Tomorrow morning I will be heading off on my second backpacking trip! Where you ask? The Algonquin Provincial Park. I'll be entering into the Highlands for a several day excursion.
For the night, however, I will be hanging around in Huntsville, ON. This a pretty nice feeling little town. I haven't experienced too many to my liking to be quite honest. The town here is about 20,000 people and has a progressive vibe to it. So they have a lot of places for things like yoga, massage, green living, health, etc. It's refreshing! Though I wonder if it isn't based largely on tourists coming to the Algonquin. Most shops today are closed, being a Sunday and all.
Most places that I pass through have a population of 5,000 or less. A few places here and there would have 10,000 or 20,000 people. The biggest place was North Bay, containing about 50,000 people.
The drives have been really, really nice. If anyone is looking to just drive for the heck of it I recommend going through the 17...quite possibly Canada in General. I am just floored by how much nature abounds in this country. There are places you can see just driving by that I would have to backpack to see in the states. Of course, that is a highly relative statement. But I have seen quite a bit of the states.
I spent some quality time hiking through some trails in Elliot Lake. I met a really nice couple that talked to me quite a bit and recommended some places to visit. The woman was from the states. The man was from Canada and worked in Flint for quite a number of years up until his retirement in...2002? Near the end of my trip I was walking along one of the roads back to my car and stopped to talk to two friendly gentleman who were about to head out into the park to clean up beaver debris. I also happened upon a friendly old Englishman that seemed to relish in sharing some old travel stories from his youthful days.
Let me tell you about Sudbury! The complete opposite. I took about a 15 minute walk through one of the downtown areas and fled from there faster than Speedy Gonzalez. I don't know if it was just the time I went or if it was the city in general, but I felt like there were a ton of heavy drug users in that city. It was a very old school industrial town that looked as though it were falling to shambles. Nearly everyone avoided eye contact...or looked like they wanted to create trouble of some sort (shivers.) It wasn't a very fun night because I had been driving for a long time and was really looking forward to getting to a big city again and spending the night prowling about. It had probably been my most frustrating and tiring portion of my journey so far...to the point where I pulled into a rest stop, parked my car, and pitched up a tent in front of it in order to get some rest. Yea...people avoided me...but I was in a mood!
Speaking of which, there is one thing I have really noticed during my time in Canada. There is a general sense of hospitality to folks traveling through. I can sleep in my car nearly anywhere and won't get hassled or told to move on. In America, it seems as though you have to sleep with one eye open. It has been quite difficult to find showers though. Which in the states the opportunity abounds plenty.
West Nippising was small, but I found it quite appealing to take a rest there for a day or two. After the Sudbury event I just needed to sulk in a building and watch movies. So I watched three...in a row. The last two of the Harry Potter movies and a Jekyll and Hyde movie. I actually watched three by accident. I watched the part one Harry Potter movie thinking I was watching the second. So then I had to watch the second one. The Jekyll and Hyde movie was also good, but it was based off of the Amazonian plant medicine Ayahuasca. I just hope people don't develop views of the plant based off of the movie. They had a nice little beach where I sat and played guitar while watching some townspeople fish from a boat off in the distance.
North Bay was probably the nicest city I went to. I think I liked it mostly because I was always surrounded by a lot of people. The city life has grown on me very much since my first days in Grand Rapids. I didn't spend a whole lot of time in their library. The wifi was intermittent and not dependable because of some problem they were working on. So I spent a little time in a park that, by the end, sketched me out. I met a nice couple that seemed to be very, very intensely passionate about each other. It was very cute. Being a guy that hasn't been in a relationship for many years, I enjoy seeing that. However, by the end of the second time seeing them, I started to gather that they may have been having an affair. They would drive in separate cars and, after sitting for awhile outside on a bench, would disappear into the back of one of the vehicles for awhile. On top of that, several cars that would pull in and roll joints, pack bowls, or smoke down. That in itself isn't so strange to me. I actually went and talked to one group since they were young. I asked if they could point me to a hostel in order to strike up a conversation (even though I already knew where it was.) The conversation was awkward and ended quickly. I found my way to a late night coffee shop called Twiggs and hung out on the computer doing some work.
I almost had my first couchsurfing experience in the city too. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a time to meet up properly. Ahe seemed very involved with helping people and was working on the committee of a fundraising event. So instead I moseyed around the city and found my way to the university, a monastery, and some two tracking trails leading to nowhere. I really liked the layout and grounds of the university. A lot of nature. By this point I pretty much expect it anywhere I go. I slept in an empty parking lot with a tiny little stream next to me and the full moon in my view. I had a friendly chat with the campus security and fell asleep. In the morning I came very close to two male deer, each with one horn growing on the same side.
As I was preparing to leave the university grounds a woman and her child pulled into the lot. Following behind them was a man on a bike. The guy let the kid get on the back of his bike and rode him around the parking lot. You could sense the breadth of his smile through the helmet. For someone who sees energy very well...you could see it from 600 miles away. ; ) I was reminded of my dad riding with me on the back of his bike during my younger years. So I struck up a conversation with this mother after watching for some time with amusement. She was very nervous, but delighted in helping her little boy grow up and being there to witness it. We were making jokes about her kid popping wheelies on a crotch-rocket and her having to take anxiety medication and growing grey hairs. It was a nice trip down memory lane.
As I say often, "It is the duty of a child to give their parents grey hairs...look at my dad he is bald." ; )
And with that statement, I leave you all. Heading off into the wilderness of the Algonquin for a wonderfully wet, rainy, and beautiful experience.
Cheers!
Justin
No comments:
Post a Comment