Day 42: Perspectives from the Bike (White Lake Provincial Park – Wawa)

June 20, 2014
It is going to seem trite to say that being on a bicycle lends itself to different perspectives but that doesn’t make it any less startlingly when confronted with them. Take Wawa as an example. I’ve traveling through town by bus on at least four occasions. Maybe it was the late Sunday afternoon dullards, nothing too thrilling happens then, but my impression of Wawa was that it was a sad, lonely little place in the middle of nowhere. Tumbleweed don’t roll here but I could just about see them heading down main street. Coming in on the bicycle today, I was surprised to see how bustling the town is. With a well stocked grocery store, multiple motels, and numerous other businesses, this wasn’t the Wawa I remember. Heck, they even have a Tim Hortons! If you’re not convinced yet, Stomptin Tom Connors wrote a song ‘Little Wawa’ about a goose and love in Wawa. Go listen to it right away for some awesome Canadiana. Timmies and Stompin Tom is practically an endorsement from Her Majesty herself. Maybe the rugged isolation of northern Ontario is getting to me and am now too easily impressed.

The Wawa goose (soon to be torn down because it's falling apart)
The Wawa goose (soon to be torn down because it’s falling apart)

I learnt some interesting history about the town at the visitors centre where I and two other cyclists are stealth camping for the night. There’s not only the goose statue overlooking the highway as you turn off into the town But another  two goose statues and multiple images down the Main Street which reflect how the town has taken the Ojibway word Wawa meaning wild goose to heart. The only problem is that it’s a mistranslation and the actual word is ‘wiwi’ and would means snow goose. Probably a little too late to reverse course now but how quirky we people can be. What is especially striking is that the town didn’t have a road out until 1960 when the TransCanada was finally completed along Lake Supiorior. The section of road we’ll travel tomorrow proved particularly difficult to blast through. Locals have been warning us of the hills ahead but beautiful they say. It’s a little like listing the difficulties and limitations of previous generations but insisting they were happy. People from Wawa used to leave by boat and later the train but they waited a long time for a road, probably not that happily. The map of northern Ontario stills shows many towns only accessible by train though I suspect they’d be little more than a few shacks and cabins.

White River Winnie the Pooh
White River Winnie the Pooh

I passed through White River today which is the birth place of the original Winnie the Pooh on whom the children’s story is based. Winnie is short for Winnipeg and taken as a cub to London England by an officer in the army I believe. Anyway, Winnie might be a long lost cousin of the black bears I saw yesterday. They just seemed a little less cuddly.


Road Report: 135km
The road today was all inland so comparatively flat; however, from White River to Wawa the shoulder is particularly atrocious as it cracks and crumbles. The road isn’t any better so all there’s left to do is suffer along. There is about a 15km respite so enjoy it while it lasts.

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