Manitoulin Island

View from Red Lodge on Lake Manitou

After our visit to Sudbury, we returned to southern Ontario via Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world!

Gail tries to get it all in one shot

We hiked the famous Cup and Saucer trail to the top of the cliffs for a view across the whole island.

The limestone cliffs are a continuation of the Niagara Escarpment  that extends all the way to Niagara Falls and beyond!

Bedrock at Misery Bay Provincial Park

The limestone bedrock creates unique eco-systems called alvars all over the island.

While the flora and fauna of alvars are fascinating, I found the scratched and cracked exposed bedrock quite interesting to photograph.

Sandhill cranes make a re-fueling stop on their flight south

Indigenous people and their culture are strong on Manitoulin

Meldrum Bay Inn

We drove about as far west as we could on the island to the tiny village of Meldrum Bay.

We stayed at the historic old inn in the village on our last night.

And we slept in the Al Capone room. Folklore has it that he ran is smuggling operation through here!

The Chi Cheemaun ferry is the only way off the island when travelling south. Though it was the last long weekend of the summer, there was still room for us and our car.

Farewell Manitoulin Island. We have a great time!

Sudbury

The Big Nickel, symbol of Sudbury

The city of Sudbury sits on one of the largest deposits of nickel in the world. But the extraction of this mineral, essential for manufacturing stainless steel products, has left a terrible stain on the landscape for miles around.

By the 1970s, years of unabated pollution had left the area devoid of tree cover. Nothing could grow on the rocky hills until the citizens and the mining companies changed course and started working together to heal their earth, air and water.

Lake Laurentian Conservation Area

Today the land is looking better. Scrubbers were installed on smokestacks to limit the sulphur emissions. Whole patches of forest soil were transplanted and millions of trees were planted. There are now miles of trails to explore.

Gail and the Fin whale at Science North

Gail and I spent two delightful days in Sudbury visiting Science North and Dynamic Earth, where I went underground to see how miners work today and in days gone by. Fascinating!

A simulated dynamite explosion shook things up on my underground mine tour

Cecropia Silkmoth Caterpillar

Almost 4 inches long, this bizarre-looking caterpillar will emerge from its cocoon next year as North America's largest moth - the beautiful cecropia silkmoth  Hyalophora cecropia
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 Thanks to my sister Karen for finding this beauty on the banks of the Speed river in Guelph.

Perhaps I'll be able to add a photo of the moth when it emerges next spring!