Sault Ste Marie, ON: Back the Other Way

We had a tough day on the road yesterday. We finally made it to Sault Ste Marie but our efforts to find outdoor ice were foiled. This year’s temperamental weather has slowed ice-makers and even the famed Esposito Park rink stood devoid of ice. A sad and snowy field where hockey should be.

Then, after dark and on our way through a miniature blizzard, we got stuck in some snow half way up a hill on the outskirts of Sault Ste Marie. Once we got unstuck, we had to go back down the hill.

Later that night, we decided to go back down a much bigger hill; we made the tough choice that our road trip would not continue west to the prairies but would double back towards Sudbury and aim for Toronto, Ottawa, the St. Lawrence, New Brunswick, PEI and finally home to Nova Scotia. After a few days of driving, the lesson had been learned: this part of North America is not just big and cold in the abstract sense. To drive to Saskatchewan in the deepest, darkest depths of winter is something that people don’t do very frequently. And now we know why.

So the inglorious return down highway 17 to Sudbury began the next morning. It was sunny and the roads were clear. We stopped in the little town of Blind River and asked someone at the Legion where the outdoor rink was. He told us. We were disappointed to find that it was a half-snow covered concrete base that had not yet been flooded.

But click on the gallery below to see what we found in Blind River! The haunting beauty of the post-industrial North!

Almost as good as going to Saskatchewan… right?

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