Timmins Lodging

[Bob]

Timmins Motel Advice

To fellow STNAOFC members,

Travelors to Timmins might want to know about our experiences with lodging in Timmins.

I stayed at the Super 8, almost across the road from Hollinger Park, and near Park Rd which leads to the entrance for Shania Twain Centre & the golf course, about 1.5 blocks off Algonquin/Hwy 101 toward the south. Rick L'Amoureux the manager had posted and mailed helpful information for us while I was still primarily a member of Shaniaforums website. He continued to provide help as well as interesting information and perspective after I arrived. Their lobby is smaller than the Senator's, but it is much newer and very appealing. Kind of an open atrium with honey colored wood railing staircase going up to the second story of the motel, giving a unique view of the whole operation. New green pattern carpeting. Fresh bagels, butter, orange juice and apple juice for free in the lobby in the morning. My room was quite large, modern and pleasant with two queen beds. Based on the way they were enthusiastically talking online on Shaniaforums, I expected there'd be so many members going that I'd have to share space. As it was, I had the whole room to myself. With my VIP card, price was very reasonable. The Ontario Provincial Police Golden Helmets (15-20) stayed there my first night also. They made quite an impression. I didn't know who they were, or for what they were in town until I read the Timmins Paper online after I got back home. Demonstration of precision motocycle team. All in all, a very delightful place to stay in my experience.

I also spent a fair amount of time at the Senator, since that's where most of our club members stayed. That is a much larger place, but older. It has more deluxe facilities, too many for me to know about, but including of interest to our group: the Shania Twain Suite. This special suite had higher quality furniture, more seating sofas and somewhat more artistically finished interior decorating than my room, but otherwise, not a whole lot larger. The view was quite impressive though. Can see the whole west half of the town from there. I felt well treated while in and about this hotel. It was very nice gathering in the spacious lobby with our club members before driving or walking to our many agenda events. They had multiple conference rooms for parties etc., and we used one for ours. They also had several levels of parking, which usually had enough space for a temporary visitor like me, to meet other members. But their parking levels are ABOVE the ground floor lobby, and the only way up and down between floors and levels I could find was the elevator, which opened on either side, depending on whether it was lobby, parking levels, or hotel room floor. That kept me disoriented almost all 4-5 days I went there.

What can you share about your lodging experience in Timmins, for future Shania Twain Centre visitors?

Bob

[This message has been edited by Bob (edited 07-08-2001).]

[cbspock]

Hey Bob, I like your idea. Maybe we should put a "Shania Fan Vistor's Guide to Timmins" together. We could put in it, places to eat, stay and see. To ger the full "Shania Experience" while in Timmins.

-Chris

[Bob]

Chris,

Very helpful development of the idea. But I think we need to get a collection of member experiences before we can make recommendations. Hope to hear from others, when they get a chance. Don't need a whole lot. Just what they ate, where & what they thought of it, for the restaurants; and similar brief notes for the motels. We can consolidate the info later, or if it's clear as is, just leave as sampling of individual opinions.

Bob

[This message has been edited by Bob (edited 07-09-2001).]

[DOC BILL]

Campground reference
I gotta comment on campgrounds available on the way to Timmins for those who might perfer to travel as we did in a motorhome for the trip. First off, any KOA campground along the way is fine though the last one I saw available was in Gravenhurst. Most campgrounds further North especially in the Timmins area are pretty primative. Most do not have full hook ups so you may be dry camping. The electrical hook ups tend to be 15 to max 20 amp so you're limited in what you can use. Water is generally very good and quite clean. We stayed at Horseshoe Lake campground in Timmins and I would NOT recommend it for use during the trip. It was unkept in my mind and I felt it misrepresented inself on the internet and in discussions with the owners. Luckily we just left the motorhome there and stayed at the Senator because we would have been very limited in our ability to enjoy our self there. Most Northern campgrounds aren't well maintained due to the fact they can only use them 2-3 months a year-I understand that. Additionally most are pretty full with seasonal campers. Though I didn't visit it I was told "Cache" was the best local campground in the Timmins area by several reliable sources but it is 20-30 miles from Timmins I was told. I was also told there are quite a few bears around the campgrounds but again I didn't have any bear encounters. Bottom line, once you get North of Gravenhurst and can't use a KOA campground be very careful on choosing campgrounds that fit your needs. I would recommend using the Chamber of Commerce as a resource as they obviously want you to have a good experience and will give you good advice on the different campground-"accurate" good advice too. Of note the campgrounds up there didn't give a reservation number and most just told me to "park the thing where you can fit it in" which is something most folks after traveling 6-8 hours don't want to hear when they pull into a campground. Most also required payment in Canadian money at the time you pull into the campground. Camping your way to Timmins can be done but be cautious and plan ahead for sites once to get North of Gravenhurst. DOC

[This message has been edited by DOC BILL (edited 07-10-2001).]

[Bob]

Thanks Doc Bill,

I know a lot of people who travel via campgrounds. I think it would be a natural for the wide open spaces of Canada. My experiences traveling with a pop up camper with my brother and his family in 1999 and 2000 using mostly KOA's, is consitent with yours. I think what you wrote is very useful information for such travelors to Timmins, as well as an option for others who've not considered camping or campgrounds.

I would add that some people like rustic campgrounds even better than well furnished but busy ones.

We encountered bears out in the parks in the Rockies, and could not use one popular campground with our soft-sided pop-up camper, as a result. They'd only let in hard-sided trailers, campers, vans, coaches etc.

I expect to encounter bears even more in my upcoming trip in early September to Alaska. We'll be in Denali National Park for several days during that 2 wk trip, camping in a tent in the wilderness, under the 18,000 foot rise from Wonder Lake Campground at 2,000 ft, up to the top of Mt McKinley at 20,000+ ft. We have to watch a bear safety video at the park entrance beforehand, and rent a sealed metal container in which to keep our food.

In the early 70's, I figured out a way to overcome quicksand on foot. Last year, we successfully summitted a 14,000+ foot mountain peak and survived a raging storm of lightning, wind, rain, hail and snow. We were on a more difficult approach to the summit that few others attempt. A 5 person team went in the day before and 3 did not come out.

This year, I'm figuring out how to meet the challenge of the grizzly, the climate, and the north wilderness terrain of Alaska. Just sorting out all the boats, planes, buses, trains, taxi's, courtesy vans, motels, hostels, campgrounds and attractions on a do-it-yourself agenda of reservations, is nearly daunting enough by itself.

Bob

[DOC BILL]

Bob
Take the advice of someone who archery hunts in the wilderness of Montana for elk every year on Grizzly Bear tactics-STAY AWAY FROM THE BUGGERS, CARRY A HUGH CAN OF BEAR SPRAY, AND NEVER AND I MEAN NEVER SMELL LIKE FOOD!!!! I also carry a 50 caliber side arm while archery hunting elk if the above 3 tactics don't work. Grizzly bears are quite definately the end of the food chain of which we are apart! DOC

[Bob]

Hi Doc,

I think I'll forward a copy of your advice to my co-travelor. Your messages seem to carry more oomph than mine.

I share your sentiments. I'm setting up multiple layers of preventive action, including some I'd never heard of - washing face and hands in nearby stream after every time I eat or handle food. This is different than my multiple backup options for the quicksand. There, it was a matter of layering several different techniques for dealing with quicksand. If they failed, I then had layered back up options for rescue. My initial research and plans were so good I never had to resort to rescue methods. Here with the bears, if the prevention techniques are not successful, we're no longer in much control of the outcome. Although I'm aware of several techniques people have used to deal with bear attacks, they're not universally reliable. Might as well carry toothpicks for the bears.

But it may not be so easy for me to persuade my lean but strong & rugged 6'3" just out of college nephew. These young guys have drives and preferences that are not always easily channeled, even though he's a nice guy, cooperative, respectful and experienced in the outdoors. I just can't pump yrs of experience directly from my head into his. If I were going alone, I'd rate highly, my chances of success in bear matters. But having him along changes the odds toward much greater variability and potential excitement. Still, going alone to such wonderful environs, is a waste too. Really need to share the experience to have full value from it. Also, the hiking and climbing and adventuring is best done with someone who's really good at that. And he's better than I in that department in several ways. Also, we may be following part way in the footsteps of the majority of people who've climbed McKinley, going from Wonder Lake to Muldrow Glacier. I've not heard of much probs with bear attacks along that route. But if the sun comes out and melts some of the omnipresent snow on the mtn, the river will rise behind us and could block us in for a longer period than we planned. Given the weather patterns there, we have only slightly over a 50% chance to see the sun and full view of the mtn in our 4-5 days there. But if it does come out, we'll be in the prime spot for my telephoto zoom macro camera with interchangeable wide angle lense. I didn't bring that gear to Timmins, Canada because so many others were already covering that aspect.

By the way, they do not allow firearms in the park, but do allow bear spray. I've got a few small cans of dog spray from jogging, but that would be a waste of time on a grizzer. Do you know anything about bear spray? I think it's not allowed to transport aerosols on airflight from midwest to Anchorage. I don't know if they sell it at the park. And we won't have much time to get from the Anchorage airport to the bus up to Denali. These are some more loose ends I'll have to track down online before I leave.

Were you near Yellowstone, Lemhi Pass, or Butte by any chance, on your elk archery quest? We saw a string of about 50 elk, probably more back over the rise one day in northern Yellowstone, and two of the young bulls did something I never thought I'd see. They reared up on the hind legs and started boxing at each other with their front hooves like wild stallion horses. I couldn't get my zoom lense onto my camera soon enough to catch it. It was late August, and I can't remember if the antlers were still in velvet yet or not. If so, they are sensitive and maybe that's why they didn't compete in the usual manner by lowered heads and crashing horns.

Bob