Water Water Everywhere

Karin and I decided that since Lisa and Lori were new to the park, the first stop of the trip should be the visitor's center. We would then drive up to the Pinguisibi (Sand) River for an easy hike. We packed sandwiches and piled in the car.

The visitor's center is fairly new and has exhibits about the region, including the Group of Seven, Canadian artists who captured the area in gorgeous works from the early to mid 20th century. After looking at the displays and taking some pictures of a few of the taxidermy animals (great for reference!) I went out the back door. The center is on the beach, and the sands of Agawa Bay looked so inviting I thought it would be a good place for a picnic!

With the sun high in the sky Superior glowed blue and green. The fresh air off the cold waters was an elixir. Lori walked the beach, looking for stones.


A cloud like a flame arrowed across the sky, and I played around with some shots of it with driftwood.




Superior's famously rocky shore means lots of wave polished stones to examine. I could spend hours looking at rocks!


After lunch we drove up to the Sand River, the remnant of a much larger channel that was formed when runoff from receding glaciers carved the softer rock out of the granite. Geologists believe the rock here is ancient, three billion years old ancient, remnants from one of the first mountain ranges on the planet. That amount of time is nearly inconceivable.

Lovin' the blues and greens and golds.




This is the largest of the falls along the river that we saw, although I think there are bigger falls farther upstream. I later climbed down to get closer and was cooled by the spray of these falls.


While Karin and I found places along the river to sit, Lisa and Lori had moved on upstream and emerged above the falls. I would not do this on a rainy day as the granite can become quite slick. But this day was perfect for exploring the river and falls.


Love this shot of Karin.


Looking down river from near the top of the series of falls. Waters are low in late August, and there were many pools in the polished stone. On a warmer day I may have dipped my toes in one.


Next: birds of Ontario and the pictographs