It had rained off and on overnight and the outside of the tent was quite wet when we woke up. The sun was starting to shine on our site, and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful clear day.
We packed up our stuff and headed out back towards the highway. We stopped for a quick photo of the “Sleeping Giant”, after which the park is named after. Basically looking at the first photo from the right, is its head, its ‘Adam’s Apple”, chest, and legs. I would love to do the 3 day hike around it someday when we are a little more prepared!
On our way out we came across a number of people participating in “ride your bike from Pass Lake to Silver Islet day’. There were about 30 people in total of all ages.They had a pace vehicle in the front, and two support vehicles in the back, all with their four ways on. There was hardly any traffic on the road but I guess they weren’t taking any chances! The guy in the pickup support truck joked that we were biking the wrong way, but actually we were the ones with the nice tail wind! 😉
Once we got back on the highway we found that there was very little shoulder and a lot of traffic. Luckily we checked out our GPS and found a paved road going parallel to the highway along the water. We biked on the packed down gravel shoulder when there was traffic until we were able to get off the highway. The road along the water was really nice with absolutely no traffic. We were feeling a little let down with the lack of bicycle touring friendliness of Ontario Parks (I’ll save my rant for another day) and the area in general so it was nice to get our spirits back with this road.
There was a section of the road that didn’t connect on the GPS, but we decided that there was probably a dirt path that connects it (similar to some of the cycling roads we were used to when we lived on the shores of Lake Huron in Ontario). After we got there, we did find a dirt path, but it lead us to a river that blocked any passage! We looked up and saw a railroad bridge and thought about using it for a while, but decided it would be too risky in case a train came by. On our way back the path we met a local who said that it’s an abandoned railroad and we could take our bikes across it. Once we got our touring bikes up the steep hill to the tracks, we found that it wasn’t too bad to push our bikes across. The rails were removed and it was just the rail ties that were left behind. We decided to go this way instead of biking back and getting on Hwy 17 for a small section.
After we eventually made it across with some effort, we got back on a paved road. Like the local man we had met had said, there was a beautiful bike lane shoulder going all the way to Thunder Bay on this stretch of the road. We had a bit of a head wind but continued on towards the Terry Fox Monument where we planned to stop for lunch. Along the way we stopped at a hostel to take a picture of a neat direction signs pointing to places all over the world. A lot of the distances are actually less than what we had biked already, but that’s because it’s a direct line, some passing over the North Pole if you were going to Asia.Not biking distances, that’s for sure.
As we were warned by Mark, a fellow touring cyclist who we had met back in Sault Ste Marie, the only way to get to the monument is on the Trans-Canada Highway, Hwy 11/17. And for some reason this was the first stretch of the highway where they posted no walking or cycling on the highway. Incredible! No access to pedestrians, runners or cyclists to The Terry Fox Monument. The monument was only a couple kms away.
We’ll leave it up to your imagination as to how we got there. What was very ironic was that they had bicycle racks in front of the tourist office. There are some things that just don’t make any sense.
The Terry Fox Monument was one of the places I really wanted to visit on our trip, and I was really glad we had been able to make it there. It is on top of a hill, beside the highway, about 7km west of where Terry had to stop running. The view of Lake Superior and the Sleeping Giant from the hill is absolutely spectacular. The monument itself is also outstanding, and words can not describe the place. I’ll do our best with the pictures. It is really incredible what Terry had done. He had run a marathon a day (sometimes more) all the way from St. John’s, and he didn’t take the shortest route nor hardly any rest days. We had biked even less distance than he had run on one leg. He was just shy of his 23rd birthday when he passed away in 1981.
“Terrance Stanley “Terry” Fox, (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Though the spread of his cancer forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi), and ultimately cost him his life, his determination and example created a lasting, worldwide legacy. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$500 million has been raised in his name.”
In 1980, he began the Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research. Fox hoped to raise one dollar for each of Canada’s 24 million people. He started with little fanfare from St. John’s, Newfoundland in April and ran the equivalent of a full marathon every day. Fox had become a national star by the time he reached Ontario; he made numerous public appearances with businessmen, athletes, and politicians in his efforts to raise money. He was forced to end his run outside of Thunder Bay when the cancer spread to his lungs. His hopes of overcoming the disease and completing his marathon ended when he died nine months later.
Fox was the youngest person ever named a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian award. He won the 1980 Lou Marsh Award as the nation’s top sportsman and was named Canada’s Newsmaker of the Year in both 1980 and 1981. Considered a national hero, he has had many buildings, roads and parks named in his honour across the country.
The Government of Canada ordered flags across the country lowered to half mast, an unprecedented honour that was usually reserved for statesmen.[65] Addressing the House of Commons, Trudeau stated, “It occurs very rarely in the life of a nation that the courageous spirit of one person unites all people in the celebration of his life and in the mourning of his death….We do not think of him as one who was defeated by misfortune but as one who inspired us with the example of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity”.[66]
His funeral, attended by 40 relatives and 200 guests,[66] was broadcast on national television; hundreds of communities across Canada also held memorial services.[67] A public memorial service was held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa,[68] and Canadians again overwhelmed Cancer Society offices with donations”
It is hard to believe that it was almost exactly 30 years ago that Terry was running through Northern Ontario. If he was still alive Terry would have been 52 this year.
We are now in Thunder Bay and are taking a rest day tomorrow here as we prepare to tackle the stretch to Manitoba on Monday.
Trip Around The World 
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