Thursday 9-12 Hiking and Driving

Ready to go on a hike

We had a gorgeous day of sunshine with highs in the 60's. It was a little chilly due to the wind.

We left Bruce Mines Campground about 8:15. We drove mainly two lane highways on roads that were pretty good. The average speed limit was 90 Kl/Hr, which is about 55 mph. The highest speed limit we saw was 100 Kl/Hr (60 mph) on divided highways. We stopped in Blind River where there was a beautiful memorial that was dedicated to the memory of the area loggers. It was very well maintained, the artist put a lot of detail into her work and built it to last a long time. The next stop was a Tim Horton's, we bought a couple of apple fritters and 10 pumpkin spice Timbits (donut holes). Then we were back on the road. 

Standing in front of the Northern Ontario Logging Memorial

A cute little box for our 10 Timbits

The next stop was Chutes Provincial Park. It was a little difficult to find considering the sign was very small. Since we only wanted to hike the trail we bought a four hour pass for $7.50 Canadian. It's a beautiful park with a campground. We parked at the trailhead. The name of the trail was Twin Bridges. You can hike the whole trail or part of it. We decided to do the whole trail. The trail is a moderate trail that goes through trees and along the banks of the Aux Sables River. We started out by going to an observation deck to see a set of falls. Then we climbed up a staircase that gets you to the campground and the trailhead. We hiked for an hour and a half, about 3 miles. We walked over the bridges and saw the rapids and falls. We saw a lot of great views. We were the only ones on the trail. The trails were very well taken care of. We had a great relaxing hike.

First set of falls

The rapids making another set of falls

Larry crossing one of the twin bridges

Another set of falls made by the rapids

The staircase to the trailhead

 We needed some Canadian money so we stopped by Walmart. The last time we were in Canada we would buy something at Walmart and pay with our debit card, we could then get cash back just like at home. This time however the payment machine would only use the card as a credit card and did not offer us the option of getting cash. We ended up going to a credit union, our card worked fine in their ATM. While we were in town we decided to get fuel. It took 91 litres to fill the Minnie which was $114 ($86.43 US), $3.60 per gallon. 

Look at how much it cost for gas in Canada

The final stop was at Grundy Lake Provincial Park. We paid for one night and then went to our site. We got a site without power, it was $42.66 Canadian per night. Provincial parks in Ontario are very expensive, we have never paid this much anywhere for camping with no utilities. They want about $50 per night for a site with electric. We set up the Minnie and looked at the weather report. It's suppose to rain tomorrow so we decided we would stay another night. Before walking to the office we barbecued a couple of sausage patties for dinner. After dinner we walked to the office and paid for another night. The walk round trip was a mile and a half. We had a long day but fun.