Yearn to Wander

TGS Traversing the Trail

French River Provincial Park

After lunch with cycling friends Andrea and Gordon in Guelph, a suburb of Toronto, we drove on through prosperous Ontarian farmlands to Parry Sound, a pleasant little harbor town on the east shore of Georgian Bay.

Beyond there, we came across the French River Provincial Park, where we stopped for a short hike. The French River is well-known in seventeenth century Canadian history when the French explorers canoed through the area looking for a way west to the Pacific Ocean. The river flows from Lake Nipissing west into Georgian Bay in central Ontario. It is a designated Canadian Heritage River. Our hike along the river to Recollet Falls, just about two kilometers out, was a nice respite during the day's drive from Parry Sound to Sudbury, Ontario.

As we drove north along Georgian Bay, the day turned into an exciting geology field trip. Two plus billion years of tectonic, volcanic, and glacial activity kept us glued to the scenery all the way to Sudbury. To enhance the scenery many people built inuksukes on outcrops along the road. While no two are the same, they all resemble primitive representations of humans. They are an Inuit tradition for marking trails, particularly when caribou hunting. Hikers use similar markings when bushwacking.