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!

Canada - Sleeping Giant

The Sleeping Giant is a formation of mesas in Ontario which resembles a giant lying on its back when viewed from the West to North-Northwest section of Thunder Bay. The formation is part of Sleeping Giant Provincial Park our favorite area on the trip across the Northern shore of Lake Superior. Its dramatic steep cliffs are among the highest in Ontario (250 m). The southernmost point is known as Thunder Cape (far right end), which houses an interesting bird observatory.

An Ojibway legend identifies the giant as Nanabijou, turned to stone when the secret location of a rich silver mine, now known as Silver Islet, was disclosed to white men. From the moment we entered the Park, we knew it was a special place, receiving a sign...our first bear sighting!

A littlle later, at our campsite on Marie Louise Lake, we were greeted to a family of deer.

The location was a near-perfect setting, the peaceful lake just across from the trailer, with beautiful view of the mountains and a nice place to launch our kayaks the next morning paddle around the 12 mile shoreline.

The paddle on the almost dead still waters was rewarding, scattered blue wing teal in many coves, and a family of bald eagles on the far shore.

That afternoon we visited the small town of Silver Islet, the site of one of the richest silver finds in Canada. http://www.silverisletstore.com/history.htm

The main attraction is the 100+ year old general store.

And a walk down it's streets facing the bay was interesting..... we found one house particularly interesting, from it's unique setting on the cliff, winding bentwood stairsteps, to it's "picture window" outhouse facing the beautiful view of the bay!

Canada - Thunder Bay

CANADA
Crossing the Border was much easier than expected, answering a few questions about what we had on board, the nature & length of our trip. Little did I know at the time that my answer of “a week or so” to the duration was way off as we reentered the US some 4-plus weeks later!

Thunder Bay
We pulled into the well-promoted Cherokee Campground late that evening only to be somewhat disappointed by the shabby nature of the facility, and apparent featureless surroundings. But, by the next day we had discovered that it had a nice wildlife center (zoo),

and a beautiful area to the North filled with many birds. We made several splendid walks here over the next three days.

We especially enjoyed the numerous Canadian geese, and were shocked to find a few migrating white pelicans!

Thunder Bay was built primarily on the fur trade. Iin the early years, and has a mainstay of timber, pulpwood and paper industries today. http://www.thunderbay.ca/index.cfm?fuse=html&pg=313

No trip to the city would be complete without having breakfast at the famed Hoito Café, which was the site of the Finnish Labor Temple, built in 1910 to serve as a home for Finnish workers who could neither afford a place to stay or a good meal. http://www.hoito.ca/article/history-of-the-finnish-labour-temple-4.asp
The mainstay of the breakfast from these earliest days was and is the Finnish pancake. After an hour’s wait, made pleasant by the serenade of a solo violinist playing on the sidewalk at the front door, we entered the home-style ambience and wonderful aroma to find a generous helping of those crepe-thin, but very filling wafers topped by maple syrup and complemented by a side of Finnish sausage.

But, the real highlight of the visit had to be stunning Kakabeka Falls. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakabeka_Falls

It was an overcast morning, but the dim skies and light rain didn’t detract from this magnificent display of Mother Nature’s kinetic energy unleashed. The 130 foot drop of the second largest waterfall in Ontario was truly awesome when compared to the falls we had visited in MN.

Our next day was spent at Fort William, a Disney-like resurrection and re-enactment of the famous fur trading outpost situated on the Kakabecka River some 10 miles below the Falls. http://www.fwhp.ca/index2.html

A detailed and lengthy tour included stops at the fur storage & packing area, living quarters for both trappers and elite buyers & businessmen, Fort square, the dairy and stables, provisions & trading store, and of course, the kitchen. We were amazed at the huge numbers of furs they had on display. Trapping is still an active trade in Canada. The silver fox and the wolf pelts were soft and beautiful!

A spin around the compound in the big wagon brought us to the barn where we made a new friend...

Our timing for a canoe paddle was excellent, and we were the stars of the crew, providing most of the forward momentum (all the kids and most of the adults were dragging the paddles most of the time!!).

The last morning I was up early, gazing across the Bay to see our next destination...the Sleeping Giant!