Canada - Nipigon & Quimet Canyon Area

Nipigon is noted for amethyst in the area, and our campground took full advantage of this with a nice display (for sale, of course).

We were especially taken by the professional and spacious internet office....

Although the town had a couple of nice gardens, and a very friendly and helpful amyor, we found the Nipigon River paddle it's main treat. Starting at the town marina, we made the 8 mile paddle (almost out to Lake Superior) crossing the 49th parallel to find some cliffs with pictographs we had heard about. The images were in very poor shape, with intermixed grafetti. The winds were quite brisk from the south, and pushing against the swift current flowing to the lake made for an exciting paddle back. It was too rough to get a picture, but Kim insists the rear of my kayak went under several times.

The next morning we visited Quimet Canyon. This area also had Indian history, and folklore tells of the face in the rock below being frozen into the Canyon centuries ago.

A short hike crossing an interesting bridge brought us to the side of the glacial etched crevasse.

Further down the trail below the Canyon we discovered Rainbow falls, and a nice cool hike through woods where the columbines and mushrooms thrived.

The rapid flow around this circular rock was unique.

On the hike out there was evidence of Indian occupation, a small cooking pothole in one of the rocks near the creek.

We also were amused that those Indians had the same problems with 18 wheelers that we have today.

Canada - Sleeping Giant - Thunder Cape

We decided it was time to give the paddling a break, and embarked on an overnight hike from the Kabeyun trail just above Silver Isle to the last avaiable campsite out towards the end of Thunder Cape, the site of an interesting bird migration observatory. The hiking was easy, mostly downhill, our first stop was at Sea Lion, an interesting rock formation that early sailors used to help identify safe harbor.

The hiking was pleasant with interesting plant and birds along the way.

We were fortunate to get the very last campsite (and the nicest!) at the remote Lehtinen's Bay.

We quickly made camp, set up the tent, and hung our packs on a "bear rope" and headed further down the trail to the Cape. It wasn't long before we began to meet other user's of the trail....

The trail became very rugged through the midsection, often being hard to follow and requiring a fair amount of climbing over rocks & boulders.

The last section of this treacherous journey included a near-vertical stretch of a few hundred yards. We were amused at the sign at the top stating :

The hike continued on for what seemed like forever...we finally reached the Cape and were warmly greeted by John & Margaret, volunteers who have been manning the observatory each summer for the past nine years. The site operates soley on volunteer help, especially during the spring and fall migrations. A minimum committment of 3 weeks is manditory, but it looks like it would be interesting, and an opportunity to greatly expand one's "life list". http://www.bsc-eoc.org/national/tcbo.html

We spent a couple of hours there, learning about the research and touring the site.

Some of the "facilities" were quite amusing! But, the highlight of the visit was the 100 ft high observation tower built on a high area above the camp.

The views from up top were breathtaking, marking the end of a wonderful day and memorable visit!

Canada - Sleeping Giant - Silver Isle Paddle

The following morning we return to this unique place of treasure for a day's paddle. The turquoise-green waters waited patiently as we carried boats & gear down the long ramp at the marina.

We decided to paddle Eastward, along the same area we had walked before along Sibley cove, along the cliffs outside of Fork Bay and then out to Sand Island for lunch. The water temps in the Lake are very cold, and unforgiving, and although we really wanted to paddle out farther, higher winds were forcast for later in the day.

The views along the shoreline & cliffs, and out towards the Island were terrific!

The tiny Island greeted us with an array of Nature's most wonderous works of art!

From the landing on it's unique flat rock structure, to the many forms of rocks, colors of lichens, and abundant flowers one to the shear beauty of the crystal waters on the far side, we were in awe at this tiny representation of splendor.

Before leaving the island, Kim found the "message in a bottle". We worked for what seemed like an hour to retrieve this precious recording of words of wisdom from the past. With great anticipation, Kim unrolled the ancient scroll to find the note below.

Close inspection by noted experts combined with accurate carbon dating proved the document was of recent origin by local teenagers. With winds increasing, and seas building, we reluctantly boarded the kayaks for the return paddle to Silver Isle!