So yeah... Just a little story of my trip on Labor day that some are already aware of from another thread, and some had asked for some pictures which are here... Where: Ranger Lake, Ontario, CANADA! eh? i know, i know... where the heck is that? Its about an hour and a half north east of Sault Ste. Marie Ontario... which is basically directly above the state of Michigan. so yeah, way up north. Why: My girlfriend's father has a cottage(well theyre called camps to those in northern ontario) on the lake. She's loves it there, especially in the winter, and has been begging me to go, its just hard for me to get time off, but finally i was able to, so off we went. It was actually very enjoyable. more than i thought. Ive been through northern ontario before just driving from the sault to thunder bay, and the country up there is just amazing to see in the canadian sheild. When we got to the lake though, the water in the lake, and rivers up there, looks black. Not because its dirty, but because its so damn clear and you can just see right down to the bottom. you can tell looking at some of the pictures, you can see all the rock and everything. So the cottage/camp itself... 100% hand-built apparently by her grandfather about 40 years ago i think she said... there's nothing nearby. no town for at least 130 or so kilometers... no hydro. no running water. no bathroom, just an outhouse. nothing like fertilizing the ground! Of course, its not as bad as it seems, because there's a pump in the lake, so you can get some running water out of the sink for dishes, propane hookups for the stove/fridges and stuff, and a generator for some power so you ahve some lights at night, and a tv and satellite in case it rains. The weather was perfect the whole time. sunny, warm but not too warm, and no rain at all. It was so nice just to relax. I layed on the dock in the sun alot, its so weird... here i lay in the backyard, you hear cars, see planes flying by, and its noisy... there... its just... silent. just the waves. Like there's no civilization except the next cottage a bit down the lake. Of course you hear the odd boat or jetski on the lake. Here, i always thought i could see alot of stars at night since i live away from town and all the bright lights... there... it seems like there was about 300 times more stars in the sky. pretty incredible. The other funny thing about Northern Ontario... the people there, treat it like their baby. You wont see a single piece of garbage laying around. Nobody litters. its pretty impressive. We didnt do much really but lay around... relax... drink... and chill in the lake, and in the sauna. The water in the lake... a nice, cool 65 degrees. We were in it every day... it feels so nice though, refreshing, and clean. we took a drive about an hour further to the north east one day to a provincial park called Aubrey Falls... they are the waterfalls you'll see in the pictures... cool place, other than the 15 minute walk along an uphill trail through apparently bear infested bush to get to the falls. Its worth the hike though... beautiful falls/river there. Plus the walk back down of course is downhill... always nice. All in all, it was fun, relaxing, and quite nice. The pictures dont really do it justice. Id go back in a second. She wants me to go back in the winter for some ice fishing and snowmobiling... but yeah... I dont think so. Im not a snow kind of person. Especially when up there... its FREEZING cold all the time. and Windy. I dont mind the winters here in Windsor... but up there... no thanks! Anyways, thanks for reading (if you did haha) hope you enjoy! Some pictures are below... Only shared one with me in it, just to prove i was there If anyone wants to see more they can pm me... I'll just share a few here... The last picture is a panoramic shot of the entire lake from the dock as well... I had to shrink it alot to make it fit for imageshack...
Incredible picks and nice write up Brandon. Would love to make a trip up there sometime. Love me the outdoors and love me a nice secluded lake, and unlike you, love lots and lots of snow. Did you do any fishing while up there?
Not as much fishing as I would have liked to. without the boat (at her dads place, no trailer hitch on our truck) it was tough to. Did some off the dock there, but its not the idea place. All over that lake, around the island thats in the middle that you can sort of see in the pictures is the ideal places apparently. Stories of fish the size of kids out there. I was told they rarely fish Ranger... because theres so many other lakes and streams around the area that they normally fish those instead because it gives a better chance to explore. next year, next year!
