More about Thunder Bay

Prince Arthur's Landing from the air

While I was writing the blog-log of our flying trip last month I didn't do justice to the city of Thunder Bay that we stopped in twice, once on the way out, once on the way back.

Our likeable hotel, the Prince Arthur, was old and slightly shabby, like a poor, smaller cousin of Ottawa's Chateau Laurier, built in the same era. On the first night there I swam in the cold water of its rectangular pool in the basement, after a fish and chip supper at one of the nearby pubs. To Chris' relief we missed hearing live music from The Soles or Wax Philosophic (good name, that) which was advertised on the board, but we were entertained by videos of Xtreme Skiboarding shown on the TV screens instead, and drank some Steam Whistle (Ontario) beer.

Children are tempted to try Xtreme sports at Thunder Bay

On the wall of the pub, we saw the grainy reproduction of an old photo taken in May 1912 showing ships leaving Thunder Bay down a water lane cut through the ice of the bay; they were carrying 5 million bushels of wheat. There still seem to be plenty of ships coming and going in the container port, the grain elevators are still standing, and freight trains bring the containers back and forth along the waterfront railroad; there was constant rail traffic going past our hotel, wheels rumbling like thunder through the night.

The hotel's shuttle bus driver, taking us into town past Thunder Bay's Lakehead University told us that the city had been improving lately, recovering its prosperity by degrees. It had helped when a School of Medicine had opened here, and now there were new government buildings on the waterfront and lakeside condos were under construction.

Yin and Yang in the Taiji Park

Downtown Thunder Bay seemed to have many imposing buildings that had no apparent purpose (no name boards outside them), with square façades, as in Winnipeg. The "waterfront" district (i.e. that part of town) was mostly deserted both nights we stayed there, except in the pubs and in the marina park: Prince Arthur's Landing. Everywhere, the sound of seagulls. Thunder Bay is apparently the Taiji (sic, aka tai chi) Capital of Canada and has a Taiji Park at one end of the waterfront with a yin-yang symbol on the ground and a circular Chinese arch. On the walls of other structures in the parks were poems written by local poets.

Nightfall in this most western part of Ontario seems to come very late, in the summer; when it did we could see the cargo ships lit up at anchor beyond the harbour wall and on the piers twisted metal towers (a modern sculpture installation called Jiigew, resembling harbour beacons) lit up with tumbling patterns of white lights. I could see them from our hotel room window.

Other wonders visible from our window were the rainbow after the thunder storm (it had to thunder, of course, in Thunder Bay), the yacht sails filling out as the yachts "went about" to change direction and the long Sibley peninsula on the horizon of the bay. There, way out beyond the harbour, lies Nanabijou, the Sleeping Giant, low clouds swirling around him.

Day 11: islands in the mist

The sales manager of the Prince Arthur drove us to the airport herself, in the courtesy car, telling us of her hopes for Thunder Bay and her hotel. They're close to the U.S. border so are always hoping for American tourists to create a livelihood.

Chocks away at the F.B.O. and an easy take off from the intersection of taxiway Bravo with Runway 25. We were flying VFR again, in the hope that the morning fog would have lifted sufficiently for us to land 220 km away at Marathon. There was no fog in sight at the start of this flight; we had an unimpeded view of the water beneath our wheels and our lifejackets on, again. We were flying last week's route in reverse, along the line of islands to avoid the straight line across Lake Superior, and as we began to veer east we did notice the sea of low lying fog ahead, with islands sticking out of it like lumps of pudding in white custard; actually it was far more beautiful than that and I did my best to get some good photos. The reflections in the window pane frustrate me though. Not until the last 20 miles did we realise that Marathon airport would be in the clear; otherwise we'd either have had to fly on to Chapleau without stopping or return to Thunder Bay!


Chris refuelled at Marathon, knowing how to work the self service pump this time but still getting his hand trapped when recoiling the big hose. Flying's a hazardous occupation! Fortunately a lady was at work in the airport who could tell us which direction to take along the highway to find some lunch at a gas station restaurant, so we didn't need to unpack our emergency pot noodles and search for a kettle. And the walk stretched our legs.

For the next, longer leg, were cleared to North Bay airport via YSP AR16 YLD RR10 YSB V316 YYB at 7000 ft, which meant we would be travelling nearly the whole route in uncontrolled airspace. With no internet access at either the restaurant or airport in Marathon, Chris had had to phone for an old fashioned flight briefing from Winnipeg flight services, and I'd only heard his side of the conversation, so wasn't sure what to expect in the way of clouds en route. They were small and low enough to start with, and we were soon through and above them on our climb to 7000, but after about 20 minutes the clouds began to climb too, and then we were disconcertingly in and out of the tops for miles. When in the clouds it was bumpy flying. Our few moments' respite between clouds were in smooth air. As we progressed, the clouds got higher and bumpier and more joined up, though I kept hoping for them to thin out, and they did for a while, around the half way point above Chapleau. Over the airwaves though, we were beginning to hear the voices of other pilots in planes large and small finding themselves in difficulty to the south, especially around Toronto, because big storms were building there.

North Bay with TCUs to the east of Lake Nipissing

The city of Sudbury with its famous nickel mine chimney came in sight 2 hours 20 minutes after our take off from Marathon, and then we turned left and said to one another, we're nearly there (at North Bay). But we had a biggish cloud ahead on our own route and despite the fact that ATC had allowed us to start our descent there was nothing for it but to go through the middle where it was raining heavily, dark and turbulent (probably towering to about 10000ft, not much more). Chris delights in these challenges, but I don't so much, and what it would be like inside a fully grown towering cumulus I don't like to imagine. We were probably only in that cloud for about 10 minutes and Chris was managing to look up waypoints on the computer and talk to ATC and so on while I was clinging on to the strap and making complaints. I hope he just ignores me. What a relief to come through to the Other Side and see Lake Nipissing and North Bay and, indeed, the airport ahead, all in sunlight and calm Visual Meteorological Conditions. We'd been cleared for the VOR / DME approach to runway 26 via DAVUM but didn't need it because we'd got clear of the clouds.

PTN (the C172 on the right) with larger aircraft at CYYB

After we landed two Westjet Boing 737s landed and taxied onto the ramp behind us having been diverted from Toronto. The passengers all had to stay on board. Chris and I could get out of our own plane and now we're at one of the Travelodge hotels in North Bay, and I'm going to have a swim in the pool. We ate at Wacky Wings this evening where you'd be able to wear what looks like a dead chicken on your head if it were your birthday party.

Day 10: Thunder Bay, again

(Thursday, July 31st)

View from our hotel room in Thunder Bay

We were intending to be in Kapuskasing or Geraldton this evening, but it wasn't possible. Needing to fly IFR because of the weather ahead, Chris was legally obliged to file a flight plan including an alternate airport at the destination, and there were none accessible. We looked at places ahead of Geraldton and north of Geraldton; they were all too far to reach with the remaining fuel on board. The obvious alternate was Marathon, south of Geraldton, but that was socked in with fog, below minima, in fact reporting 0ft vertical visibility and 0ft horizontal. Even if we had been able to approach Marathon and land there, we wouldn't have been able to watch the sun set over the islands in  tonight's rain. So it's just as well we have returned to Thunder Bay where the weather has been fine all day.

On our way to Kenora airport after breakfast we saw three deer. The taxi driver told us they have moved closer to the edges of town because of their predators in the forest, the timber wolves. The driver asked where we came from and told us proudly of his granddaughter who has just graduated from Cambridge university-- he'd been to England to see her.

We took off from runway 08, i.e. in the right direction, cleared to the VOR at Sioux Narrows on the eastern side of  Lake of the Woods, and thence direct along V300 to Thunder Bay. At first, especially, in thick haze at 7000ft, our GPS navigational aids were most necessary. The only landmark apart from the occasional view of the trans-Canada highway or railway was the town of Atikokan, at about half way, which had an airport and a non-directional beacon (NDB). The approach controller at Thunder Bay gave us vectors for a visual approach to runway 25 at the destination, where it was fine and clear, as reported ... and windy. When he handed us over to Tower, we were told to expect a landing on runway 30 instead (with 20 knot gusts) because the wind direction had changed.

The Thunder Bay marina, our hotel in the bottom right corner

Maintair, the Shell FBO, gave us good service on arrival, even booking our hotel for us at a considerable reduction on the price we paid last time. It's a better room too, with two double beds, an armchair, desk, plenty of space and the glorious view out of both windows. Downstairs there's a swimming pool at our disposal. Hotel slogan: "The only thing we overlook is the waterfront." All this for $89! This afternoon, Chris and I sat by it again, walked around the Spirit Park, etc., found a good supper at a Thai restaurant, and did another circuit of the higher part of town. All the time, our eyes are drawn to the lake and the sky.

Day 5: Rainy Lake

The fog behind us

The thunder we'd have met west of Thunder Bay reached us in the night and left us with a foggy morning: "300ft broken, 1500 ft overcast". However, visibility on the hill above town where the airport is was enough to get us airborne after lunch, when the larger clouds were gone. We heard a warning over the airwaves later that they were towering to 43,000 ft at the eastern end of Lake Superior.

Before we'd reached 2500 ft on our way up to 6000, we broke through the fog layer, and above and beyond it was a perfect summer's day. ATC turned us left heading 350 and then asked, "Do you want to fly the airway or go direct?"

"We request direct!"

View of Rainy Lake as we approached Fort Frances

"Stand by, I'll see what I can arrange. ... PTN is cleared direct to Fort Frances."

This took us over gloriously wild, mostly flat scenery full of oxbow rivers, muskeg and unspoilt lakes. We zipped along at what Chris ironically calls the nosebleed rate of 87 knots (not very fast for an aircraft, about 100 mph), through or under the small cumulus clouds, sometimes rocked by gusts of wind, sometimes in smooth air.

Winnipeg Centre handed us over to Minneapolis Centre. We could see the extent of Rainy Lake from a far distance, and as we came closer, the myriad islands and the twin towns of Fort Frances and International Falls that lie on the Ontario / Minnesota border. When we landed ahead of a family of 6 from Colorado in a Commanche, we had gained an hour. The gentleman who was Unicom and fuel attendant and airport manager combined has lent us his van until tomorrow, so that we could drive ourselves to tonight's lodging, La Place Rendez-vous, a resort on the lakeshore. And for an extra $10 I had booked a lakeside room--well worthwhile. Chris is sitting outside the room in an Andirondack chair watching the sky colour over the lake as I write this and the sun sets.

Mill, Fort Frances

Fort Frances Post Office

Swimming in Rainy Lake

We took the van into town for supper (steaks) and peered over the river to the American side where a cumulonimbus cloud was rapidly growing. The gust front caught us scuttling back to the main street, but didn't wet us too much. This evening I got myself wet all over swimming in the lovely Lake from the beach beside the hotel. We were the only people there.

Chris at the Place Rendezvous, outside our room

View from our hotel room

Day 4: a short one

Climbing out from Marathon

Today we only flew for one and a half hours but it counts as quality time.

The same taxi driver from Bob's Taxis drove us up to the airport on a beautiful clear morning while Chris explained to her what the VOR was, on the hilltop. Take off time was 9:45. Making a right hand turn out over the town, we saw last night's walk, although not the thick patches of vetch, clover, marguerites, buttercups and evening primroses by the roadsides from this height. Most of the way to Thunder Bay we were off shore, following the line of islands. 4500ft over Terrace Bay we clearly saw the crossed out (disused) runways as well as the large pulp mill there belching out a plume of smoke that drifted for miles downwind.

Terrace Bay, with the disused airport behind the smoke

Over the dappled islands

Heading out across the islands

The irregularly shaped islands were dappled with cloud shadows ... mention of this sparked a conversation later, on the pier at Thunder Bay, about the poet Gerald Manley Hopkins ("Glory be to God for dappled things ...") ...and Chris was noticing the white rocks edging the islands and the hills rising beyond them. There were hills, cliffs, chasms and small lakes on the islands themselves, no sign of human intervention other than the highway in he distance snaking along.

Beneath us the water looked transparent at first then multicoloured--green, grey, brown, creamy--where it had been stirred by currents. As we rounded the northwestern corner of the lake I thought of young Terry Fox making his incredible, painful way here from the east of Canada on his one leg and then collapsing and dying before he could cover the remaining half of Canada. There's a memorial to him in Thunder Bay.

Thunder Bay waterfront, from over the lake

On the radio we were in touch with Thunder Bay terminal who informed incoming pilots that the glide slope was inoperable; it didn't affect us and came back into service after a while. Winds at the airport were light and variable. First we thought runway 25 would be the one to approach, but then that changed to 07. We were kept on a long downwind leg while a Dash 8 and Bearskin aircraft landed ahead of us. For practice or fun, Chris flew the ILS approach to 200ft above ground, unnecessary since we'd been seeing the runway quite clearly from a distance of 35 miles away.

Escarpment beyond Thunder Bay

Posing with life jacket at Thunder Bay

At the Prince Arthur hotel

Long discussion on whether to risk continuing west into a band of "weather" or not. In the end we cautiously decided not to take the risk of running into possible storms or being stranded in Kenora or Dryden, and so booked a room at the Prince Arthur Waterfront Hotel (where we have stayed once before) and spent a cool, grey, peaceful afternoon downtown by the marina with the grebes, seagulls and boys with their scooters and skateboards to entertain us. It has been raining here, but not alarmingly. Maybe we could have continued westwards after all.

Family of grebes, Thunder Bay