On Top Of The World

I had often heard about the Fire Tower in Temagami and the hiking trails all around it, but I never took the opportunity to climb it myself. So, when my nephew, Dylan, and his girlfriend, Victoria, said they wanted to hike the Fire Tower and invited me and my mom to join I said "Definitely!".

   We made the drive to Temagami, just past Findlayson Provincial Park and stopped for a little bit at the Temagami train Station. The Train Station, which was built in 1907 has been restored as closely as possible to its original appearance. It doubles as the town's Information Centre. The waiting area, washrooms and mezzanine are open to the public free of charge during business hours. It houses a gift shop and from time to time it is also home to art exhibits. There happened to be some wonderful pieces of art on display when we went in. The people that were running the place were quite friendly. 
   Next we got back in the car and drove the long, winding road (Jack Guppy Way) up to the top of the mountain where the tower and the trails were situated. We parked in the parking lot and looked at the sign for directions. Apparently there is a Forest Fire Museum there too, but it was closed to the public at the time. 

The path to the tower is quite wide and covered in gravel. It is a short and easy walk.

We picked a perfect day to go. The sun was shining and the trees were donning their beautiful robes of red, orange and yellow leaves for the autumn. 

At the base of the tower is a set of large stone steps covered in fall leaves and pine needles. We didn't head up them right away because off to the side there were some lookouts at ground level that we decided to check out first. 

But it wasn't long before we were making the climb up the tower. I was excited to get to the top and look around and see just how far away I could see. About half way up the tower, I leaned over the edge to take a picture of the stone stairs that we had left behind so far below us. From here I was looking down at the tops of the trees and thought to myself "so this is what the birds see when the fly high above the trees". 

The higher up the tower we went the more windy it got. Also, the more narrower the stairs became. By the time we reached the top it was so windy that it felt like the whole tower was shaking, I had to hold on to my hat so that it wouldn't blow away. Oh, but the view though! It was breathtaking! 

From way up here you could see lakes and trees for miles and miles around. To the right we thought we could make out some sort of fish hatchery or something. To the left we could see someone's summer cabin. We all agreed that we wouldn't want to have that cabin because everyone who climbed this tower would be watching you. No privacy at all. 

Behind us we could see the parking lot. All the cars looked like toy cars that a child would play with. 

The top of the tower was so small that only a few people could be at the top at the same time. The wind was unbelievable but it gave it that extra sense of excitement. My mom and my nephew, Dylan may look like they are posing nicely for the picture below, but they are probably just holding on to each other for dear life.  :) 

We eventually made our way back down in order to let others get to the top. As we climbed back down, I took note of how beautiful the coloured leaves were from up here. 

When we got our feet firmly planted back on solid ground, I noticed that even the flowers were matching in colour to the leaves on the trees. God has made everything in harmony. 

We were already enjoying ourselves and we hadn't even made it to the trails yet. We went back over to the look out for another peek and to rest for a minute on the bench swing that was there. Unfortunately the battery on my camera died on me right after this picture. Luckily I still had my phone with me to take pictures but they are not as good as my actual camera would have been. 

We wandered around for a bit looking for the trail head. There are actually about 8 different trails up here, some longer than others. The one we had decided to do was called the "White Bear Trail". It was just under 3 km long and starts as a straight line and then turns into a large loop. It runs through a stand of Old Growth pines. 

Finally we came across a map that was posted at the trail head. 

The White Beat Trail is one of the newer trails in the White Bear Forest. It contains trees that are between 150 - 300 years old. 

Parts of the trail were marked with white plastic hiking placards to show the way. These were few and far between though. However, the trail was not difficult to follow at all. 

By this time the sun was starting to hide behind the clouds a little. We were expected to get some rain later on in the day. Even though the sun didn't want to show it's yellow colours, that didn't stop the leaves from doing so. 

There were not a whole lot of other people on this particular trail. However, we did run into one gentleman named Doug from Northland Paradise Lodge who was in the middle of giving a guided tour about mushrooms. He told us that he had been in the bush giving tours since 9 a.m. that morning.  We found this to be quite interesting and we may have to look him up one day in the future to go on a guided mushroom hike of our own. After speaking with him for a few minutes we left them to their tour, but all along the way we would find mushrooms sitting in unusual places and we knew that Doug and one of his tours had been through there. 

Not long after, the trail went down a fairly steep, rocky, hill side. It was steep enough that a rope was provided to help you with your descent, 

The rope made it feel adventurous and we felt like rock climbers. It was even more fun to climb back up on the way back. 

At the bottom of our rock climb we came to find a huge fallen tree. It was hollow inside and was big enough that if we had wanted to we might have been able to climb inside. We looked inside to see if we could see anything living in it. But it was too dark inside to know for sure if anything was there. This tree had been very very tall too. We walked beside it quite a ways before we came to where the top of the tree was. 

Next we came to some rocks with big crevasses in them. One was big enough to almost fit a person inside. 

So, Dylan took a stab at seeing how far in he could get. It wasn't too deep so he didn't get very far. 

The Old Growth forest was quiet and peaceful. At this time of year there wasn't a whole lot of wildlife to be seen. 

We did hear some birds though, and a grey squirrel froze like a statue when we crossed paths. It was probably hoping that we hadn't seen him. 

When we got to where the loop began, my mom decided that she wanted to sit and enjoy the quietness of the forest on her own for awhile. I completely understood this because it is something that I like to do myself from time to time.  Dylan, Victoria, and I were a bit more talkative and so we continued on and left her to commune with nature. 

Dylan, Victoria, and I had a great time talking about the different things we saw. We spotted a yellow leaf on the ground that had some holes in it. We laughed because it reminded us of a yellow emoji that looked like it was scared or surprised. 

We were amazes by the size of the roots of the trees that were draped and cascading over the edges of rocks on the trail. 

I was particularly intent on finding inspiration in the changing colours of the leaves for a painting that I wanted to do. I really liked the way the leaves of a small maple went from a red-peach colour and melded into a light green. Beautiful! 

Dylan spotted a tree that was full of lumps and bumps. He said that he knew someone who was able to take tree lumps and turn them into wooden bowls and things like that.  I wonder how many bowls the guy could have made from this one! 

After making our way all the way around the loop, we met back up again with my mom. She was waiting for us under the beautiful orange leaves of the oak trees. 

We began to head back to the beginning of the trail again. We came across a sign posted on a white birch tree that stated the name of the trail "White bear Trail". Somehow we had missed it on the way in. I liked how it was made using a wood burning technique on a piece of wood and not one of paint or plastic. 

As we walked out the leaves continued to amaze us with the variations in the colours. God is such a wonderful artist! 

Eventually we completed the trail and headed back to the tower for one last look over at the look out. I was almost tempted to climb the tower one more time but it was getting late and the weather was starting to turn. 

It had been a wonderful day and we had all enjoyed it immensely. We will have to come back another day and hike one of the other trails next time. Apparently the trails are open for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the winter.  I think that autumn is my favourite time to come here though.