On to Ontario

The draw of going to Canada is the northern landscape and the wild land beyond the border. The landing point when you jump at the jumping off point is Ontario.

The provincial park across Thunder Bay from the city of the same name is Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. We took a drive to see what the giant was sleeping on. It turns out that the park is a large wilderness with some park land near the south end of the peninsula where there are hiking trails and camp sites, plus a remote village, Silver Islet, that exists without connection to the electric grid. There are also seems to be an overabundance of deer.

We drove to the end of the peninsula and took an hour or so hike to a feature on the big lake called the Sea Lion. It was a little harder to get to then we originally thought, but after a couple of up and down hills and a false start or two, we arrived at this overlook showing the feature that at one time looked much like a sea lion. I guess over the last 100 years or so some of the rocks have eroded and fell away leaving the view below.

The more scenic and also more dramatic of the two big parks near Thunder Bay is Kakabeka Falls, featuring another falls that falls farther than Minnehaha Falls, 130 feet. (Minnehaha Falls falls 53 feet.)  It's about a half hour west of Thunder Bay.

GFTNC in the country north of the north country holding a paper that announces the name of the falls, the name that I thought I would not be able to remember.

The first view of Kakabeka Falls.  The viewing area in the foreground was empty most of the time because it was a Wednesday.  There were only about six people at the park while we visited.

Kakabeka Falls from the west bank of the Kaministiquia River.

A natural choice for dinner on our last night in Canada, an eatery with with a catchy name - Kelsey's.

On our last day in Canada we stopped a bulk store to see what they were selling. They were selling spices and nuts and candy, all in bulk. We got to choose our own amount and bought it in a plastic bag. The GFTNC found sea salt that she had been unable to find in northern Minnesota. So we bought 83 cents (Canadian) worth of white crystals in a baggy to take across the border to the USA. We didn't realize the hazard of trying to carry such cargo through customs until nearly at the border, but decided that we didn't look like drug smugglers and decided to go for it. There were a couple of tense seconds at the border, but the guy in the booth waved us through. It's a small victory for the older adventurers.