's Apple Pie Ice Cream was an indulgent calorie-ridden excess.  A loaf of their raisin bread was a special treat as well.  Not wishing to blink and miss it, to quote my campground host, I walked main street and checked out Home Hardware and the cramped and crowded gift store.  Seeing what was available at the local LCBO was a dubious venture—who would buy a wine called Wild Grape and why all those American Beers?  My campground was rustic but a walk along the shore to a rocky shoreline outcrop totally covered in two generations of graffiti made me feel sorry for people who feel the need to despoil the landscape to leave their mark on the world. 

 

A listing in Woodall's Guide and/or MS Streets and Trips is not a guarantee of a positive campground experience but for my first night on Manitoulin Island I learned that finding a spot on my own online can be fraught with difficulties.  At their website Gordon's Campground sounded like a naturalist's dream with nature trails, bird watching, and star-gazing; what confronted me after I'd signed in for a night was a mosquito infested side-hill that lacked running water, any lighting, or indoor plumbing.  I spent the first 18 years of my life with an outhouse—it is not an experience for which I feel any nostalgia.  An eco-shower may be fine for one on a wilderness canoe trip but standing under a glorified hot water bottle does not turn me on.  I managed to back into a narrow uphill campsite and found my adapter to use a 20 AMP outlet managing not to blow the fuse overnight; closed things up to keep out the insects and soon drew the curtains to keep out the harsh realities out of doors.  Next morning I actually managed to get online to retrieve my E-mail before packing up to leave.  To complete the picture I discovered I was out of orange juice and my milk had gone sour.  I wasn't long shaking the dust of the place off my feet and shoeing the black flies out of my van. 

 

Tobermory has a permanent population of about a hundred and a summer population that grows exponentially.  Add to this four to six ferry-loads of passengers who pass through daily—the wait to board the ferry being a boon to businesses in walking distance of the ferry dock.  South Bay Resort is just north of town fronting South Bay which runs between the main island and a peninsula of Unceded First Nations Land.  The water is a beautiful pellucid blue and wildlife above and below abounds.  As with most campgrounds the mainstay here is their seasonal campers augmented by a group of rental cabins.  The old general store in town is no more but there remains a collection of motels and cabins, bed and breakfasts, restaurants and fish and chips joints, gift shops, and art galleries.  Just west of the ferry dock is a small marina and on the edge of town the Shell Station has a small grocery store.  The museum was closed and to finish the picture throw in a few churches that are open seasonally including the quaintly named St Andrew's by the Sea.  Just what is a Given Road?