To say that Ontario is massive is nothing short of an under statement. Even people who live there don’t really realize how big the Province truly is.
I started the “Three Ocean Expedition” from Toronto and headed west towards the Pacific Ocean. The first major milestone was getting out of Ontario and reaching Winnipeg, Manitoba…it took three days!
Okay, if you go by the numbers, reaching Winnipeg takes 24hrs of driving from Toronto, but when you include fuel stops, the occasional stretch, and of course time to sleep…it took three days. Hell it took an hour just getting out of Toronto!
The first proper stop was in Sudbury famously known for it’s “Big Nickel”. Sudbury became (and still is) famous for it’s Nickel mines and the Big Nickel is a popular tourist destination. So of course I stopped there also and out the drone up to get a better look at the area. Check out my Instagram page for the video by searching for “@goforadv”.
The first stop for the night was Lake Superior Provincial Park. Lake Superior is the 2nd largest fresh water lake in the world and is considered an in-land sea because of it’s size and it’s famously harsh weather conditions. Many ships and sailors have been lost on Lake Superior, the most well known is the Edmond Fitzgerald and her crew.
The next night was a stop in Thunder Bay but only after many hours of slogging through some torrential rain. Umm…I hate to say it but the most interesting thing about the place is the view of a distant peninsula that the Indigenous people called the “Sleeping Giant” because that’s what they saw. Of course as luck would have it, the fog and overcast conditions didn’t reveal much on this day.
Fortunately though, I had taken a long detour prior to getting to Thunder Bay and actually drove out on the Sleeping Giant. This turned out to be a great opportunity to get some photos and video (from the ground and from the sky) as this was the one moment when there was a break in the weather.
It was another long day on the road but after a good night sleep, I was ready to push on into Manitoba and to visit a city that I haven’t been to in a very long time…Winnipeg.
It was very exciting to finally reach the border with Manitoba but it dawned on me again just how massive and beautiful Ontario really is. Once you clear the farm lands of Southern Ontario, you find yourself in an ocean of trees. You can literally drive for days and despite the changes in elevation and terrain, you are still in a vast ocean of green.
