Orphan Lake in Lake Superior Provincial Park

Hi Blog! On Saturday, August 1, 2015, we set out to explore Lake Superior Provincial Park. The park is 618 square miles of northern Ontario wilderness along the shore of Lake Superior - the largest lake in the world. It boasts a diverse landscape of forested hills, clear lakes, streams and rivers, and a shoreline with features ranging from the 650 foot cliffs of Old Woman Bay to the 2 mile long beach at Agawa Bay. We knew we wouldn't be able to see it all, so we decided our first stop would be the Park Office to pick up maps and advice. We asked the Parks Canada Officer, "If you only had one day in the park, where would you go?" She gave us some great ideas. Our first stop was Orphan Lake.

The Orphan Lake Trail is a five mile loop trail complete with scenic lookouts, beach on Lake Superior, Baldhead River views, waterfalls and wildflowers. The first part of the trail goes through a forest of sugar maple and yellow birch to a lookout over Orphan Lake. Here Kathy takes in the view.

From our vantage point high above Orphan Lake, we can see Lake Superior just over the hill.  So close, yet so far. When the glaciers receded from this area, they left behind this little lake. Forever separated from the main lake. Thus making this little lake an orphan. That is until global warming or the next ice age reunites them.

We hiked down to the shores of Orphan Lake. At the far end of the lake, you can see tendrils of Lake Superior fog rolling in over the hills. Some may look on these as ghostly apparitions and fear their arrival. We welcomed these little wisps as they helped to cool us by providing a brief respite from the sun. One man's apparition is another man's air conditioning!

We continued our journey through hardwood and evergreen forests into an area that was burned in May 1998. While there were no large trees in this area, it was filled with young trees and lots and lots of blueberry bushes. After a brief stop to pick blueberries, we continued to climb up the hillside that separated Orphan Lake and Lake Superior. When we reached the top of the hill, here is what we saw.

We needed the help of our telephoto lens to see our destination - a small little pebble beach located at the mouth of the Baldhead River. That's a long way away, but at least it is all downhill!

We'll admit that the mile long downhill was not "White Mountains" tough, but it did prove to be a challenge in certain sections. Here is Dave at the intersection of the Coastal Trail and Orphan Lake Loop. The Coastal Trail is the most challenging and demanding trail in the park, it takes you along the high cliffs and rocky beaches of Lake Superior. The trail extends for 40 miles from Agawa Bay, north to Chalfant Cove. It takes four or five days to hike it completely. Today, we are only covering a 100 meter portion. It is still one of the prettiest sections.

Here is our beach looking west. Since the price to pay to get here is about two and half miles of moderate hiking, we didn't have to share it with very many other hikers, even on one of the busiest weekends in the park.

Here is our beach looking east.

In the photo below, we catch Kathy contemplating the enormity of Lake Superior. Did you know that Lake Superior (French: Lac Supérieur) is the largest of the Great Lakes of North America. The lake is shared by Ontario and Minnesota to the north and west, and Wisconsin and Michigan to the south. It is generally considered the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and it is the world's third-largest freshwater lake by volume and the largest by volume in North America.

Here the Baldhead River empties into Lake Superior. The mouth of the river is always changing as more and more pebbles are deposited.

The river flattens out so much you could almost walk across to the far side.

This next photo is especially for our grandson. The beach is chock-a-block full of the most amazing colored pebbles. He would have a blast combing the beach, looking for the best ones and then throwing them in to the lake. When he is old enough to do the hike, we'll bring him back here.

A piece of driftwood on the beach made for a perfect lunch spot. Not very many restaurants have this kind of view.

After lunch, we gave ourselves a little rest time, just letting the Lake Superior waves lap against our toes. As much as we would have like to spend the rest of the day on the beach, there were still a couple stops we needed to make, so it was back on the trail. Here Kathy discovered one of the campsites for the Coastal Trail. It appears that this site is also used by the Ojbiwe people, as it contains some of the traditional shelter designs.

We hiked back along the banks of the Baldhead River and were treated to a number of waterfalls.

Woah! Luckily, we didn't have to climb up this side.

It took us three hours to complete the five mile loop. We would have loved to spend more time, but we have other places to go and things to discover.