I’ve been geocaching for a few years, but lately it’s taken a bit of a back seat unless I’ve got lots of time, or I’m out at the lake. Since we’re out at the lake on vacation for a couple of weeks, I assembled a bit of a list of geocaches that you need a boat to access. This generally makes for a nice adventure out on the lake. This cache, Swimming With Karma – Hay Island, is near our cottage and I thought I’d give it a go. It had an extra appeal in that it mentioned The Thor Occurrence, a gold mine, or an “occurrence” of gold on the lake.
After finding the cache, I headed over to Pipestone Peninsula to visit “Thor”
Some info on The Thor Occurance
Location: Pipestone Peninsula, Manross Township: NTS 52E/9SW Lat. 49’37’02” (49.6171 0 ) Long. 94″21’57” (94.3659 0 )
Access; Mining location S135 is on the southern part of Pipestone Peninsula, 4 km east-southeast of Pipestone Point. It is accessible by boat from Kenora or from Sioux Narrows.
Geology: The uppermost part of the Bigstone Bay tholeiitic sequence in the vicinity of Witch Bay consists of south-facing basalt interlayered with peridotite and gabbro sills. The periodotite and gabbro are closely related, with the gabbro apparently forming the upper part of a differentiated sill, similar to that described by Davies (1978) at Shoal Lake. Overlying the tholeiitic sequence are calc-alkaline dacitic and rhyolitic volcanics, mainly tuff breccia and lapilli tuff.
After wandering around the site I came across a trail that was a little over grown but marked with orange tape flags. Curiosity struck and of course I needed to follow the trail to see where it went. After several kilometres, the trail was getting better and better. As I rounded a corner, the trail is now totally clear and it is apparent that somebody has sprayed the trail with defoliant. My conclusion is that there are a few cottages on the island and somebody has created a quad trail that goes al over the island. I had originally thought that the trail would loop back to where I started, but not so. I pop out to the shore line and realize that I’m a long way from my boat and not heading ay closer. Thanks to the GPS I re-work my route a bit and get back to the boat without retracing my 5-6km hike.
Back at the mine site, I do a little more exploring on discover several excavations and this automotive frame pictured here. It was hard to tell is it was a car or a truck as there was virtually noting left, no motor, no door panels, just the front fenders and the frame.
On the way back, I stop at a nearby beach to cool off with a swim and then boat back home. All in all a good adventure.
