The journey home back to the GTA started at Thunder Bay, pretty close to the north-western limit of Lake Superior. Highways 11 and 17 (the Trans-Canada Highway are joined here) and you can find the Terry Fox Lookout and monument overlooking Thunder Bay and the highway just to the east of the city. Terry's famous planned run across Canada began on the east coast and unfortunately ended on the Trans-Canada just a short way from where they placed the monument.
A picture of Terry during the Marathon of Hope along with a route map of his journey
We decided to take the more norther route of Highway 11, also identified as part of the Trans-Canada Highway which runs in a circular path from Nipigon to North Bay and down into Barrie where it joins Highway 400 towards Toronto. People often ask why you would take this route because they consider it to be lonelier and less scenic as well as having fewer gas stations along the route. However it is spectacular north of Nipigon before it settles down into the more level Boreal Forest, winding around lakes and larger hills. Just fill up your gas when you get a chance, even if you are filling the tank when it is only half way down.
The attractions we wanted to see made it a priority that we take this route home, including Beardmore with the giant snowman, Hearst with its Moose versus Wolf statue, the flying saucer in Moonbeam, Cochranes polar bears and Earl the Big Bison of Steel in Earlton.
Beardmore's Snowman is the World's largest at 35 feet high. In summer he holds a fishing rod, in winter it is a curling broom all the while wearing a black top hat, sunglasses and a smile.
Staying overnight in Hearst, Ontario we hope for more of the aurora but the overcast skies would not allow a view if they made an appearance. A unusual metal dome was north of us and I asked a local what it was and found out it was a long unused wood burning dome from an old sawmill location. Wood products and mining have long been one of the main products of the north and even today you can see large sites with wood operations or mines, especially gold mines with their huge tailing piles.
See more of the north route after the jump.
Turns out it is a historic wood burning dome, known as a beehive burner, from an old sawmill operation. It used to burn the waste wood and sawdust before ceasing operation in the 1980s. There is another in the small town, just down the road near the Sawmill Museum and actually collecting sawdust as part of a large lumber mill, just not burned anymore.
From the
baladodiscovery website; "The terms beehive burner and teepee burner refer to the structure’s conical shape. These self-contained steel structures usually ranged from 30 to 60 feet in height and have an opening at the top that is covered with a steel or mesh grill to keep sparks and bright embers from escaping. Sawdust and wood debris were delivered to an opening near the top of the cone by means of a conveyor belt or screws, where they fell onto the fire near the center of the structure."
Inside the empty metal structure
The Hearst Moose vs Wolves statue
Passing through Kapuskasing we found a Railway Museum and statue along the highway. Plaques noted that the start of development of the north really was driven by the coming of the railway. The Canadian government even brought in WWII POWs to clear and farm the land while forestry kept the finances flowing.
Passage Through Time statue
Kapuskasing historical plaque
Down the road was Moonbeam Ontario, home of a green extraterrestrial being on a spaceship. They have a cool gift shop beside the UFO with plenty of alien themed stuff to buy. We were definitely not probed when we visited.
Human for scale
An alien figure peaks out of one of the portals
Our next, much anticipated stop was the Polar Bear Habitat in Cochrane. Rescuing polar bears that need human assistance to survive the large property even includes a lake the bears swim in.
Polar Bear in the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat
Highway 11's most northerly point is near Longlac and there are two signs along the Highway, one in the west, one in the east, pointing out the change in drainage catchment areas. One side of the road flows south into the Great Lakes, while the north side flows into the Arctic and James Bay. The easterly sign is in a small picnic area off of Highway 11 just northwest of Kenogami Lake.
Our last attraction along Highway 11 that we stopped at was the giant metal sculpture of Big Earl the Bison in Earlton, Ontario.
We ended up stopping in Burk's Falls for coffee but did not make it back to the
Screaming Heads at Midlothian Castle. Then the long ride back along Highway 11 and into Highway 400 where the traffic grew leaps and bounds the further south we went.
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