Its about a 7 hour drive to the park entrance from our house. No biggie as we do day trips up to Grand Portage. A couple of words of advice:
1) WalMart in Thunder Bay will not accept Visa cards. Have another card ready if that is your method of payment. We made sure our bank was notified we were traveling to Canada and would be using our cards exclusively for purchases (I have never liked having to deal with currency exchanges) but as it turned out, it didn't matter at Walmart. Everywhere else was fine. We were told it has something to do with Walmart Canada vs Visa and the fees they were charging retailer. Ironic two of the entities which make buku dollars off consumers are at odds over a fee which is pretty much passed on to the purchaser anyhow.
2) Thunder Bay has three Walmart locations. DO NOT go to the one downtown near the docks. It is a dive. peopleofwalmart.com probably has a shit ton of images from this place. People there are just goofy and the store itself is a dump. Keep going up 11 towards the park and go to the one off Dawson Road. That one is normal.
Anyhow, back to the trip. No Pants Pierre. Yeah, the only weirder Pierre on earth is Pierre McGuire.
We decided to split day one so we had time to pick up supplies in Thunder Bay on day two. We stopped for the night at Judge CR Magney State Park north of Hovland, MN. We have visited this park many times over the years and highly recommend it. Spend a day or three hiking this place!
Playing around with the 11-16 superwide and a very cooperative chipmunk at our campsite. It was probably 6" off the lens. It obviously has been fed by campers in the past either deliberately or by accident. Better than a bear at least.
No trip to Magney is complete without the stairs from hell on the way to the Devils Kettle!
Stopped at the lower falls on the Brule for a couple of shots then hiked a couple of miles up above Devils Kettle before calling it and hiking back to camp via headlamp light.
Selfie on the way back to camp.
We had no problem with the border crossing the next morning and after the Walmart mess, we were on our way up 11 to Pass Lake and the turn back south into Sleeping Giant. Kudos again to the Canadian border agents. They are always pleasant and very helpful.
Heading south off 11 down 587 towards Pass Lake and the park entrance.
We made it...
By getting in fairly early on a Thursday, we had our choice of several premium campsites at the Lake Marie Louise. Note there are different rates depending on where your campsite is located. The sites on the water with a spectacular view are more than sites elsewhere in the campground. Don't get freaked out by the cost per night as in addition to the camping, it includes the vehicle and usage fees. With the exchange rate from US to Canada, it's like a 35% reduction also. Very reasonable in
my opinion at about $28 per night US for the sites with the best view of the giant.
Our campsite right on the water. The sites are really packed into the campground so if you are looking for solitude, you will not find it here. Get a back country permit and backpack or bike pack in. The first night here the wolves across Marie Louise Lake sang as we ate supper and as soon as the sun set, the northern lights made an appearance. There was a guy from Columbia MO who checked in the same time and picked a site on a point up the road from us. I talked to him the next day and he got to hear wolves for the first time and see the lights. Welcome to Canada!
The view looking due west. I was really excited for the sunsets and to get hiking the next day to the top of the Sleeping Giant. You have to admit it really does look like a man laying on his back. The legend of how this unique formation got its name is interesting. You can read about it by clicking here.
While we were setting up camp, we quickly realized there was a campground fox. You had to make sure to pick up everything as this bugger chewed up sunglasses, stole coffee cups and water bottles. Pretty much whatever it could get a hold of. It didn't matter it is was day or night either. Although we didn't see or have any bear problems, the fox kept us on our toes to keep a clean and secure campsite. Our campground neighbor from Toronto suffered some minor losses to the fox also including one of his coffee cups. It would be interesting to see all the stuff the fox has stashed over time.
Once we had camp established, we took a drive through Silver Islet and made the short hike out to see the Sea Lion rock formation. The main trail head in the park is only about 4 km from the campground entrance so you wont waste much time in a vehicle. The observation area around the Sea Lion is well fenced so if you are hiking with kids, its no big worry. Just need to use common sense and pay attention. We climbed out onto some rock outcrops past the observation area to get this view.
A couple of years ago my daughter made me a bracelet to wear on my trips when she can't go with. I decided to attach it to whichever pack I'm using and get her photos of the bracelet at the places I've hiked to. I would much prefer it if she could go with on every trip, but it just doesn't work out every time.
The next morning after breakfast and waiting for the clouds and fog to clear, I had Melinda drop me off at the trail head to make the hike and climb to the top of the giant.
She was coming off a nasty cold and didn't feel up to the hike so she opted to hang out at our campsite for the day and pick me up at dark. The round trip was about 25 kilometers. One the way up, the final 2.7 being pretty challenging plus another 1.25km or so out to The Chimney. Bring plenty or water or a filter (you can filter from Lake Superior). I figured 2 liters was plenty so I didn't bring my filter and that was a mistake. I drink a lot of water while hiking and really had to ration it out. I got back sooner than planned and hiked an additional 5km all the way to our campsite (about 18 miles total for the day). I was plenty thirsty by the time I found the first potable water source in the campground!
The hike along the Kabeyun trail is pretty uneventful from the trail head to Top of the Giant trail. It has its moments where you can get over to Lake Superior and there are a few small creeks but for the most part is it just old logging road. I would highly suggest using a fat tire or mountain bike to get to where the Top of the Giant trail starts. It's muddy and rocky in places, but not very steep. There is even a rack to secure your bike to at the trail split. Straight up, the trail does not feel very wild but once you get to the split it does.
That is where the adventure and climb really starts. The climb up the giant starts immediately when you leave the Kabeyun. Be prepared and pace yourself. The first part levels out pretty quick so don't let the first .5 km scare you off. Hiking boots are a must and I would suggest poles for on the way down just to take some the strain off your knees. The image above was taken about 1.25 km up the Top of the Giant trail. The meadow is actually a lake which self drained. The view here is awesome and really gives it a wilderness / mountain feel. See the ridge on the left of the shot? That is what you are going up next.
In the next 1.5km you will climb about 800 feet to the top of the giant. That clearing below is the meadow in the previous shot. You can also see T harbor in the background. If you are looking to bike camp or backpack camp, that is an awesome spot. Just remember to register for a backcountry site at the office first on your way in. Don't be fooled at this point. You need to keep going the additional kilometer or so to see the view to the west from The Chimney. It's totally worth it. The trail isn't as developed from here on but there was flagging which made it super easy to follow.
You will pop out of the brush and find yourself about 300 meters or 1000 feet above Lake Superior at The Chimney. Just follow the warn paths (there are several) down to the edge. There are NO safety fences etc here so if you are hiking with kids or your dog, be extremely careful as a fall means certain death.
It's always kind of surreal when I plan these hikes, look at other people's images, study Google Earth and then I am there. This hike was totally all that. The reward at the end of this one on a clear day is beyond stunning. The view will keep you there for a while.
The view coming back down looking over T Harbor. Again, I would suggest hiking poles as some spots are really steep and it makes it a little easier on the knees. If it is warm out, bring a water filter. There is one decent stream and of course the lake you can use as water sources.
This isn't cool. As I got back to the trail head lot, I saw this family hand feeding a red fox. Habituating the animal does no good. Hope the fox doesn't end up as road kill pizza or worse yet if someone gets nipped while it tries to grab a piece of sandwich.
Since I made much better time getting back than I planned on, I decided to walk the extra 4.25 km back to camp since Melinda wasn't going to pick me up until sunset. I was very thirsty but getting to enjoy the sunset with her was worth it. View looking west from our campsite.
One our third day in the park Melinda and I did 2 short hikes. These are the falls on Joe Creek. Short hike as about 1.5 km return if you go all the way out to Lake Superior. Honestly after the falls there isn't much to see. The view of the lake isn't that great and the shore is lined with twisted up cedars.
The second short hike was the Piney Wood Hills Trail. It's 1.4 km return and ends at this rocky ledge overlooking Joeboy Lake. This is a nice walk up and down through the pines.
Our final sunset looking at the head of the giant. The last night was interesting as we had a visit from the campground skunk while eating dinner. It couldn't have cared less about us as it checked out our campsite and at one point pretty much walked right over Melinda's feet at it went about it's business. Best part was when it went to the campsite next to us and we watched as a half dozen or so girls from the University of Minnesota climbed on top of their Suburban.
I was disappointed with the noise in the campground. Some other campers on the hill above us pretty much drank for almost 24 hours straight. Again, this is a campground and not edge of the wilderness campsites. Be prepared for stuff like this if you choose to stay at Marie Louise Lake.
I was disappointed with the noise in the campground. Some other campers on the hill above us pretty much drank for almost 24 hours straight. Again, this is a campground and not edge of the wilderness campsites. Be prepared for stuff like this if you choose to stay at Marie Louise Lake.
We packed up pretty early on the 4th morning and started the trip home. No issues at the border this time getting back into the US. If you read some of my other blog entries, I highlighted what dicks border agents have been while coming back into the US. I get they have a job to do, but come on. Just be personable and polite. On thing I always enjoy about our Canadian trips are the people. Americans (even most Minnesotans) have forgotten how far common courtesy goes in getting along with everyone. Sad.
The inland colors and up high on the ridges really lit up over the 5 days we were out. Enough so that we ended our trip home by a couple of hours to take in the views around another area we have frequented for camping over the years. This is Ninemile Lake north of Finland MN.
Hare Lake off county road 7 north of Finland
Overall it was a good trip with some great scenery and some unique wildlife interactions. The wolves across the lake the first evening at Sleeping Giant was really cool. We saw no bear sign around the campground but the park staff did warn of activity in the back country. If you have a fat tire or mountain bike, I would strongly suggest using it where possible to cover more ground to see more. Especially if you are heading south down the Kabeyun towards Cape Thunder from Silver Islet. I'll likely go back again with the same plan and stay at the campground and day hike some of the other trails which go to the head and the knees of the giant. There are some sites which are somewhat more remote on the west side of Marie Louise Lake. They were closed for the season at the time we visited but I would consider them on our next visit depending on the time of the year. As always, if you have any questions about the areas I visit, feel free to drop me an email at bill@mnwxchaser.com
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