Sault Ste. Marie Weekend

To celebrate the long Canada Day weekend - and Canada's 150th birthday - we decided to set forth and explore a little bit more of the gigantic province that we live in, making our way up to Northern Ontario and Sault Ste. Marie.

On Friday morning we made our way to the airport, and were soon on our way, over the Great Lakes to Sault Ste. Marie. The flight takes about an hour and a half, which should give some idea as to how big Ontario is, especially considering that its not even half way across the province from Toronto.

Landing in Sault Ste. Marie, we picked up our rental car and headed straight for the cottage we'd booked for the weekend, picking up some supplies on the way. We stayed at Glenview Cottages, which was only a short drive north of town, and directly on the Trans Canada Highway, but felt like we were properly out in the (extremely expansive) woods. After settling in we went back into town for dinner. The place felt a bit more deserted than we were expecting, but we did find a bustling restaurant where we could enjoy some awesome grilled food.

On Saturday, Canada Day, we had booked ourselves onto the Agawa Canyon Train Tour, a 10-hour round trip into the the Northern Ontario wilderness. The weather was a little overcast, but we were still treated to some stunning scenery on the four hour trip from downtown Sault Ste. Marie to the heart of Agawa Canyon.

The train stops at the bottom of the canyon for an hour and half, so we could get off, stretch our legs and explore the nearby trails and waterfalls. We then spent the return journey having a nice long lunch in the dining cart, and a well deserved nap. Sitting down on a train all day is hard work.

We finally returned to the station in The Soo at around supper time, so we set off looking for some food before heading back to our cottage for the evening. We ended up finding a great Indian restaurant, for a traditional Canada Day curry buffet...

​On Sunday we enjoyed a bit of a lie in, and spent the morning lounging around the cottage and our campsite. In the afternoon, we set off in our car for a bit of exploration. We had set our sights on Pancake Bay, just 40 minutes away. The drive up the Trans Canada Highway took as up along the shore of Lake Superior where we were treated to more spectacular views. Arriving at the park, we decided to go for a quick stroll on the beach before taking on a nearby lookout hike through the woods.

The hike took about two hours and, despite the occasional patch of mud along the way, was pretty straightforward. While we often felt like we were exploring rural Newfoundland on this trip, this hike was very different to what one would encounter along the East Coast Trail, winding its way through spacious forests beneath a high canopy of tall deciduous trees, and encountering the odd chipmunk along the way.

At the end of the trail we encountered some steps that took us up to the top of a rocky outcrop, where we had a great view over Pancake Bay and Lake Superior. Here, we learned that Lake Superior is the largest lake in the world, and contains as much water as all of the other Great Lakes combined. A well deserved name then.

On our last day up North, after a morning hike by our cottage, we decided to check out the Sault Ste Marie Canal National Historic site. When we arrived, we first had a look around the locks themselves before renting a couple of off-roadin' "fat bikes", and taking them for a ride around the surrounding parks. The trails were a lot of fun, taking us over boardwalks, and through the woods, and providing some great views of the rapids after which Sault Ste. Marie is named ('Sault' coming from old French, meaning falls... or something... like somersault). We also happened to see a lot of wildlife on the trails, be it the numerous chipmunks standing directly in the way of our big fat tires, or the surprisingly placid Canada Geese floating on the ponds.

After the canal, we popped over to the Bushplane Heritage Museum to kill an hour before our flight and learn a bit about the pilots who navigate the wilds of Northern Ontario, and were pleasantly surprised. We first learned a bit about Dr. Roberta Bondar, the first female Canadian astronaut and Sault Ste. Marie native, before checking out the hangar full of planes big and small. The museum even featured a 3D movie about aerial firefighters as they tackled the largest forest fire in Ontario in a decade. Having been seen first-hand how thick and expansive the forests of Northern Ontario are, it was easy to imagine how fire can spread so quickly during a hot dry summer, and the footage of the raging inferno was pretty terrifying.

And that was it for our short adventure in Northern Ontario! From the museum we drove back to the airport to hop on our plane back to Toronto. Since the weather was so bright and clear on Monday, we were treated to a great view of Ontario from above, as our plane passed over Lake Huron and the surrounding wilderness, before returning to the extensive farmlands of Southern Ontario, and the sprawl of the GTA.

​Here are some more photographs from our weekend away:

This time last year we were celebrating Canada Day by running around Toronto in the dark. Two years ago we were road tripping around Newfoundland, visiting Lewsiporte, Boyd's Cove and Twillingate along the way.