Joe & Wilma's Excellent Adventures

Sunday, May 19, 2024

White River, Ontario, Canada

I forgot to mention on our drive around Wawa Lake, we came upon 3 small ponds named Mom Lake, Dad Lake, and Baby Lake.  There are so many lakes and ponds up here, most of them don't have names. 

Today we drove ahead in the Jeep on Highway 17 to the town of White River, population 1000.  We will travel this same 60 miles tomorrow as we move on in the RV to Marathon, but White River has its own claim to fame -- it is the hometown of Winnie the Pooh.  As you come into town, there are signs about Winnie, and there is a statue and small park in his honor.  The story is that Winnie was originally purchased by a soldier during WWI from a trapper who had found the orphan bear.  Lieutenant Colebourn named the bear Winnie after his hometown, Winnepeg and she became the official mascot of The Fort Garry Horse, a Militia calvary regiment .  In 1914 when the Lieutenant learned he would be shipped to France, he settled Winnie in the London Zoo.  She eventually became the favorite attraction at the zoo.  It is said that visitors would knock on her door and she would come out to greet them.  She even let children ride on her back and eat out of their hands.  Because of her popularity, he decided he could not take her back to Canada.  Winnie was officially donated to the London Zoo on December 1, 1918.  Christopher Robin Milne and his father, a writer, visited Winnie often.  Christopher was the one who added Pooh to her name.  His father started writing children's books based on Winnie.  In 1961, Walt Disney purchased the copyright to the Winnie-the-Pooh book.  White River celebrates Winnie each year with a festival in the bear's honor.  

We drove around town, which didn't take long and there wasn't much to see -- 4 murals, an old train station, the train car that Winnie arrived in, and a heritage museum which was closed.  The Visitor Center was also closed.  So we drove out some of the dirt roads -- of course.  We chased down some of the named beaches.  This one actually had a few rocks, and I got a handful but the water is COLD.  Not sure how I'm going to do any rockhounding this early in the season.

There are lakes everywhere we look.  This area apparently had a fire in the last few years.  Burn-out on both sides of the road for several miles.  I can't imagine how they ever get one extinguished, there are so many forests up here.

Another lake mentioned in the literature has a small waterfall.  It took several dirt roads before we found this one -- the directions were to turn at an unmarked road just before the water treatment plant.  We missed it the first pass but finally found it on the road to a fly-in fishing lodge, which was not mentioned.  We had to ford another stream, which had a pretty large hole as we crossed.  Water got a little deep but we made it both ways.  The water was so clear we could see where the rocks were and weren't so he moved over a little on the return.  

This is the fishing lodge, White River Air.  We could see 3 planes.  There must have been 30 vehicles parked there so business must be good.

We had lunch at an A&W Root Beer restaurant, no ice.  It was attached to a convenience store/gas station so we checked it out.  They did have some Winnie souvenirs but they were pricey.  And gas was a little higher here.  Joe would have driven down more roads, but I persuaded him to head home.  Two days in the Jeep makes my back hurt, so we got home early enough to get a little rest.  We are moving on tomorrow to Marathon, about 110 miles up the road.

Today was sunny, but cool and very windy.  It stayed in the low 60s.  We booked 3 nights in Marathon, leaving on Thursday.  The forecast there for Thursday is a high of 48.  We are heading north, then northwest for the next week or so, but I am sure ready for some warmer temperatures. 

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