Our morning was a leisurely one since we were right at the lock and just had to move from the gray wall to the blue wall. At all of the Canadian locks and bridges, there is no VHF radio communication. Each lock communicates to the next about the traffic headed their way via phone call so they know when to expect them and have, in most cases, the locks ready and gates open. If a boat ties up to the blue wall at the lock, it means they would like to go through on the next opening of the lock and the staff prepares the lock. If a boat ties up to a gray wall at the lock, it means they're there for an extended period of time and do not need the lock yet. It took a little while to get used to not using the VHF radio, but now I like it better than using it often and always hearing things come blaring over the speaker.
There was a line of boats tied up on the blue wall, so Ben wanted to move over and get in line. Again, Frank came to help us. Thanks, Frank!! We sat there for a while and chatted with him, some other boaters, and families with nearby cottages before it was our turn to lock down.
We locked down with a smaller boat that had a German Shepherd with them. I was worried Dixie would bark at it all the way down, but she didn't even notice.
There was a big current and small channel to get us from the lock to Georgian Bay. Then, we were in our second Great Lake- Lake Huron.
We tied up to a T-dock at Tobey Dock (on 6/27- our Toby's birthday!), Cedar Spring on Beausoleil Island, which is Georgian Bay Islands National Park. The dock was a little shorter than our boat, but we managed to tie up and make it work.
Everyone got bug spray and bands, sneakers, and helmets on. Ben got our bikes ready and realized one of the tubes had separated in his tire, so he and the kids worked on fixing that for a little while. Everyone cheered when plan B worked and held the air, knowing that meant we'd be able to go on our journey.
We went to the visitor's center and they had souvenirs! We have been in Parks Canada locations for the past 3 weeks and have been looking for souvenirs with no luck. I was so excited to see that they had magnets! They also had beaver Parks Canada gear! We bought a magnet, a hat, a shirt, and Ben couldn't let me pass up the beaver waterbottle.
Ben asked about the trails for biking. She said Christian and Huron are bike trails. He asked if we could bike all the way around it and she said, "Yeah, like mountain bike. We drive the gator through there."
Today's forecast of a high of 67°F and sunny meant it would be a beautiful day for biking the 7.5 mile loop! Looking at the trail, it seemed like it would be doable with a scooter, so Ben went back to get the scooter for Moose.
About 1 km from the start, Ben's tire was flat. Same tire as before. We all turned around and hoped the old scooter battery was charged. Ben brought his bike back and swapped it for a 2nd scooter. Good news is it was charged!
At the fork for Huron and Christian, we went along the Huron Trail toward the northern part. It was shaded and a little chilly while we were riding. I was glad I brought my zip up hoodie. Here and there, there were bumps we had to look our for: potholes, tree roots, rocks.
When we were at the visitor center, we saw a cooler that had been attacked by a bear, so I told the kids to be on the lookout for bears and other wildlife, especially Roo, who was riding on the back and could keep her eyes on the surroundings more than the 4 of us who were trying to avoid the rough parts of the trail.
As the trail turned to the west, we found it got a bit narrower and was more covered by soggy leaves. In a few spots, the boys got off the scooters to find less muddy spots to roll and walk around before getting back on their scooters. Bear and I had to do the same with our bikes as we got further down the path. Once we got to the NW corner, the trail got a bit lost near a lookout tower. We backtracked and found our way back to the trail and started heading south.
This part of the bike trail was not bike or scooter friendly. Why didn't we just turn around? We were a little bit in and didn't know it would be shorter to go back. We thought it was just a little muddy and rocky in those spots and would be worse to go back through what we already passed, not knowing there was SO. MUCH. MORE.
So, today we took our bikes on a hike. For about 2-3 miles, we turned our batteries off and were rolling or carrying 45 pound bikes and scooters in the mud, over mossy rocks, and around tree roots and decaying leaves. And, of course, by "we," I mean Ben. Bear, Moose, and I were able to steer and roll on the path, but when it came to the lifting, that was all Ben. He was the hero of the trip. He'd carry the scooters, send the kids over the mud, often times looking for branches to throw down on the mud so the kids didn't sink in the deep muddy trail, then walk back through the mud 4 more times to get each bike and cross with it. (Or, as shown below, he put a scooter or 2 over his shoulder, over his backpack, and carry the bike.)
At one of these muddy situations, I was a little further ahead than Bear and Ben, walking my bike with Roo and Moose walking his scooter when Moose stepped on something, felt it move, we heard a sound, and Roo yelled out, "RATTLESNAKE!" Moose and I looked around for it and we both spotted it. It was more gray than the tan coloring of our rattlesnakes at home and had rhombus-type shapes in its pattern. We thought we heard it rattle. I thought it may have hissed, not rattled. Roo and I scurried up the trail and Moose stayed behind to point it out to Ben and Bear to make sure they didn't get close to an already upset snake.
I was not entirely convinced it was a rattlesnake (or maybe I was just really hoping my son didn't just narrowly escape a rattlesnake attack) because of its colors and pattern- I also didn't see its head or tail, only its body. Come to find out, the Massasuga Rattlesnakes are a darker gray color than our rattlesnake species, so it could've been one.
When Ben came up to investigate and keep Bear in the clear, he said he saw the head and the tail, and the snake definitely rattled at him. Bear saw the tail, too.
I had been so focused on looking out for bears and worrying about ticks that I forgot to keep eyes peeled for snakes. Now, my focus changed! I didn't want to step anywhere on the path out of fear of coming across snakes or ticks, yet here we were hiking with bikes with not much choice for foot placement.
During another one of our mud crossings, a man passed by us, hiking. He said this part is definitely not bikeable on the map, then continued on his merry way. At this point, I was wondering if we needed to have him send people to come get us when he got back to the visitor's center area.
This whole time, the kids were such good sports. Moose and Bear did their best to carry their scooter and bike along the trail. Roo just trucked along like this was your typical hike. They hardly complained and Ben and I couldn't really do anything but laugh at the insanity of how this turned out.
Good news: We didn't have to worry about running out of battery power, like is usually on the forefront of our minds with a long ride like this. We also weren't get eaten alive by mosquitos- our bug spray and bands were doing their job!
I think it took us about 3 hours to hike our bikes back, not including the half hour we were actually riding before turning them off. As we approached the southern part of the trail where it starts to head east again, there were spots where we would turn on our wheels and get back on for a bit, so we could use less of our strength and we were still progressing through the trail.
Then, we got to an opening at a beachy area. I saw a sign (below) for people going into where we just came out, and laughed. If we saw this sign before we went further on the northern side of this trail, I think we would've reconsidered.
We were all bruised up, sore, and exhausted. Bear was in bed by 6:30 and the littles weren't that far behind her.
Just another Carter adventure... I'm sure it isn't the last.
1 final lock today, for a while. Trip total: 114 locks.
