In 1995 I accepted a position at a fishing lodge in Pickle Lake, Ontario. It wasn't until after I got off the telephone with my new boss that I found out where my new home was!
If you want to
find it on your own map, look for Lake Superior. At the northwestern end of
the lake you will see Thunder Bay. Look north of there and you will see Ignace.
If you go even further north, at the end of highway 599 you will find Pickle
Lake. It's claim to fame is that it is as far north as you can drive, in Ontario,
by paved road!
For such a small town, you wouldn't believe how many people have lived here at one time or another. You see, it used to be a mining town and many people came to work in the mines but left when things slowed down. It's also the gateway to the northern, fly-in, communities. There are 20,000 people who live north of Pickle Lake and depend on the airlines to bring in all of their supplies in the summer-time, while in winter those same supplies are delivered by trucks on the ice roads that are constructed every year. Lots of young pilots come up to get experience before moving on to larger airline companies.
If you are interested in learning more:
Here is the web
site for the lodge I work at:
This is the web site maintained by the town of Pickle Lake:
If you're curious about the seasonal roads that are constructed every winter, this link will show you a map of them: