I drove up across the Thousand Islands Bridge into Canada and on up to Algonquin Provincial Park. I checked into a motel in Whitney for the next two nights.
August 12, 1989
At first light, I headed up Highway 60 to the Spruce Bog Boardwalk. I searched for over an hour before I finally spotted a hen Spruce Grouse near the beginning of the boardwalk.
I headed farther west into the park and found a female moose, or cow, with her two young ones along the highway.
Even farther west, I headed north on Arowhon Road, made the first right, and followed that road to its end at a gate at Wolf Howl Pond. I parked there and started walking down the Mizzy Lake Trail. I was about 50 feet from the car when the tall brush started moving just off the trail. It was a bull Moose and it was only about twenty feet away! I quickly took a photo and then slowly backed off towards the car until it moved further off into the woods.
I once again started down the Mizzy Lake Trail and hadn't gone too far when I spotted a male Spruce Grouse walking along a bed of pine needles. It eventually flew up onto a branch about eight feet up.
As I was following the two dirt roads back out to the highway, the left rear suspension broke on my Nissan Pulsar, causing the wheel to lean and rub on the fender. After realizing there was nothing I could do about it, I very slowly nursed it back out the rest of the way to the highway. Luckily, directly across at the intersection was a seaplane base for Smoke Lake. I went inside and was able to call for a tow truck, which had to tow my car about 35 miles to a service station in the town of Whitney. Unfortunately, they didn't have the part to fix it and said they wouldn't be able to get it for at least a day or two. I really didn't want to have to stay for a few more days and asked if they knew of any other options. They suggested I take it to a local guy who did welding. So, the tow truck took my car to the guy's metal barn where he put it up on the lift and welded the broken part back together for me. He did his best to line everything up the best he could and did a pretty good job for what he had to work with. I didn't want to push my luck, so I didn't take any more back roads the rest of the day.
August 13, 1989
I knew I had a long drive back home and wasn't sure how aligned the wheel was, so I stayed a little under the speed limit and tried my best to avoid the bigger bumps and potholes. I was really happy to get back home and eventually get it professionally repaired. All in all, it was a pretty good, but expensive weekend.
