Day two - Laurentian Lodge to Wawa - 400 km

Day two begins like so many days in the North, with a slow rise of the sun over a glass-calm lake. We linger over breakfast and coffee as we watch the wind slowly tease the lake into a froth. Today's destination: Wawa. There’s no direct way to get there and that’s just the way we like it. 

The Deer Trail continues as we roll 80 km west and south along Highway 546, the traffic count on this mid-week morning: zero. We top up our tanks in Iron Bridge and join the masses as we continue west along Highway 17. By masses, I mean way less than we are used to down south, but more than we had to deal with this morning. No worries, the share-the-road experience is short-lived as we turn north again. We could have avoided Highway 17 by taking Highway 564, which offers a link between the Deer Trail and Highway 129, and picked up gas at The Tunnel Lake Trading Post—but in my opinion, we would have missed the opening scene of one of the best roads in Ontario.

Highway 129 is often referred to as The Tail Of The Dragon North. Now, if you’re familiar with the southern version of the namesake road ,you will know that it’s all about the curves—and many of them. I love how the ride plays out. Turning off 17, big sweepers lead you through rolling farmland. The road then drops into the river valley, the landscape tightens around you, and the turn radius decreases. Soon you are zig-zagging between a river on one side and a rock wall on the other. Eventually, the road straightens and the vast expanse of Northern Ontario presents itself. There you have it, 200 km of motorcycling bliss; we lost the count of curves early on and the traffic count topped out at six cars.

Three hundred km into our day, we stop in at “the friendliest town in the North,” Chapleau, Ontario, and take the opportunity to satisfy the fuelling needs of both machine and rider. We play tourist with a giant locomotive at the Chapleau Museum and Tourist Information Centre in Centennial Park, where the steam engine known as Iron Horse #5433 is a testament to Chapleau's railroading past.

Our final 100 km west from Chapleau to Wawa are somewhat anticlimactic along the primarily straight stretch of Highway 101. We set up home at the Bristol Motel, nicely located in downtown Wawa with all our worldly needs—aka gas, food, and beer—within walking distance. Judging by the wall full of  photos featuring ATVs and snowmobiles, this place is no stranger to the rumble of an engine. All settled in, we set out exploring to find a spot to end the day as it began, with the sun going down over a Northern lake. Mission accomplished, courtesy of a gravel road and Lake Superior.

Two days in, 1,000 kilometres of awesome riding, and now a sunset over Lake Superior. I’d say things are rolling along nicely. 

To be continued…