Planning Part 7 - Day Five Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie

Image of Persian pastry from Wikipedia

In Planning Part 3 - Day Four Thunder Bay, Ontario, I talk about the decision to spend an extra day in the Thunder Bay area. Now that I have a better sense of what it is going to take to get to Thunder Bay (a.k.a. some very long days in the car), I am even more committed to that plan. So day four in Thunder Bay it is.


Once we've loaded up the car with Persians (deep-fried cinnamon buns with pink icing) as per our must eat local specialties rule, day five will see us hit the road again - this time making the trek from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie. Since we're on the subject of our road rules, this trip will provide ample photo-ops with quirky attractions - not the least of which include Winnie-the-Pooh in White River, the Wawa Goose in Wawa, and the Big Fish in Sault Ste. Marie.

Day 5

On a more serious note, day 5 will be another long day the car as we make our way around the north shore of Lake Superior. The main stop on this leg of the journey will be Lake Superior Provincial Park. The park encompasses 1600 sq. km. (618 sq. mi.) of northern Ontario wilderness and Lake Superior shoreline.

Map from Friends of Lake Superior Park website

There are many hikes, including a number of small ones that could be completed as part of a day trip. I've seen many recommendations for the views from the Old Woman's Bay trails, so we'll likely make a stop there, as well as a few other viewpoints along the way.

The main attraction for me however, are the Agawa Rock Pictographs. This sacred site  of the Ojibwe was used to record dreams, visions and significant events. A short, but rugged trail takes you down to the base of a rock cliff that houses red ochre paintings of canoes, animals and spirits.

According to Ojibwe oral history, the people originated at the mouth of the St. Lawrence and over thousands of years migrated through northern Quebec, Ontario and Minnesota, ultimately becoming the second largest indigenous group in Canada and fourth largest in the United States. The Ojibwe are known for their birch bark canoes, birch bark scrolls (which housed detailed historical records), mining and trade in copper, and cultivation of wild rice. Treaties signed between European-Canadian leaders and the Ojibwe were essential to European settlement of the West. Thus the Ojibwe people were critical forces in both pre- and post-European history, and their birch bark canoes have become a quintessential Canadian image. Petroglyphs and pictrographs, such as the Agawa Rock site, were the main way this group left their mark on the landscape. Fingers crossed that Lake Superior will be calm enough for us to visit this important site.

Although, we likely won't have a long layover in Sault Ste. Marie, it is a point of interest in and of itself. It was a traditional gathering place of the Ojibwe people during white fish season, and was first colonized by European missionaries in 1668, making it one of the earliest settlements in North America. It later became a fir trading post and expanded to both sides of the St. Mary's River. After the War of 1812, the St. Mary's became the dividing line between the United States and Canada, and the once cohesive community was split in two. Today, they are joined by the International Bridge.

Historic sites in the city include Ermatinger Clergue National Historic Site and the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site. The canal was built in 1895 and was the last link in the marine transportation system stretching from the St. Lawrence River to Lake Superior. The seaway remains an important shipping corridor for both the United States and Canada, and handles 40 to 50 million annual tons of cargo. Given it's significance, it will definitely be something to take in before we leave the Soo.