The Speares

Wow, what a place. Very rustic. No power, no comfort stations, extremely remote. Almost heaven. We stayed on site 14 which is arguably a pull-through except without all wheel drive it's more of a back out. Next time we'll look at site 23 which is flat and on the water but may be surrounded by seasonal campers, who all defecate beside their trailers.

The hikes are great. We started with the Helenbar Lookout trail, around three hours with lunch at the halfway point.

View from the lookout	A large erratic	Northern Ringneck Snake

Wednesday was scattered rain, so we went to visit our good friends Heather and Steve for a shower and a spot of tea. They moved to Elliot Lake a couple of years back and love it.

Next day was the Semiwite Lake loop. Around 4 1/2 hours. The All Trails app, which is a crowd-sourced trails app, had a sort of a squiggle-looking thing in the middle - I think that's where everyone gets lost. Also where you stop for lunch, at a sort of a quarry. A little crashing and we made it back onto the trail. Much as I hate to pay a subscription to the All Trails people, we might still be there without the app.

Remote beach	Fried egg mushroom	Semiwite lake

The Jimchrist trail is more of an old logging road around Jimchrist (Christman) lake. 12k and about 4 hours. There's supposedly a lookout on Helenbar lake which we never found, so we crashed over to the shore and found our own rock to eat lunch on.

Ancient garbage	Deb eating lunch	Helenbar Lake

Saturday was the big hike - the Cobre Lake trail. Fabulous hike at 6 1/2 hours but hard to find - it's a non-descript gravel road off the main road pretty much exactly 11 km north of the park entrance, then a bit of a drive on a super sketchy gravel road, a flip-of-the-coin intersection (turn left) and then a little ways on you find the trail head. We did it counter-clockwise which saved the stunning lookout for the end, but also the near-vertical (in places) descent when you're at your most tired. Might do it clockwise next time. Great places for lunch on Blue Sky lake.

Cobre Lake	Another view	Old miners' cabin
Corduroy road	Old tin mine	Lunchtime
Cobre lookout	Great cell coverage	Bush party

Sunday was our last day, so we just re-did the Helenbar trail. This time, though, we took the sidebar down to the Helenbar portage. Some ancient garbage there which may or may not have to do with the Gloster Meteor that crashed here a long time ago.

A fabulous adventure and we'll be sure to go back, even though it's a fish preserve and no fishing while we were there. Steve says we can always go out on his brand new bass boat next time.

Park Rustic and beautiful. Lots of stars earlier in the trip, but then a waxing moon. Next time shoot for a new moon. 5 1/2 hour drive. Gas available at Parry Sound (Tim's), Nairn Center and McKerrow (Wendy's, Tim's) on the way up. Lots of options on the way back but shoot for Shawanaga First Nation (Tacos apparently) where gas is cheap.

Site 14. Slopey and gravel. Apparently a pull-through but not with our vehicle. A private trail at the back of the site to the privy and the beach. Very private. A couple of quiet neighbours from time to time. No nearby generators. Next time look at site 23.

Cell Phone None. A bar or two on the beach but not reliable. Have to hike to a lookout or drive to town to get cell.

Store Ice cream and tee shirts. Elliot Lake for anything else.

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