Home Sweet, New Temporary Home, in Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay feels a little like home right now.  We've spent a little more than a week here (including our time at Sleeping Giant), which is the longest we've spent in any one city since bumming off my parents in Tecumseh.  We've kind of established a favourite neighbourhood even, especially after tonight, which we're spending at the Sleeping Giant Guesthouse, a radical little hostel on Machar Ave. just 'round the corner from our favourite cafe, Bean Fiend, beside my favourite hippy shop, and just down from a community garden.  Just down the other way is the library and a Finnish bookshop, and if you like Alpaca sweaters, there's an entire store dedicated to garments made from the downy wool.  There are so many cute cafes in this neighbourhood, I feel overwhelmed choosing which one to spend my money at.  Today we went to The Growing Season and had delicious (although a little pricey) lunch dishes made from all local produce.  Thunder Bay is pretty cool, man.  Too bad Lakehead doesn't have a midwifery program.  No, but seriously - I like this place.  Having the Sibley Peninsula right down the road is just the icing on the cake.  After spending four days in Sleeping Giant, one day hiking, and three a little farther in, I only want more time there.

Little fox friend who visited us three times while we camped out on Sibley Peninsula.

Our hood in T. Bay.

The Growing Season cafe.

Yummy lunch.

Excited pups outside Red Earth (where I bought some awesome linen pants).

Ojibway legend says that the Giant is Nanabijou, the Deep Water Spirit, who rewarded the tribe who once lived on Isle Royale for their stand-up way of life by giving them a plentiful silver mine.  However, the spirit warned that if the secret location of the mine were ever divulged to white men, he himself would turn to stone and the tribe would disappear.  Well, the Ojibway stayed quiet, but apparently a Sioux leader became envious of the silver and sent a spy in, undercover, to discover the location.  He did discover the location, and sure enough gave that secret up to some white traders, who drowned when they tried to reach the mine, in the deluge that flooded the entrance to the mine itself.  After the storm, a massive blockade resembling a sleeping man with crossed arms appeared in what were previously open waters.  Thus, the Sleeping Giant was born.  

Here lies the Giant - head, Adam's apple, chest, legs.

There really is an old flooded silver mine here, it was functioning from 1870-1884.  Silver Islet, the mining community, is within the boundaries of the provincial park, and is still inhabited by a couple families of original miners as well as cottagers - all in beautiful, small wood cabins with solar panels on top (there's no electricity within the park).  This place is gorgeous, and the general store, which sits right beside the tiny marina, has a tea room which serves the most delicious cinnamon buns imaginable, and its owners, Joan (who is from Moncton!) and Lorne will make you feel like part of the family.

Silver Islet.

   

While in the park, we camped two nights on Lehtinen's Bay along the Kabeyun Trail.  An easy as pie 8km hike down an abandoned logging road leads to gorgeous campsites on the Lake Superior shoreline.  The ground was soft, and our site had beach access, and a proper fire pit with log seats and a stone patio.  We used that little piece of heaven as home base and tackled the rest of our hiking from there.  Hiking the steep ground leading to the top of the Giant was challenging and took some time - about 45 minutes for the first kilometre which climbs 290m up - but the view from the top was spectacular.  We could see Thunder Bay to the west and Minnesota to the south, there was even a bald eagle soaring above us at one point.  Apparently these are the highest cliffs in Ontario, which makes me feel extra proud to have toughed out the climb.

We had a really calm first night camping along the Lake Superior shore, the lapping of the water soothing our tired bodies to sleep; I even got in some yoga on the rocky beach the next morning while it was sunny - the best way to warm up after a night that went down to -2 degrees (brrrr).  Our second night couldn't have been more different, ho boy was it wiiiiiiindy.  I actually had a dream that it was pouring rain, the sounds coming from the ample surf down on the beach.  It was pretty tough getting water for cooking, drinking, anything really, but once we gathered some we realized that we didn't have to boil it (a welcomed relief for our stove's fuel tank) - it was crystal clear and delicious right from the source - oh Canada.

Really cool inukshuks on our beach.

The Giant laying to the West.

The other side.

Our lovely campsite.

The patio.

So Mother Willow-esq.

We're still on the trail, right?

We made it!

It's steep.

Hidden Lake at the top of the Giant.

Looking down at the little cove where we camped from the east side of the Giant.

Even steeper on the west side of the Giant.

Hi Duncan!

Now, out of the bush and warm and cozy in the hostel, I really do feel at home.  The hostel cat, Dog, helps; he loves to curl up in your lap for a good chin scratch and fall asleep…but he'll wake up and paw at you if you stop scratching (he also makes really funny groaning sounds while he's cleaning himself, it's so funny).  The hostel owner, Gail, is pretty awesome.  She's a nurse at an old folk's home, and her family members also run hostels in Ottawa and east of Thunder Bay, "it's a family thing," she says casually; she couldn't be cuter and more welcoming.  I think we won her over when we told her we're from Halifax - she's going out there with her man in a couple weeks and says she's ecstatic and has always wanted to go.  People love the east coast all across Canada!  There are a couple of really cool Germans and a guy from Montreal also living here, all of whom are in an outdoor adventure program at Lakehead.  Yah, you can get a degree in hiking, canoeing, kayaking, climbing, and general outdoor awesomeness!  

Dog hanging out on my belly.

Dog hanging out on Duncan's belly.

Next we're heading west to Quetico for some canoeing - as soon as we can peel our butts off these homey couches.