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My Quest 2018 Summer Road Trip: The final tally and highlights

My Quest 2018 Summer road trip was a huge success. We drove 3,500 km, hiked over 80 km, and visited:

  • three national parks of Canada: Georgian Bay Islands, Bruce Peninsula and Pukaskwa

  • two marine conservation areas: Fathom Five and Lake Superior

  • four provincial parks: Lake Superior, Neys, Rainbow Falls and Pancake Bay

  • Manitoulin Island where we hiked the well-known Cup and Saucer trail

Here are the top seven highlights from our road trip:

  1. Northern Ontario’s wildness, vastness and beauty: Lake Superior’s ocean-like presence, the granite cliffs, the immensity of its boreal forests, the deserted beaches. My reaction as we entered the Algoma Highlands region bordering Lake Superior north of Sault St-Marie was WOW. I kept on asking Michel why I didn’t know about this place.

  1. Pukaskwa National Park offered everything a hiker can hope for: spectacular vistas, fascinating history, gorgeous forests, interesting ecology, deserted beaches and blueberries-lined hiking trails. What more can you ask for?

  1. The three hour zodiak cruise in Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area where we learned about the region’s rich history and visited Battle island’s light house.

  1. Taking a dip in the clear, cold water of Lake Superior off one of the lake's deserted beaches.​​

SML

  1. The stunning shoreline of the Bruce Peninsula National Park with its tropical turquoise water, cobblestone beaches and rocky limestone cliffs.

  1. Lying in my sleeping bag on a picnic table in Georgian Bay Islands National Park and watching the shooting stars during the night of August 12th.

  2. And of course, I can’t forget (not that I could), almost

stepping on a massassauga rattlesnake in Georgian Bay National park!

And in conclusion, I share with you a quote from a 1928 Grand Trunk Railway brochure:

“Deep within the heart of most men and woman slumbers an instinct as old as humanity itself. It is the desire to renew contact with Nature, to live and to play in Nature’s solitudes and recesses. It is the answer in men’s soul to the lure of primeval spaces.”

My connections with nature during the Quest 2018 Summer Road Trip spoke to my soul.

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