Navigator and Wheelman

We love the outdoors and explore the roads less travelled. We live in Mississauga, 35 km West of Toronto and follow the call of the North any time we can. When we are not travelling, the Jeep and Camping Trailer take their fair share of time and money. The maintenance and upgrades keep us out of trouble and safe. It doesn't always work like that, and that's when the stories are born.
"These are our escapades"

Follow us @NavigatorAndWheelman. We have a new episode with every Moon Cycle. Why the moon cycle? Well, the New Moon brings dark skies and the Full Moon reveals an amazing scenery.

Upgrades and tow specific documents
Find them in the Index at Jeep Upgrades
Don't miss our travel journals. Click More Stories to read about our escapades.

2024 Working on the new camping trailer
We are building an off-road travel trailer and it is a slow process. After all, we still 'have to' travel and explore new places.

2023 ended with a four-week trip to Switzerland and 2024 started with a four-week trip to Switzerland. We had enough time to go back to the places we remembered from our younger years.

2023 A year with no big travel plans, yet
A weekend in the Muskokas alone, I had to officiate at the Multisport Triathlon in Bracebrdige. The races were over around lunch time and I visited the Bracebridge Falls and the steamship in Gravenhurst. Both very impressive for different reasons. The history surrounding both attractions is interesting and they were well worth the visit. I brought back some nice impressions from RMS Segwun

At the beginning of August, we spent 5 days at Esker Lake Provincial Park and found an abundance of blueberries. We also returned to the Heritage Silver Trail in Cobalt and signed up for the Mine Tour. Wow, what a place. We brought back lots of memories and a video highlighting the amazing Silver Trail

2022 - Newfoundland, here we come
Start date was after Victoria Day long weekend, destination Labrador and Newfoundland. First planned stop was Québec City to visit Old Town and the Red Door. Then Baie Comeau and follow the Trans Labrador Highway to Red Bay. We took the ferry to Newfoundland and followed the north coast until we reached St. John's in early July. The rugged coast is breathtaking and at times, the view must be earned by manoevering through many potholes. These pages tell our story about Labrador and Newfoundland

The Fushimi Lake Provincial Park was on our must-see list for some time. The park closes mid September and we booked the last two weeks. With the lake at our doorstep, we had to bring our canoe and fishing rod. Our first ever Ontario fish was delicious. The off-road trips were memorable as well; first ever flat tire in the great outdoors. The scenery was breathtaking on and around Fushimi Lake

2021 - Hmm
The year didn't start well, lockdown in all Provinces. On the bright side, we made upgrades on our Jeep and equipment.

The trip to the west coast was planned in spring, but Canada-wide travel was not possible. By the end of August, the restrictions were lifted. We took our time on the way to British Columbia and spent a few days at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park, Grassland National Park, Kananaskis and Okanagan Valley. We camped in the Whistler RV Park and conquered China Head Mountain. We visited the old growth forest on Vancouver Island and made the best out of all the rainy days. It was an amazing two month trip to the West Coast

Before the big trip, we had to wait until June for the Ontario Provincial Parks to reopen. We spent a few days at Finlayson Point Provincial Park to visit the Temagami and Cobalt area again.
Two weeks later, we left the camping trailer at home and made a round trip on Hwy 11 and Hwy 17. We should have brought the trailer, we're too old for car and tent camping. However, we had the most incredible wildlife encounters.
Then back to Finlayson Point PP again for a magical early morning canoe trip on Lake Temagami and round trip to Silver Centre Ghost Town.
The upgrades earlier this year didn't come from Amazon. We Buy Local when We Need Stuff

2020 - Travel in Ontario
The abandoned mines along Hwy 11 caught our interest. With the COVID-19 bug this year, we had to change some of the travel plans. We found the Kap-Kig-Iwan Provincial Park about 1 km south of Englehart in the Timiskaming District. This is about 550 km north from Mississauga.
Inside the park, the Englehart River plunges down several waterfalls. The camp is somewhat central to all the places we wanted to explore. That includes Town of Cobalt to the south, the Kirkland Lake area to the east and the unknown to us places to the west. It turned out to be an excellent basecamp in the search for Abandoned Mines
In previous years we learned that the navigation on forest service roads is almost impossible. All we can see are trees and sometimes a lake. The car GPS shows some roads and the phone has no reception. The solution can be downloaded from Natural Resources Canada. Their topographical maps show enormous details. It is documented in the GPS and UTM map grid reference system. We used the 1 : 50,000 maps to find the abandoned mines.

Canada relaxed the inter provincial travel restrictions in August and we got ready to head out to Whistler on the west coast. We met some Canadian travellers, but it was mostly a very quiet drive and stay. The RV Park in Whistler welcomed out of Province guests and our 4 weeks stay was amazing as usual. We had rain, we had smoke and we had great weather. We also visited the most colourful, hands-on display, the train wreck just south of Whistler. Most attractions were closed or had restrictions, that was a good excuse for us to take it easy and enjoy the quiet side of Whistler

We finished our Sleeping Platform project and we had to see how well it works. We returned to the Cobalt area and spent the night somewhere along the Silverfields Road. The weather forecast was positive, but drizzle started in the morning. We decided to call the sleeping platform a success and returned home.

2019 - Great Winter and the long way to the West Coast
First trip in January to Huntsville. If grey is a colour, we had it all. The weather wasn't cooperating. But the evening was magical.
A few weeks later we were in luck at Windy Lake Provincial Park. We arrived in Sudbury at the end of a major snow dumping. The skies cleared for us.
Mid March it was time for the 2nd annual Winter Camping solo trip.

The summer was in full swing and we took the long way to get to British Columbia. From Mississauga to Sault Ste Marie, Thunder Bay, Kenora. We crossed the prairies and eventually settled for several days in Whistler, BC. There we heard intriguing stories about Bella Coola and we just had to go to the West Coast
That's when Plan A failed and we had to switch to Plan B. We had enough time in Bella to worked out Plan B. This place is amazing, we saw grizzlies close up and countless bald eagles. We drove up an awesome Forest Service Road to see the highest free falling waterfall in Canada. Almost made it there, unless we count the endless rain as a 'free falling' waterfall. Eventually we took the ferry to Vancouver Island and returned home.

2018 - 125 Years Ontario Provincial Parks
It is February, it is cold and no more excuses. I postponed Winter Camping for way too many years. I have all the equipment but nobody that shares my enthusiasm, not even my wife. So I went alone. I will make this a yearly occurrence from now on.
It turns out, Algonquin Park features some spectacular Ice Formations along hwy 60.
This was the winter when I started ice fishing. My definition of ice fishing is simple. Drill a hole and fish. No shelter, no power auger. Mind you, a snowmobile would be nice at times.

Victoria Day Long Weekend, the time when nature awakens. Most snow is gone and the creeks and rivers run fast. It is also the time for all the pesky insects to emerge, making this paradise a living hell. No better time than to start our camping season at Marten River Provincial Park. We got our sandwiches packed and explored Red Squirrel Road. Next day on Sunday, we found the perfect conditions at the Finlayson Lake.

The destination we ignored for way too many years, the Maritime
This is our first longer road trip with the camping trailer and the Jeep. We started the trip on Grand Manan, an island on the mid-western end of the Bay of Fundy. No other place along the Nova Scotia coastline or Prince Edward Island could live up to Grand Manan.
The souvenirs we brought back from the Maritime were red wine from Nova Scotia and potatoes from PEI. And obviously we got Dulse from Grand Manan. The Maritime - what a great trip.

On the way back we took a detour via Esker Lakes Provincial Park to stock up on wild blueberries.
Last year we noticed tire tracks on a sandy side road off Highway 672. There we found a blueberry patch the size of a small country. Well, lucky us that we couldn't resist the dirt road.
Just north of the Esker Lakes Provincial Park are the Tower & Barnet Lake Road. Mostly packed gravel with access to several lakes that are regularly stocked with fish by the Ministry.

2017 - Canada's 150th Birthday
Victoria Day Long Weekend, on the lookout for adventures with our new camping trailer. We spent the time at Marten River Provincial Park. The Historical Logging Camp is very educational.
North of the Park is the Rabbit Lake Road. Bring the canoe, there is good fishing there.

End of July on the way to the Nagagamisis Park, we stopped at Finlayson Point Provincial Park for one night. This is well over 1,000 km and an overnight stop was justified. We stayed for a few days at the Nagagamisis Provincial Park. There is no cell phone or hydro power there, but plenty of forest service roads and lakes. We highly recommend this place.

Our last trip at the end of August brought us to the Holy Grail of the Wild Blueberries. We stayed at the Esker Lakes Provincial Park.

2016 - Cross Canada Trip and the Year of the Camping Trailer
This summer was the first Cross-Canada trip with the Jeep - and the fifth time we drove the 4,500 km from Mississauga Ontario to Whistler BC. We knew that we'll hit a lot of bugs crossing the Prairies, so the first Jeep upgrade was the Mesh Grill to protect the radiator.

Our trip to BC and back went without incident and we returned with lots of good memories. One of them was the Poison Mountain trip.

We stayed in hotels and used up all our Reward Points to pay for part of this trip. Mostly Best Western, they accepted our reward points and the hotels are well maintained.

As soon as we reached the northern parts of Ontario, the number of camping trailers is impossible to miss. Big fifth-wheel that made our home look like a shack, small tear-drop models that provide shelter and everything in between. It was Time to seriously investigate Camping Trailers. Only a few weeks after our return, we found a used 13 foot Prolite Mini in perfect condition.

2015 - The Jeep
It was a busy summer with the PanAm and ParaPan Games here in Toronto. I volunteered and spent a few days with the Triathlon and Road Bicycles Race.
The perks of volunteering were free admission to select events. I went to two ParaPan competitions, the Wheelchair Rugby and Swimming. I have great respect for these athletes, their performance is truly inspiring.
Our KIA served us well over many years and reached the end of its low-maintenance life. We didn't want to spent any money to fix the car. The Dodge Dakota shared the same fate a few months ago and new wheels was our top priority. We were looking at Dodge Ram in our dealership and walked out with a Jeep Sahara Unlimited, hmm! The previous owner was a real estate agent. No modifications and no offroading. Didn't take long until we made some Upgrades and planned our first trip.

Back in the last century
This is how it all started: We had a tent, we had a canoe and Algonquin Provincial Park was a short trip from home. Our first visits were back in the late 80's, it was not as busy as it is today.
In 2010 we documented and published the first set of Algonquin Park Trail Head GPS coordinates. Nobody published any GPS coordinates back then because the world was flat and printed in maps. Car GPS became affordable and the Smartphones became mainstream . Most people didn't know what to do with GPS coordinates, they don't work with printed maps. A fascinating topic, the GPS and UTM map grid references system.

Looking through some old pictures, we just had to document the decay of the train trestle on Cache Lake. The first images we took with the bridge mostly intact were from 1992, the last one below from a few years ago. Yeah, it is falling apart.
The older photographs are on slides and paper. Our first digital images date back to 2010 where the resolution and quality started to make progress. We are scanning the slides and paper pictures as we need them.

In summer 2011 on our way to British Columbia, we visited the Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. Yup, the Dodge Dakota did the cross-Canada trip a few times. We added the Riding Mountain Trail Head GPS coordinates to the collection.

A growing number of website visitors were looking for information about the hiking trails and GPS coordinates. This lead to a Canada wide collection of links and GPS coordinates. This collection is growing as we find new places.
Be aware that the GPS coordinate collection is exactly that, a few pictures of the trail head and a link for the GPS. It is not our primary intention to document the trails neither do we claim that we hiked all the trails. Although we did most of them.