UP into Canada

[Big Air]

We are heading out through the upper peninsula and on into Canada. Driving west to Banff and Jasper Mary parks. Any experience welcome.

[nvestysly]

We recently traveled west to east from Thunder Bay across the north side of Lake Superior and around Lake Huron/Georgian Bay and finally to southern Ontario before crossing back into the U.S. at Port Huron.

Had a great trip and glad that we took time to travel in Ontario. We have Verizon cell phones and "upgraded" the voice/text/data on one line while we were in Canada with the hope that we'd have some coverage. We use Allstays to find campgrounds and other overnight locations as well as staying in touch with friends and family via a smart phone.

I was surprised how little coverage we had during our 10 days in that part of Canada. The only places we had some usable coverage was Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and finally as we approached the southern end of Georgian Bay. We didn't receive consistent cell phone signal until we were in the area of London and Sarnia. My point is... Verizon phones may not be that helpful in the area you're going. Do some home work. Maybe AT&T works better. Maybe you can get by without phones.

Even our GPS seemed a little flaky and often took much more time than expected to find satellites. Probably operator error but worth giving this some consideration before heading out.

I'm glad we had hard-copy maps with us.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

GPS should be fine until you get into canyons. The only gotcha would be local jamming by truckers taking a nap. I don't think that is any more common in Canada than in the US.

Bob

[bbandeddie]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

GPS should be fine until you get into canyons. The only gotcha would be local jamming by truckers taking a nap. I don't think that is any more common in Canada than in the US.

Bob

Aside: why would/do/how truckers jam
GPS signals?

[bbandeddie]

Oh... because this:
http://gizmodo.com/jamming-gps-signa...d-e-1796778955

[NorOntario]

Enjoy! The drive from the Soo to Thunder Bay is long and there is not much on the way - so bring snacks Old Woman's Bay is a beautiful stop along that way

Also, there is pretty much only one highway - follow the only road...

[bbandeddie]

Ouimet canyon, an incredible box canyon, just outside TBay is fabulous. There used to be a sign saying no RVs so you might need to unhook somewhere. But that was 25 years ago.
There's a pretty cool suspension foot bridge in a park just past Marathon that's worth a short hike, too

[nvestysly]

+1 on Ouimet Canyon it was fabulous. We did as the sign instructed and unhitched our trailer at the bottom of the hill. There is a parking area to leave your trailer. The hill was relatively steep and the road is a bit narrow. We could have made it up and down. The bigger issue may be the lack of a large parking area at the top of the hill. There is a turn-around area at the top. Tour busses go to the top and turn around.

The Terry Fox Memorial on the east side of Thunder Bay was very interesting. Take a few minutes to look him up.

You may be taking a more northerly route so those two things may not apply.

[Big Air]

Originally Posted by nvestysly

We recently traveled west to east from Thunder Bay across the north side of Lake Superior and around Lake Huron/Georgian Bay and finally to southern Ontario before crossing back into the U.S. at Port Huron.

Had a great trip and glad that we took time to travel in Ontario. We have Verizon cell phones and "upgraded" the voice/text/data on one line while we were in Canada with the hope that we'd have some coverage. We use Allstays to find campgrounds and other overnight locations as well as staying in touch with friends and family via a smart phone.

I was surprised how little coverage we had during our 10 days in that part of Canada. The only places we had some usable coverage was Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and finally as we approached the southern end of Georgian Bay. We didn't receive consistent cell phone signal until we were in the area of London and Sarnia. My point is... Verizon phones may not be that helpful in the area you're going. Do some home work. Maybe AT&T works better. Maybe you can get by without phones.

Even our GPS seemed a little flaky and often took much more time than expected to find satellites. Probably operator error but worth giving this some consideration before heading out.

I'm glad we had hard-copy maps with us.

Same really for Nova Scotia. We traveled there last fall and we're basically out of touch for the weeks we spent there. We have verizon also and one line was fixed for travel. But roaming charges were ridiculous so half way through the trip I just turned my phone to airplane mode and waited till we were at the Maine border once more. Thanks for the info. We don't have hard copy maps.... I was asking about this in another thread. Sounds like a must. Thanks.