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Thunder Bay and Sleeping Giant

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Thunder Bay (TB)

TB was a great place to camp out as we trek across Canada.

Great friends of ours happened to be passing back through their hometown, so we met up to make some new memories together.  Their parents and siblings gave us a very warm welcome indeed - thank you!

The Terry Fox Memorial - right off Hwy 17 - amazing views - a fitting memorial for a great Canadian

Right off the hwy
Our friends treated us to a very traditional (and popular) brunch at Hoito's.  This kitchen cranks out more pancakes and sausages than you could ever count... the pancakes hover in a middle ground between French crepes and Canadian flapjacks... they even have Gluten Free batter!

http://thehoito.ca/
The famous Hoito breakfast joint - feeding Finnish workers (and everyone else) since 1918
What a feed!

We toured the water front in TB - it's clean and nice on the eyes... there's an old ice breaker kept in dock that has been converted to a museum... this boat used to break ice in TB but is now out of active service.


http://www.thewalleye.ca/the-alexander-henry/

Sleeping Giant Provincial Park (SGPP)


We spent a terrific 4 nights camping at the SGPP ~1hr outside of TB... and we loved it!

There's wildlife around every corner - the drive into the park off HWY 17 is almost guaranteed to offer you a wildlife sighting - we saw 3 deer on the way in... a subsequent late night drive revealed 3 beautiful foxes... very fun!

The park's namesake is the Sleeping Giant rock formation visible on clear days from TB - checkout its silhouette... from the Lake Superior side, it looks like a lady-giant, from the TB side, it looks like a man-giant.

Sunset over the (lady) Sleeping Giant
The great friends who toured us around Thunder Bay wanted to hike this impressive peak too, so we set out from the park on a 30km bike+hike expedition with 4 adults, our 3 kids and their eldest.  The distances were long, and the vertical ascent aggressive, but we did it with a 12yr old, two 10yr olds and a 7yr old!

Bikers - a sturdy mountain bike is 'required equipment' on this trail


Tee Harbour's Rocky and Misty Shores - Fluorescent Orange Lichen?!
More misty shores


Cool Fluorescent Yellow Lichen Too
OK - enough Lichen - how about some views?

Nope - you get macro shots of greenery!
OK - here's the good stuff...

Tee Harbour on Lake Superior... you'll soon see why it's called 'Tee' Harbour
 This spot is accessible from the Talus lake biking/hiking trail.  Water is crazy cold... colder than Georgian Bay by at least 5 deg.  Nathan and I dipped in on our way back home.

Lots of waves!
Fun along the way..

Swaying Grasses - no tics here (we hope)

The ascent holds a lot secrets... but eventually reveals all kinds of great views (kids will have to suspend their disbelief a while).


Sheer cliffs - nearly 300m tall!
Getting to this elevation required a tough vertical hike - with man-made stairs - safe  - not a scrambly climb.

Grassy tarns/meadows from above... above the mist/clouds too!

Pretty proud of himself!

Great friends!
Satisfaction!


A proper panorama of Tee Harbour - note the T-shape
  Sweaty, hungry hikers!
Nathan taking a breather

Overlooking Thunder Bay 


Panorama of Thunder Bay from the Sleeping Giant - stunning!

Silver Islet... a famous mine site from the 1800's

Another Thunder Bay panorama

 Leaving TB, we hit the Kakabeka falls.. apparently Ontario' second highest water falls - right off hwy 17.  $6 for the family to check 'em out.

Kakabeka Falls


 We drove solid through to Winnipeg, Manitoba in ~10hrs, stopping for views and food and... 'road business' in many towns.  Nathan played us a few dittys over supper in Kenora.

We were 'Walking in Memphis'... are there any songs about Kenora, ON?


Comments

  1. EvaAugust 23, 2019 at 8:17 AM

    Great post Mike! That hike/bike looks amazing. Maybe the Melamatsteins should spend some time in TB! Keep up the posts! E

    ReplyDelete

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