Quetico

We left Sleeping Giant with no set plans for the rest of our trip. We determined that Quetico Provincial Park would be a decent drive for the day and being along Hwy 11 it is a new area that we have not explored before, but just past Kakabeka Falls we encountered a closed Hwy. There had been a terrible accident the night before. The park pass from Sleeping Giant gave us access to any park up to 10 p.m. next day, so we decide to re-visit Kakabeka Falls. While there we drove into the little town and stocked up on food and drinks.

After waiting hours, the highway finally re-opened and we are away. We passed by the accident scene and it was horrific – involving a semi and what looked like an RV.

Arriving at Quetico we checked into site #18, a gorgeous waterfront site (site #21 would be even better as it’s at the end of the row). The parks office is a very nice building with displays and a store offering local artists work as well as the usual camping supplies. At our site we could walk out to the lake where we had a nice sandy area to sit and watch the stars. We decided to stay another night and the next day did a couple short hikes. We drove back up the Hwy about a km. to the first hike. A short interpretive trail named after Paul Kane, an artist who travelled with the North West Company and did a famous painting of the area. The trail joins up with the French Portage which was used as a main fur trade route. The second trail we followed was directly across the highway from that same parking lot and linked to several trails leading back to the campground. We followed a trail to a waterfall which in spring would be flowing nicely.

Next morning a visit to the comfort station and a quick shower before leaving. The facilities are very clean but the water flow and temp. could be slightly improved.