Once on the road, away from the cold Lake Superior morning, we found a good tailwind that took us quickly to Montreal River, but not before having the pleasure of our first flat! I suppose the pleasure was mostly Ian's, though, as I got to wander about and stretch while he fixed his back tube. Once at Montreal River, we scrounged for an onion and a carrot from the local trading post, which mostly sells cheap bug hats and cans of pie filling. I've never noticed cans of pie filling until this trip started, but now I see them everywhere, and I wonder what for. Well, we rode the long descent into the canyon carved by the Montreal River, then discovered our first long uphill. I'd heard so much about going up these enormous hills in Ontario, for many kilometers, and was happily surprised to see that the roads give a gentle rise up the hill. So yes, we are climbing for two kilometers or more, going at a slow pace, but since the grade is never too high, we quickly forget that we are going up, but rather pretend that we're just riding leisurely on flat ground.

After Montreal River, we entered Lake Superior Provincial Park, which is to last the next 83km. The view from the highway changes little as we enter the Park. We see rugged mountains of the Canadian Shield, with dense, old, short forests (shorter growing season out here!) climbing all around the rock. At Agawa Bay, there is a visitor centre and small museum, as a way of introducing travellers to the area. From 1918 to 1922, the Group of Seven were greatly influenced by this area, so much so that they set up a camp in the interior, and used the rail lines and water ways to access more remote regions.

After lunch, our lovely tailwind pushed us along, often holding 40km/h as we "hammered" the hills. We reached Rabbit Blanket Lake, where there was a campground with showers! We let ourselves into the unopened tent camping area, rather than roughing it in the wilderness with the smaller trailer campground section.