A Beautiful Northern Ontario Extravaganza on an Adventure Bike

The Beginning

Recently, my husband and I took a grand tour of sorts around Northern Ontario on my husband’s adventure bike, a Yamaha Tenere 700. This trip is super exciting because we had not had a vacation outside of the Ottawa Valley since 2019.

Before we set out on our trip, we outlined an initial plan with a rough idea of distances that we wanted to tackle each day.

Our initial plan is as follows:

Day 1 – 464km	Hwy 60 to Huntsville Hwy 11 Huntsville to North Bay  Stop in North Bay for lunch Hwy 17 North Bay to Sudbury
Day 2 – 440km	Hwy 17 Sudbury to Agawa Bay
Day 3 – 489km	Hwy 17 Agawa Bay to Dorion Landing
Day 4 – 0km	Explore Eagle Canyon
Day 5 – 443km	Hwy 17 Eagle Canyon to Nipigon  Hwy 11 Nipigon to Hearst
Day 6 – 442km	Hwy 11 Hearst to Temiskaming Shores
Day 7 – 399km	Hwy 11 Temiskaming Shores to North Bay Hwy 17 North Bay to HOME

Spoiler alert, we did not end up sticking to our plan, not even for the first day. We underestimated the number of kilometres we could cover in a day. This was due to the fact that it was my first trip on the adventure bike that would be over two hours. Needless to say, we erred on the side of caution during the planning of our trip and we also did not want our entire trip to be consumed by driving as we also wanted time to explore the areas we were travelling through.

The actual route we took:

Day 1 – 560km	Hwy 60 to Huntsville Hwy 11 Huntsville to North Bay  Stop in North Bay for lunch Hwy 17 North Bay to Espanola Camped on crown land
Day 2 – 467km	Hwy 17 Espanola to Wawa Stayed in a motel
Day 3 – 462km	Hwy 17 Wawa to Eagle Canyon Adventures & Thunder Bay KOA (stayed at the KOA, hello heated pool).
Day 4 –  500km	Hwy 17 KOA Thunder Bay to Nipigon Hwy 11 Nipigon to Hearst Stayed in a motel
Day 5 – 498km	Hwy 11 Hearst to Temagami Camped on crown land
Day 6 – 330km	Hwy 11 Temagami to North Bay Hwy 17 North Bay to HOME

And so the adventure bike adventure began

I absolutely love any opportunity I get to be in Algonquin Park, even if just for a brief moment. Riding through Algonquin Park on the adventure bike was very relaxing. I am disappointed to report that there were zero moose seen during this adventure. Actually, we ended up seeing: one bear; one wolf; and one deer.

We decided that we were only going to eat at a restaurant once a day. For the remainder of our meals, we had dehydrated food; instant coffee; and granola bars. This was to help cut down on expenses significantly since every time we eat at a restaurant it is a minimum of $50. That adds up quickly! This method also helped us savour those meals that we did end up eating at restaurants. It also gave us something to look forward to during our day, like when we stopped for wings at the Moose in North Bay – delicious!

 

When we were in Wawa we ended up eating at this Viking restaurant. It had some awesome Viking-inspired decor and wood carvings, pretty darn neat. I should mention that the majority of these small towns, Wawa included, close early. I don’t remember seeing any restaurant open later than 9 pm in any of the smaller towns.

Accommodations

Camping on crown land is a bit of a roll of the dice if you are unfamiliar with the area in which you intend to camp. We lucked out both nights we camped on crown land as we were able to find a suitable campsite both nights. Actually, on our last night, we ended up camping on a lake (Wilson Lake) with a gorgeous view.

Two nights were also spent in two different motels. The first motel we stayed at was in Wawa, which we lucked out even getting a room. Apparently, the majority of motel rooms are currently occupied by construction workers who are working in and around Wawa. My suggestion, if you plan on going to Wawa or anywhere in northern Ontario for that matter, book your motel rooms in advance. It will save you from having to do the mad scramble from motel to motel as you plead for a room.

The other motel we stayed at was in Hearst. We were lucky and arrived at the motel just after the rooms were cleaned, so there were a few rooms available. The kind woman working the front desk stated that they were fully booked every night for weeks. Needless to say, I grossly underestimated the demand for motels in northern Ontario *insert shrug emoji*. I should also add that we stayed in a motel rather than camping on crown land because we were concerned about bears in the area.

The Midpoint

Originally, my husband and I had decided to use Eagle Canyon Adventures as our destination point and our turn-around point. Due to our increased ride lengths, we made it to Eagle Canyon Adventures a day earlier than our original schedule. As a result, we decided to stay the night at the Thunder Bay KOA.

Eagle Canyon Adventures

It is said that you should do one thing a day that scares you. If that is the case, this should count for like a year’s worth. To say I am afraid of heights would be an understatement. It is definitely ironic that I was the one who found this activity for my husband and me.

The claim to fame of Eagle Canyon Adventures is that they have Canada’s longest suspension bridge. They actually have two suspension bridges, one that is 300 feet and the other is 600 feet. They also have Canada’s longest zipline, but it was closed due to COVID-19.

The views from the suspension bridge were absolutely incredible and I’m ecstatic that I was able to dig deep to face my fears.

Public Health Measures

Given that we are in the midst of a global pandemic, I should also comment on the adherence to public health measures. There were some areas in northern Ontario that were not as strict as other areas when it came to masking. There were some businesses that had signs that said “no mask, no service.” This leads me to think that there are some people who are bucking the concept of wearing masks, but that may also just be some pandemic fatigue as well. Overall, we felt safe during our trip.

Highway 11 and the adventure bike

The second half of our trip was when we turned around to head home. From Nipigon, we took Highway 11 all the way to North Bay. I would be remiss if I did not say anything about the contrast between this route and Highway 17. On Highway 11 in between Nipigon and Hearst, there are minimal fuel stops. Between Nipigon and the next fuel stop is about 212km. We did bring a jerry can of emergency fuel with us on the adventure bike, but we did not have to use it as we made it to Geraldton just in the nick of time.

An interesting fact about Geraldton, a mining company that has bought 55 properties and is going to be opening a massive open-pit gold mine. I also heard that the highway is going to be moved to accommodate this mine. I had no concept of how big of a role mining played in the northern economy until I went on this adventure.

This part of our trip seemed to go so quickly, but I think that was due to the fact that we didn’t end up stopping anywhere.

Highlights

There were so many highlights from our trip that it is hard to narrow it down to a few items, but I shall attempt to try.

I absolutely loved riding along Lake Superior. It is seriously gorgeous along that part of Highway 17. For some reason, I was under the impression that the landscape north of North Bay was flat. Needless to say, that was a completely wrong thought. Riding along Lake Superior on Highway 17 is like something out of a movie. There are these massive rock formations and the highway often cuts through the middle. We made lots of stops at the various rest stops along the highway to stretch our legs and take in the stunning views. The lake seemed to go on for as far as the eye could see.  The rock formations twinkled with all of the colours that they contained. My favourite was the rock sections that looked rusty. If I’m correct, this is because of the oxidation of the iron in these rocks.