May 14 Timmins, ON to Cochrane, ON

We spent the morning in Timmins having a final coffee with family members after a Mothers Day zoom call with our own daughters followed by a trip to Canadian Tire to buy antifreeze. We do have to winterize the van before leaving it sitting for 2 days in below freezing temperatures overnight.

It’s still beautiful weather so it’s hard to believe it will actually get that cold tomorrow.

Our drive today was about an hour and a half to Cochrane through some not very interesting landscape. Lunch was a stop for soup at the Tim Hortons in Cochrane.

Cochrane, ON

Polar bears

The town contains many references to polar bears. Its mascot is a large polar bear statue known as Chimo, erected in the early 1970s.

There are also live polar bears at the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat, which opened in the summer of 2004. Polar bears from the Toronto Zoo were relocated to Cochrane while a new pavilion was being constructed. Those two polar bears were returned to the Toronto Zoo in the summer of 2009. In late May 2012, a new bear arrived at the Polar Bear Habitat, Ganuk. Also in 2012, a second bear, Inukshuk, was brought from the Toronto Zoo to The Polar Bear Habitat as a part-time resident. After successfully breeding 5 times in both the Toronto and Quebec Zoos, Inukshuk is now a permanent resident in Cochrane. In 2016 the habitat gained a third bear named Henry who came all the way from Sea World on the Gold Coast in Australia.

This is the largest Polar Bear Habitat in the world. They have 24 acres available to them including their own lake that freezes in winter so they have ice. These are big animals!

We have visited wild polar bears in Churchill Manitoba so seeing them behind a fence was a little strange but they are well looked after. 2 of them were born in captivity. Inukshuk was found in the wild, orphaned at the age of 3 months.

Part of the polar bear exhibit included a snowmobile museum. To live in this climate means embracing winter.

Tonight we are staying in a converted train station. Tomorrow we take the Polar Bear Express to Moosonee on James Bay.

Supper is duck pate and cheese on crackers and a glass of wine. Not sure what, if anything, is open tonight and we are feeling too lazy to go exploring. We’ve been eating rather well lately, maybe too well.

We are now at the end of visiting family and friends for at least 2 weeks. We still have at least another week before we get across the top of Ontario.