East Across the Top of Lake Superior

Tuesday, June 26th – Thunder Bay to Pukaskwa National Park, Ontario - Day 165

We woke up at the Fort William Historic site and went to the visitor centre to pay for camping. There was a fort with actors dressed in period costumes that shared information about when the fort was functional. It sounded great but it cost money, which generally means we aren’t doing it, and we would need several hours, limiting our time at other sights. We pushed on into Thunder Bay. We drove through downtown to check it out. Gen thought it looked a little bit dumpy. 

After a quick tour, we headed for Mission Island Marsh Conservation Area. Two bridges later we were on an island looking out across Lake Superior at the sleeping giant, a rock formation on a peninsula. We walked a boardwalk to the edge of the lake and the kids played with driftwood before we were back in the car. 

Next stop, groceries. I dropped Gen and the kids off to pick-up groceries while Jo-Ce and I went to check out the Sleeping Giant Brewing Company. A quick tour of the brewery and we went back to pick Gen up. 

Our final stop in Thunder Bay was the Terry Fox monument by the side of the TransCanada. When we arrived, a cold drizzle started. We settled onto a picnic table for a lunch of leftover mashed potatoes and mung bean curry. It was much more delicious the second day. The memorial to Terry Fox was very well done and symbolized his impact throughout Canada. We talked to the kids about his story; they were familiar because of Terry Fox days at school. Charlotte kept trying to understand how he ran with a robot leg. 

 It was later in the day then we wanted, we set off east across the top of Lake Superior. We kept getting fantastic views of the sleeping giant rock formation. We had a list of stops we wanted to hit along the way: an Amethyst mine, Ouimet Canyon, Rainbow Falls and Aguasabon Falls. 

After travelling down a bumpy dirt road, we arrived at the amethyst mine just before close. We were given a few small spades and a bucket and for fifteen minutes we could dig through dirt piled at the side of the mine road for amethysts. If we had more time, we could have gone closer to the mine and found bigger amethysts. We still managed to find all sorts of small amethysts and one bigger one. 

 Our next stop was Ouimet canyon, a rift in the Earth between two vertical rock faces at the end of a 1.2 km hike. The best part of the canyon was the acoustics. We all yelled into the canyon and got several echoes off the stone walls. Gen was stung by an unknown insect which took some of the enjoyment out of the hike; as she started walking back to the car she felt better and caught up with us. 

 At this point, it was 8:30pm and we were still trying to take in the sights. We stopped at Rainbow falls to see a lake feeding a series of small falls. It looked like it would be a great place to hang out at on a warm, sunny day. With one more stop and daylight fading, Jo-Ce and I got some quick photos, and we were back on the road. 

When we arrived at Aguasabon Falls it was completely dark, we still got our sweaters on to take the small hike to the falls. We arrived at a very nice viewing platform to take in a large waterfall falling into a deep canyon. It was fantastic in the dark, if only we could have seen it in the light. 

With light a distant memory, we arrived at the car ready for the remaining two-hour drive to Pukaskwa National Park. The campground there was first come first serve. The drive was terrible; it was dark, the roads were wet, and, at times, the rain was falling so heavily that I had my face eight inches from the windshield to get a clear view of what was in front of me. Slowly but surely the kilometres passed, we arrived at the campground and found a site.