Finger Peninsula Lookout, Pidgeon River Falls

I've been trying to get in as much hiking as I can, knowing it may be a while before I'll be outdoors again (however long it takes to write a draft thesis. This photo shows the tip of Finger Peninsula. The lookout is on top of the knob of land there. Its not a bad trail, rugged in places, but fairly level. That of course changes in the last half km - then its pretty much 45 degrees (well, a touch less) but the slope is probably 3 m up for every 5 m forward. The view from the top however is totally worth it and if it had been a bit sunnier my pictures would have turned out better, but at least it wasn't raining

Pidgeon River Falls

Pidgeon River Falls (this is high falls in particular - not to be confused with Middlee falls) is another example of the impact of Diabase intrustions in the otherwise mostly sedimentry geology of NW Ontario and Northern Minasota. The diabase is pretty resistant to erosion, while the underlying sedimentry rock isn't. Thus... a whole lot of falls that look like this.

Today was a day tripping down the 61. It rained half the day, but I was able to do some hiking in the morning. Then I hung out at the Grand Portage Museum for a while until the sky opened up... then I headed to Grand Marais where I poked around a bunch of touristy shops and then had supper at Sven and Oli's Pizza.

Trembling Aspen on Fire

This fiery aspen leaf is unusual - at least I haven't seen many aspen leaves turn anything more exciting than yellow. I found it lying on the trail to Finger Point Lookout at Pidgeon River Provincial Park today.

Wee mushrooms on a Log

This morning at dawn I hiked the Sibley Park Nature Trail - capturing these nifty little mushrooms growing on a log

M. at Silver Islet

Silver Islet is a bit of a town on the coast of Sibley Peninsula - once home to one of the richest and most challanging to operate silver mines in Canada. This is the original General Store building (to the best of my limited knowledge) The owners are great.. and shared their dog brushing knowledge with me.

Sleeping Giant from Mary Louise Campground

Here he is again.. snoozing across Mary Louise Lake... right in front of our awesome campsite where we ate mint chocolate oreos on the dock overlooking the lake... how can it get much better.

First View of Thunder Bay

Taken on the same day (same stop) as the Sleeping Giant from Terry Fox monument.. this was my first view of my long lost home of my heart.. Thunder Bay... and its shockingly unchanged since I've last lived here... its very weird.

Waves at Rossport Park

Here are some fantastic freshwater waves at a stop near Rossport

Pic River Lookout on Highway 17

A couple of stops at various roadside picnic areas results in even more pictures. I was lucky to catch the train on the move at Pic River. One of the nices spots along the highway. I did however miss a few of the nicest views and stop at a few less exciting ones.

Port Coldwell

Some of my stops were inspired by a Geology Handbook of Lake Superior and and Canadian Geographic Ecotour manual for Pidgeon River to Sault Ste. Marie. This was a lucky stop - where I just happened to pull of on a road to check my map and discovered it was the right one. My next attempted detour did not work so well, since Neys Park was closed and the beach is no where near the closed gate.

Port Coldwell is a ghost town that inspired Lorne Harris of the Group of Seven to paint his picture (Icehouse, Port Coldwell - I think this was the title). Now a ghost town, on Railroad property, blocked off by a gate, the remains of this town are a dock and a graveyear and a few bits and pieces of foundations. Neat stop.

Lower Michopicton Falls

So, after missing the Nokomis Trail I headed to Michopicton Falls - here is the lower falls here.

More sunrise moments on Rustle Lake

Foggy Morning on Rustle Lake, Trapper's Trail

The Trapper's trail was under water due to "beaver activity" but the mist rising off the lake made the hike nearly worth it.

Sunrise over Agawa River, just upstream from the highway bridge

Saturday dawned pretty and I set out at dawn from Agawa Bay with plans to hike Orphan Lake and then head to Thunder Bay. Unfortuanately, my camera battery was dead after Friday, so I spend 3 hours freezing in the bathroom until midnight the night before waiting for it to charge. So, I was maybe a bit dunderheaded, combined with the sign posters being dunderheaded, so I missed the exit for Orphan lake and ended up hiking Trapper's trail instead (only 1.5 km) and would have been quick except most of it was under water and required serious rerouting. I then missed Nokomis due to it being not marked at all and ended up exploring the falls in Michopicton Harbour. Neat stop and their sandy dune beach recovery site

Late Sunset at Agawa Bay

Yummy supper

Early Sunset at Agawa Bay

Here is one of the first pictures I took of the sunset at my campsite

Montreal Harbour - Mad Moose Lodge

I took this from a place near the Mad Moose Lodge. I was lucky to catch the sun when I did. Very cool place... Took some pictures then headed back to my camp site to make dinner and watch the sun see over Agawa Bay

Crescent Lake Trail

Crescent Lake Trail is a 2 km trail that goes to 4 lakes, although you have to walk down some portages to see them. I walked this after the Awausee trail around 5 pm. Afterwards I went to Montreal River Harbour... but wait for the next picture

Hawkweed at Cresent Lake Trail

Not an especially exciting trail, but a nice night.

Looking up at the hill where the lookouts were

Awausee Lookout #3 - second pictuere

I thought the colours came out nicer in this one

Awausee Lookout # 3

Here is the third lookout, looking east down the Agawa valley.

Awausee Lookout #2

Here is the view from the second lookout on the Awausee trail... this time looking south. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it was, but hopefully the pictures helps. It was amazing, I hardly saw anyone and had lots of good thinking time... Oddly, I was warned by everyone how tough the trail would be, so I was surprised at how normal and not especially challanging it was.. It did involve a lot of upward hiking, but I took it slow and took lots of pictures, but once I made the top, it really was pretty level and then it went down...

Mushrooms on a log

At least I didn't use the flash on these... :D