SUMMER '06: Day 4 - A Windy August Day -Part 1

**Day 4 - August 14, 2006**

I just realized how long it has been since I wrote to you all about my amazing trip to Norhern Ontario..and we are only at Day 4!!! Please excuse the delays. Life has been quite hectic these past two weeks.
Where was I...?
Oh yes!
It rained through the night, and had calmed for the morning. We did wake however to powerful waves crashing against the shore. The sounds of the waves were thunderous, and added to a nice mix of heavy winds tearing through the campsites. Dark clouds were above us..we were waking up to an early morning storm on Lake Superior!
Very few people were on the beach taking in the winds, and the movements of the clouds as they swarmed around the hills and valleys of the park. Such an amazing view, and such strong winds. Certainly a day we were thankful to be on land. But were we?
Our camp chairs which we had forgotten to turn over from the evening prior were flooded, our campfire wood which we had stored under the picnic table was drenched. We had left a couple of our much needed jackets out the night before as well, forgetting that the rain would soak them through.

To top it off, the wind was starting to pick up even more and was starting to carry the tent away, despite the pegs holding it down! We got out our tarps and rope quickly, and fortunate enough that were some small but steady pines situated directly in front of the tent, bordering the beach. We built a wall with the tarps to go around the trees and to block out most of the wind. We would learn that later in the day, that this wouldn't matter much.

Since the weather was so utterly terrible this particular morning, we certainly weren't in the best of moods, due to only having this one day at Lake Superior Provincial Park, with tons of local things to do..too hard to complete in weather of this type. The rain then started coming down a bit on us.
We decided to head to Town of Wawa, located nearly an hour north along Highway 17.

Along the highway, and just over-looking Agaway Bay, is a small lookout area which provided us excellent views of the storm front as it collided with where we were staying. Amazing.

After a quick stop to view the storm, we continued on to Wawa.

Wawa is a small place really, however our goal was breakfast, a grocery store, then maybe check out some local sights in case the weather improved.

Our first stop as we entered the town was the "Wawa Goose". Wawa is Ojibwe for "Wild Goose", and so that is what has been constructed--well..a Big Goose that is! The goose was built in 1967, and was built from Algoma Steel from nearby Sault Ste. Marie. We made our stop quick, as our tummies were growling and had made for the bird to become tastier by the minute. We had not made a stop in the Wawa Visitors Centre situated next to the huge Goose, however we did marvel at how well it's red roof contrasted against the dark stormy skies. The park around the goose is small, however it did provide us excellent photos of the lands north of Wawa.

Below are photo selections from our stop in Wawa at the Big Goose:

We then decided that we were very hungry. Not sure if the sight of the huge goose helped matters, however we did need some good breakfast in us. We drove over to the Embassy Restaurant & Tavern, which apparently according to this online site, serves the best breakfast in Wawa. My breakfast was amazing, April's french toast was under-cooked. We sent it back, but had an enjoyable meal all the same. Thanks Embassy for curing our camping hunger!

Next stop..the Grocery Store..then off for more sightseeing in Wawa. The weather was holding up after a quick stop in at the IGA for some food for the next couple of evenings, so we decided to take a trip over to Magpie Falls..also known as High Falls, located just on the outskirts of town.

We hiked around the falls, and even into some dangerous spots just to get some neat photos of the amazing cascade. I had remembered visiting this falls as a child, but as memories aren't always clear, I do remember the falls to be huge..and that is what it was! Quite the waterfall I must say, and an impressive amount of water flowing over.

We spent about about two hours at the falls, hiking around it's edges and enjoying the sounds and smells of the water flowing over the sides. We marvelled at how the water cascades down the rocky edges, and then thundered down below like millions of bowling balls dropping at once.
Such a wonderful place to visit in the area! However we did have a few more stops on the day's agenda...

* Next..Part 2 -- Old Woman Bay, Agawa Rock Pictographs, & the Wind Onslaught continues!