The Fog

At Pancake Bay we found a weather station. Very special! Most reliable of all. If the rock is wet - it is raining!

As we drove north, however, the temperatures dropped. It was amazing.

I couldn't believe it. I wrote down the temperatures so as not to forget. I changed from a tank top to a quilted jacket in less than an hour's drive.

The Shores of Gi chi Gamiing have a long tradition with fog. Native Peoples used incredible tales to explain nature around them. I am sure it developed an appreciation for the land and the creatures of the land. I know, having led Native Studies with my elementary students, that the stories strike a deep chord. One of their favourites was "How the Chipmunk Got Its Stripes!"

The red sign, at left, explains that they've lost tourists in the waves and to 'be careful'. oh my.


The blue sign (lower left in the photo) at Agawa Bay says,

"Before you is the world's largest freshwater lake, Gi chi Gamiing ("Great Lake") to the Ojibwe. Gi chi Gamiing was vital to the Ojibwe cultrue, providing food and the main travel route.

Even with modern navigation, travel on the lake can be hazardous with the changing weather. In the spring and early summer the land warms more quickly than the lake and fog is common along the coast. The Ojibwe saw fog as the clothing of thunderbirds. As guardians of the Ojibwe, the thunderbirds visited the world to search out evil spirits with thunder, lightning and storms.

The Ojibwe had great respect for Gi chi Gamiing and its changing moods. To appease Misshepezhieu, the spirit of the water, offerings of food, coper and tobacco were left at sites along the coast by those seeking a safe passage or to give thanks, a tradition still honoured by many."

It is amazing, too, the people (like Selwyn Dewdney, 1909 - 1979) who ensured that such historical sites as those at Agawa (the pictographs) and have been preserved. The oral traditions of ancient peoples deserve such respect in this information age.

You have to excuse the bug goop on the windshield in the video. We kept smacking into them as we drove. It was great stopping at the Candian Carver, where two young men bantered and cleaned the bugs off of the windshield as well as the headlights!