Day 5 - July 16 - Terrace Bay to Chapleau

Weather: AM: Sunny and Cloudy Periods +10c

PM: Partly Sunny, very humid, +34c  

Distance: 440km, time 7hrs

We got an early start this morning at 8:30 and found a nice bakery in Terrace Bay for breakfast.

Our first stop of the day is Marathon, the paper mill is now shut down, but the town is prospering on the mega gold mines at Hemo, about 25km to the East.  There is a new mall and a very large Canadian Tire.

Shutdown Mill in Marathon.

After our brief ride around Marathon, we are off to Hemlo.  About 25km East of Marathon is the Hemlo Gold Fields, this is one of the largest gold discoveries in the world, there are two operating mines.

Hemlo Gold Mine

Next up White River - this place has seen better days, the CP Rail yard was empty, not a train in site.  The stations needs a facelift, and there is still one VIA RDC Train which operates every other day, but that train has very few passengers and is only designed to serve communities with no roads between White River and Sudbury. 

CPR White River, ON

We also made White River the lunch stop which was a good idea as a massive rain storm was happening about 15km to the East, so we avoided getting wet and only found some wet roads, but the lunch was expensive $18 for a grilled cheese sandwich, soup and a soft drink - captive audience.

It will be another hour and 15minutes to Wawa, where we will leave Highway 17 (the Trans Canada) and head East on Hwy #101, though the deep woods of Ontario and no Gas, No Towns, nothing!

The Canada Goose at Wawa, on Hwy#17

Wawa was only connected to the rest of the world in 1960, that is when the last section of the Ontario to Manitoba highway 17 was completed.  That was a big issue for the town, up to them the Algoma Central Ry was the means of transportation to Sault Ste. Marrie.

On our way to Chapleau just outside the Shoals Prov. Park I had to make a turtle rescue on Hwy#101, this guy was crossing right across the road, so I helped shorten his journey.  Anyway he knew the Euclid but had not met him.

This great rapids is on the Jackpine River, between Wawa and Chapleau and the highway is deserted  as you see in the next photo.

Hwy#101 Pine Trees love sand (lots of sand).

Chapleau was a welcome sight as the temperature was now 34c and with the humidity is felt like 43c, anyway we travelled a fair distance today and we found a very nice modern hotel/motel and a welcome shower at the end of 440km.