The Weather Takes a Turn

We were disappointed to awake to the drum of rain on the roof late last night.  We had planned to stay at Superior Provencial Park for another day.  The attendant at the visitor’s center confirmed, however, that the weather forecast called for continued rain.  We determined to travel further west, hoping that we would drive beyond the front.

Unfortunately, the rain continued throughout our drive and temperatures plummeted.  We arrived at Pukaskwa National Park early afternoon while it was still misting.  A park ranger drove up behind us at the visitor’s kiosk.  He told us that all the facilities were closed down and the water had been turned off, but we were welcomed to still camp in the park. 

All hope for showers melted with the news.  Then we read the long-range weather forecast for the area that was posted on the bulletin board.  It called for continued rain throughout the next five days.  It also showed the temperatures continuing to drop and that we were in for a hard freeze that night.

The rain stopped long enough that afternoon for us to take a stroll up two trails.  One led us along a ridge.  Then we hiked a bit of the Coastal Trail.  When we reached the beach, we found it to be absolutely lovely.  

Hike along ridge in Pukaskwa National Park

Lake Huron from Pukaskwa National Park

We lamented that the weather had turned so dismal with no end in sight.  Just two days earlier, the high temperature was in the low 80s… now we were wearing three layers of clothing to keep warm.  We struggled with what path to take next.

We broke camp the next morning and headed west, still hoping to drive out of the wet weather.  Intermittent rain and temperatures in the low 40s continued throughout the day.    We drove across the top of Lake Superior and across Thunder Bay, amazed at the beautiful scenery and disheartened that it was too cold and wet to enjoy.

We spent the night at Quetico Provincial Park.  Thankfully they did have showers, however the water was barely warm and the shower rooms were not heated.  When I met David back at the truck, both of us were shivering.

As we hunkered in the camper, we were ever so grateful for the heater.  We talked about our options.  We remembered that snow had driven us out of Canada around this time of year on each of our last two trips.  Our concern now was that the rain and cold might continue if we stayed along the lakes, even State-side on the Upper Peninsula. 

We were running out of ground, so to speak, with two weeks left before we needed to be in Missouri.  We had originally intended to spend at least five days on the Trans-Lab, a week in Quebec, and another week in Ontario.  Our travel plans for Missouri and beyond had already been set in place, and we were looking forward to them. 

Hoping for better weather Stateside, we decided that it was time to go back home.  The question was… where should we go from there???