Must see's on North side of Superior? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Must see's on North side of Superior?

Motorcycle Mike

Well-known member
Just planning a 4 or 5 day car camping trip along the North side of Superior, and seeking advice of what to see and what campgrounds to stay at or where to avoid.

Interests: we both like nature sites like falls, lookout towers, cliffs, etc... don't care much at all about famous battle sites, monuments, giant geese, etc... We do like short hikes (a km or two... don't want to waste a day during 10+km)... and we will be bring our bicycles for easy trails (if any) or just cruising around the parks.

This site is useful for some of the stuff: http://www.ridelakesuperior.com/must-see.php and I will start planning based on this info.

Other notes... we have a provincial park summer pass, so we plan on stopping at many parks, but typically we prefer to stay at private campgrounds (cheaper, quieter, and more personal than summer student park rangers enforcing things...)

I put this in the motorcycle section because while we are taking the car (ease in carrying the stuff we want to carry), the same info will also be useful to touring motorcyclists.
 
Hey Mike,
That site is pretty good. I wish I had checked that out before I went along the north shore - I would have checked out a few more things.

From that site, I would say that the Aguasabon Falls is a pretty neat spot to check out. Also I liked the Terry Fox Memorial - even though you said no monuments etc.

Not on that list was a nice park called Pukaskwa which has short and long trails with nice campsites. It's a pretty good park that you can get seriously lost in, but can also get amazing views of the lake within a short hike. Also liked White Lake Provincial Park which had some nice campsites. Old Woman Bay is a good place to go for a dip and is a scenic rest stop. We also noticed that there were places people were camping just by the side of the lake, but tucked in behind some large shrubs, so no one could see them from the road, but the spots had great views of the lake.
 
Excellent info so far. That Pukaskwa National Park looks like just what we are looking for -- and reasonably priced compared to the Provincial Parks. Thanks Shane.

I'll probably book that one (if available) for the 2nd night, any recommendations of a good place to camp for the first night? I was thinking of Killarney, but it is a bit close to home and doesn't make for much distance on the first day... so leaning towards putting a few more hours in and camping around Espanola to Blind River... somewhere in there.
 
...so leaning towards putting a few more hours in and camping around Espanola to Blind River... somewhere in there.
If you have never done it before, the drive out of Manitoulin towards Espanola is really nice and it makes for a more interesting day taking the ferry. I found it did not cost me very much time to take that route instead of up and past Sudbury.
 
+1 for taking the ferry to Manitoulin and taking the scenic (sweeping windy roads to Esapnola). If you make it up to Thunder Bay, make sure to check out Kakabeka falls, it's about 30 minutes west of TB and probably the most impressive fall on the TC.
 
The Pancake Bay beach is something I would not have expected to see up there. Quite nice for northern beaches. There's also a lookout along the trail for where the Edmund Fitzgerald went down. Kind of a disappointment tho. All you see is lake.
 
I've done the Chi-Cheemaun before, and will skip it this time, as I think we are going to make stops in and go for short bike rides along the park roads in Killbear and then Killarney.

Here is my list of stops so far.... but we are not going to set a destination each day or an agenda. If we like a place, we stay longer, if it sucks we roll: (these are the points over the 4 or 5 days, either going there or coming back)

1. Killbear -- 6km recreational trail to bike on.
2. Killarney -- ride along side Chikanishing Creek
3. Chutes PP -- see the chutes.
4. Serpent River Campground
5. Elliot Lake Fire Tower
6. Pancake Bay -- 14km lookout trail.
7. Old Woman Bay in Lake Superior Provincial Park
8. White lakes Provincial Park -- just to check out, maybe hike or bike the camp roads.
9. Pukaskwa National Park for camping
10. Aquasabon Falls
11. Rainbow Falls
12. Ouimet Canyon PP
13. Sleeping Giant Provincial Park
14. Kakabeka Falls

That is already a lot to see in 4 or 5 days, but if I am leaving anything out, let me know.

I was briefly considering coming back via the Northern route, i.e. via Hearst and Kap... but I don't think it is worth it -- it would make for too much rushing around so I think we will just come back via #17 and try to catch the places we missed on the way.

If we did the northern route, I'd stop at Wild Goose Lake Campground, Nagagamisis PP, Fushimi Lake PP, Rene Brunelle PP, Moonbeam, ON, and finally Big Water Campground before slabbing it home via the most direct route.
 

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