“In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.” – "Steep Trails," 1918 John Muir
One of the train trips that I wrote about in Wandering the World was the train from Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario to Agawa Provincial Park. It is about a three-hour ride through the boreal forest along the north shore of Lake Superior. There are no roads- the only way to get there is by train or hiking. My sister Betty and I had a picnic lunch and hiked a trail through the dense forest to Bridal Veil Falls. There were a few others from the train also exploring the park, but we were mostly alone in the woods. We were sorry not to have more time in this beautiful setting, but had to get the last train back late in the afternoon.
Betty had a beautiful cabin on the shore of Lake Huron on St Joseph Island, Ontario. It was lovely to relax there, but also convenient to explore the north woods and enjoy the water-sometimes very cold but refreshing on hot days. We were not able to visit there during the pandemic shut down, and in fact Canada just opened its borders to Americans in August 2021, and she has now sold it. Sad that we will have to find other ways to get our fill of north woods environments.