Weather: Cloudy +31c very humid, with rain showers late in the afternoon.
Distance: 440km, time 8hrs 30mins
Before leaving Cochrane we caught the ONR POLAR BEAR EXPRESS train which was a few minutes leaving the station on its 190km run to Moosenee, it had 3 flat cars of automobiles and lots of coaches, it looked like a full train. Sunday is the day that everyone who works in the two diamond mines head back to work for Monday. This area of Ontrario and for that matter Canada is booming, everyone in Tim Hotons at 8am was paying with $50 bills.
We finaly got underway at 9:15 on Highway 11, now heading due West, and within the hour we were in Smooth Rock Falls, looks like the mill is now closed, but the hydro dam is still generating power and the place is still being lived in. I can see why some call this the Route 66 of Canada, it has that feel of abandonded towns andbusinesses.
Next stop is Kapuskasing
ONR Station (ex CNR)
The Tembeck Paper Mill in Kapuskasing, ON
The orginal height finder rader from CFS Lowther is on display at the train sation, so we used that spot to hand out the offical trip patch.
Ben and Ken holding the trip patch.
The official trip patch and the topo map of the area between Smooth Rock Falls and Kapuskasing
Old still in use TCT (Trans Canada Telephone Microwave Tower) Tower, to the West of Herest, ON, still in use that it is a relec of the early 1950's.
Our goal was to find CFS Lowther, the site is gone, there are NO buildings and I did find what I think was the access road. But of interest was the ex CN Railway Line, just outside Lowther was an old telephone pole with a massive cross connect box, which must have tide into the base back in the 1950's, of course all of this is abandoned (railway line is still in use).
Hearst Sta (joint use) ONR and CN (ex ACR).
After lunch we are off at 2:30pm for 220km stretch of Hwy#11 with NO GAS, we arrived in Longlac, after some delays becasue of rain etc.. But we did arrive 3 hours after leaving Hearst, which was the last town with gas.
Some photos from the Hwy#11
Ken at MP 1004km from Toronto on Hwy#11 also known as Younge Street.
Ben celebrating Black Fly season in the middle of Hwy#11, not much traffic on Sunday, in fact very little, like maybe be 4 cars and 4 trucks in an hour, this area is far North for sure.
We stayed over in the Westway Motel/Hotel, it was like a big city hotel, with an elevator too and very nice rooms. This for a town of 1,500 people.
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