Sunday morning, I got up about an hour too early - I had neglected to change my clocks since departing from Thunder Bay the day prior.

I had a chance to go out to Little Falls in the morning mist. BTW - did you know that Atikokan is the Canoeing Capital of Canada? Quetico Provincial Park has 1400 kms of paddling routes and there are over 500 lakes within the amazing 4700 sq km area the park occupies. (There’s nothing west of Thunder Bay…?)

At 10 am, I met up with my morning tourguide, Gayle Green. We set out for one of the old open pit mine sites, which was closed in 1978. Check out how nature has been programmed to regenerate itself:

Gayle took me around town afterwards and gave me a really indepth look into the history of this resource community. Atikokan’s population continues to dwindle - and the upcoming closure of a nearby coal burning plant will likely mean another 200 people go elsewhere. But who knows - maybe mining will open up again?

Here’s the Honda Insight I had been looking forward to seeing:

Here’s Gayle and her boyfriend Allen Martyn:

I thanked Gayle for the tour, and by 11 am, I had to be on the road for Winnipeg, with stops in Kenora and Keewatin en route. You can be sure I will return to this area sometime.