Pukaskwa NP, Canada - Not Eaten by Wolves

I was at the Park entrance at 9 AM, and this morning the park management center was open. I wandered in and the two park officials looked at me funny. Apparently they were thinking, "What's an outsider doing here when Pukaskwa National Park (Canada) is closed for the season?" After announcing my intention to hike a few trails, they checked with the janitor who said that the route to the Visitor Center and trailheads was passable and I could walk there if I really wanted.
.
When I got to the park entry area, the barrier that had blocked me last night was only half-way gated covering the entrance lane. I drove into the exit lane and entered. There was no difficulty driving to the trailheads, so I drove right up to them, parked in whatever spot I wanted because I was the only car there, and set out on the first hike.
.
Within paces, I was secluded on my private beach on the northern shore of Lake Superior. Even with the unending clouds that would shoroud me for the remainder of the day, the setting was unique and all mine. From the beach, I hiked up some stairs, boulders, and other rugged coastline stuff and was into the park. The trail I took led me out onto a small peninsula with views of all the surrounding terrain. Truly picturesque as you can see in the pictures. (BTW, I have been uploading all my picture into my Picasa web album. I haven't added the links to each day on the site, but if you are familiar with Picasa, you can click on any of the Photos links and navigate to my Public photos directory.)
.
I didn't see another soul the full length of the rest of the trail until I was returning to the Visitor Center and ran into Ray, the maintenance man. Ray was so Canadian that during the 10 minutes I was talking with him, he said "eh'? " no less than twice per sentence. He started and ended each sentence with it, and sometimes slipped one or two in the middle. I said, "Hi." Ray said, "Eh'? Hi, eh'?" After he removed his work gloves to offer his hand, he wowed me with the following phraseology: "Eh', I don't mean to sound, eh', ignorant but, eh'...(pause)...eh', I think the park is closed. Eh'?" I stifled a laugh; I wished I'd had a tape recorder going. I thought he used eh's where I would use er's or um's, only much more frequently, but according to Wikipedia, it is used to confirm that I am understanding. Perhaps his primary language was French. Either way, Ray was entertaining, informative and above all a down to the dirt Canadian. What a pleasure, eh'?
.
I may not have been the only tourist in the entire park. It certainly felt like it. Unfortunately, besides some birds and bugs, I didn't see any wildlife. No black bear, no moose, no lynx, and no killer coyotes. Apparently a young rising star musician was killed yesterday in another Canadian National Park by a pack of coyotes as she was solo hiking. Here's a link for the sad story: Canada Coyote Attack.
.
The remainder of the day was again spent swivel-heading the northwestern side of Lake Superior. I traversed endless rugged, spectacular, scenery while passing through small to non-existent towns with populations averaging in the hundreds. It'd be a bummer to be a high school athlete in the area when your nearest rival is no less than an hour away. The away curling matches must be hell (yes, curling. Last night my hotel was situated next to the only arena in town, a curling arena. Curling is the Olympic sport you may have seen where they slide blocks of concrete across ice in a boccie like game.)
.
From Wawa to Thunder Bay, Ont, exactly 300 miles, I didn't see a single stop light. When I got to Thnder Bay and hit a red light, I was so taken by surprise that I took a picture of it. After crossing back into America, no interesting end point was available so I continued to hug the highly scenic coastline (odd to be saying coastline about an interior state) while going 60 miles out of my way to simply fill in the checkmark on my 48th state (only Maine and Alaska left).
.
I barely crossed the border into Wisconsin, and have shacked up in Superior, WI. I found a tavern with a completely packed parking lot and had a great dinner. I sat at the bar, it was the only immediate seating, and after my neighbors found out I was from Phoenix/Haddonfield, they told me I had found the best spot in town. I ordered the rib and fish combo plate and was treated to some tender meaty slathered in BBQ sauce baby backs, and some local walleye fish and chips. The home made fries were a bit on the soggy side, but there was so much of the good stuff I didn't mind at all. The ribs were great, but the walleye was the star...it was coated in a thin browned batter and was perfectly deep fried and the fresh homemade tartar sauce was a great match.
.
I wish I could catch a break with the weather and get a reasonable night to camp out, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. It should be a bit warmer tomorrow night, but the 90% chance of rain is disheartening. Once I finish this northern swing, I will not again venture above I80, which draws a dividing line from New York to San Francisco, and if possible I will stay south of any cold fronts.