Thunder Bay

Sep 18-21, 2020
YYZ-YAM, YAM-YQT, YQT-YAM, YAM-YYZ

Although we had just flown to to New Brunswick to visit my family, with all the restrictions and our desire to play it safe, we opted for a driving trip in northern Ontario. Although I would have covered some of this ground on earlier family trips, I don’t have any memories from these younger years, so it felt like a first for both of us. We thoroughly enjoyed the area and getting a little further from home. Travel wasn’t back to normal, but it was a fun road trip.

Sep 18

For our first day of driving, we headed out early towards Sault Ste. Marie with a brief stop in Sudbury before an afternoon arrival with time to explore Sault Ste. Marie.

The iconic Sudbury Nickel was our only real stop in Sudbury, but it lived up to the hype

The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre in Sault Ste Marie, with the deHavilland Beaver 1948 bush plane

1930 Fairchild KR-34 biplane

Interior of the De Havilland DHC-3 Otter

Sander ST-27 1970’s Canadian regional aircraft

Water tanks for fire fighting

1944 “Lady Faye” deHavilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide, C-FAYE

View from our hotel of the St Mary’s River waterfront and the International Bridge to Michigan

Exploring White Fish island further along the river front walk

Looking up the rapids towards the bridge

Lovely trails around the island in the shadows of the bridge

Some local fisherman enjoying an evening catch

After a long day of driving and a bit of walking, we grabbed some take out food and ate in the hotel before getting some well earned rest to prepare for another long day of driving.

Sep 19

As we had over 700km’s of driving ahead, after breakfast we got an early start towards Thunder Bay, but made sure that we had time to take in a few stops along the way.

Aguasabon Gorge and Falls with a few autumn colours

Looking back across the Gorge towards Lake Superior

The Trans-Canada highway cut through the Canadian Shield rock

A few more early fall colours along the highway

Poignant memorial outside Thunder Bay near where Terry Fox had to prematurely end his Marathon of Hope Cancer fundraising run across Canada on Sept 4, 1980 after an incredible 143 days and 5373km.

After checking into our hotel, we made it to Kakabeka Falls just outside Thunder Bay

The relatively calm Kaministiquia River before the falls

Up close to the falls, the second highest in Ontario at 40m

Parting views of the beautiful gorge and falls

As fans of the movie Highway 61, we had to capture the start of the historic US highway in Thunder Bay

View of Lake Superior and Thunder Bay harbour from our hotel room

We grabbed some takeout dinner and crashed for the evening, feeling accomplished in having made it all the way to Thunder Bay.

Sep 20

Before starting the long journey back, we had breakfast at the hotel and had a quick walk around the waterfront, then headed back towards Sault St. Marie. Although we were covering common ground, we had different stops planned along the way.

Making our way into Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park

Beautiful Ouimet Canyon with just a hint of fall colours

More of the impressive canyon breaking into the Canadian Shield

The Trans-Canada bridge over the Nipigon River

Bridge viewing platform

Rainbow Falls, further down the Trans-Canada from Nipigon

Landmark Goose marks Wawa

Making our way to the Agawa Rock Pictographs

Agawa Rock 17th/18th century Pictographs on the rocky shores of Lake Superior

More of the Pictographs on the rocky ledge

Agawa Bay of Superior as we are starting to lose daylight

We returned to Sault Ste. Marie close to sunset, so we just had time for a late takeout dinner in the hotel, which was surprisingly busy for a quiet travel time. Clearly more folks were ready to get out and explore.

Sep 21

Our ambitious travel schedule had us back in Toronto on this last day of travel. To save from driving time and to get some different scenery, we went via Manitoulin and the ferry toward Tobermory, and home to Toronto. Before leaving, we had to check out one last tourist attraction in Sault Ste. Marie.

Roberta Bondar Park honouring Canada’s first female astronaut

Statue of the Sault Ste. Marie hometown hero

Exploring South Baymouth in Manitoulin as we wait for the ferry. High water levels had closed some of the hiking paths.

Taking the colourful ferry shortens the drive

Cove Island lighthouse on the approach to Tobermory

Having made it to Tobermory, we grabbed a quick bite for the road in Owen Sound and headed for Toronto. Arriving home by 10pm, we were very ready for our own beds, before I made my way back to Houston to finish off my time working in person before my job was set to return to Canada in 2021.