2011-50 Northside of Lake Superior, Canada
Hello
All,
We continued our circle of Lake Superior heading towards Thunder Bay from west to east via Trans-Canada’s Highway 11. It was a lovely drive consisting of amazing forests, lake after lake, and unusual rock outcroppings. The area is sparsely populated with the exception of moose. There were so many warning signs that we lost count of them. Glad we were not traveling during nighttime hours. While we didn’t see any moose, a black bear did run across the highway in front of us.
We continued our circle of Lake Superior heading towards Thunder Bay from west to east via Trans-Canada’s Highway 11. It was a lovely drive consisting of amazing forests, lake after lake, and unusual rock outcroppings. The area is sparsely populated with the exception of moose. There were so many warning signs that we lost count of them. Glad we were not traveling during nighttime hours. While we didn’t see any moose, a black bear did run across the highway in front of us.
The
rocks of Lake Superior’s northern shore date back to the early history of the
earth between 4.5 billion and 540 million years ago. These ancient granites
could be seen along our drive.
We were somewhat
disappointed that the trees had not started to change to their fall colors.
Some of the lower bushes had begun to change but it wasn’t what we had hoped
for. Guess we’ll just have to visit the area again another year.
Late
in the day as we approached Thunder Bay we came upon Kakabeka Falls. Wow, what
a majestic waterfall! Bet it is even more spectacular during the spring runoff
season. To help with perspective that is a highway bridge in the background of
the following photos.
After
spending the night in Thunder Bay we continued our trek to the east. Right out
of town we came upon signs advertising an amethyst mine so we decided to check
it out. After traveling about 30 minutes on a gravel road we finally arrived at
the mine. Not sure what we were expecting but this wasn’t it!
They
had a lot of small rocks containing amethyst for sale for anywhere between $150
and $300 dollars. And, there were larger rocks that went for thousands.
For
a nominal fee we could have gone out into their boneyard and picked out our own
treasures. Once you found them they would then weigh them and you paid for them
by the pound. We chose to pass on this adventure. Had we been in our truck
we’re sure we would have loaded up a couple of tons of the rocks—well, maybe not!
We
continued east on Trans-Canada Highway 11 till we came to our next stop at Aguasabon
Falls. While the area was quite interesting with the fact that the gorge has
changed little in the last 10,000 years we were disappointed with not being
able to see the waterfall. Brush and trees had grown in at the end of the trail
blocking the view and there was no other safe way to get a good view of the
falls. We could hear the falls and see a little white water to the left as seen
in the following photos—bummer!
Our
next stop was Terrace Bay Lighthouse. The lighthouse is a replica of the
lighthouse at nearby Slate Islands.
The original lighthouse was a 36-foot tall octagonal tapering wooden tower built in 1903 and erected on a 250-foot cliff on Patterson Island. With the help of the cliff it was the tallest lighthouse on the Great Lakes. Patterson Island is one of eight major islands that make up the Slate Islands group. Visitors can climb the authentic staircase inside the lighthouse to the viewing platform and take in views of Lake Superior, the Slate Islands and surrounding area.
The original lighthouse was a 36-foot tall octagonal tapering wooden tower built in 1903 and erected on a 250-foot cliff on Patterson Island. With the help of the cliff it was the tallest lighthouse on the Great Lakes. Patterson Island is one of eight major islands that make up the Slate Islands group. Visitors can climb the authentic staircase inside the lighthouse to the viewing platform and take in views of Lake Superior, the Slate Islands and surrounding area.
The
further east we traveled the more trees we saw starting to change into their
fall colors. We could see that they were going to be spectacular in a couple of
weeks. We just didn’t feel we had the time to hang around.
We will
share more adventures while encircling Lake Superior in our next little blurb.
It is a beautiful and remote part of North America.
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns