Well, COVID-19 changed a lot of plans in 2020, including our wedding and honeymoon trip to Nepal. But with all of the negative stemming from the pandemic, one silver lining is that it forced us to look within our own home province for new adventures we likely would have overlooked.
I’ve heard only amazing things about the Ontario Parks/Parks Canada area’s up north near Thunder Bay and figured this would make for a great opportunity to finally check it out. Plus, with fall colours in full force in early October, it was going to be a picturesque Canadian plan.
With the more northern parts of Ontario already dipping down temperature-wise in October, we ditched the tent gear and decided to go van-life style for the 10 day trip. I missed our adventures-in-a-van from our Cali road trip so I was excited to try it again on my home turf and knew it would be a warmer option when night called for slightly below 0 temps.
A few days before the trip, we traded our sedan for my mom’s RAV 4 (which we would be taking on the trip) and ‘practiced’ our setup to ensure we had the space we needed. Honestly, it was pretty tight for 2 of us with all of our kitchen gear, sleeping stuff and warmer clothing but we made it work. For our ‘kitchen’, we kept it super minimal (gear below!) and decided to store food in our camping barrel with a plan to stock up every 4 days or so. For our ‘bedroom’, we pushed the front seats up all the way, pushed the back seats down and doubled up on self-inflating air mattresses. We picked up a double one from MEC just before the trip and added our single ones (which we use for our usual camping trips) on top. You can probably use a foam pad or already-owned inflatable mattress if you can get it to fit but we didn’t want the burden of having to re-inflate every evening. To keep warm, we had our double sleeping bag and a comforter, and brought along our single sleeping bags if it got super cold (which we ended up needing for a few of the nights).
When we would drive, we would ‘fold’ the already-inflated mattress pads and bedding in half towards the trunk and put the back seats up to keep them in place. This allowed us to use the back seats as storage for our gear while on the road and once we would get to camp, we would store in the front seats. We had to keep moving our stuff around depending if we were in drive-mode or camp-mode with the car but we purposefully didn’t bring much so we got the whole process down to a few minutes each day.
Our plan was to hit up as many parks as we could along the way, and hike at every opportunity we could.
Day 1: Home to Pancake Bay Provincial Park
Our first day was one of the longest with a total of 7.5hrs driving time, but we wanted to make it as far as we could to set us up for the rest of the week. The drive up to Sudbury was nothing special as it’s all basically Hwy 400, but once we switched to the Trans-Canada highway, the scenery totally switched gears. It was an autumn paradise with little remote towns (so small, not even sure they are really towns!) along the way, with first nations reserves every hour or so until you get to Sault St. Marie.
About an hour or so outside the Soo, we stopped at Chippewa Falls which is just off the regional highway. Because it was off-season, we pretty much had it to ourselves and it’s really a Canadian gem – artists from the Group of Seven have a few paintings from the falls. After a few minutes here, and with the cold coming in from the sun setting, we headed towards Pancake Bay Provincial Park, our destination for the night – but first, made a pit-stop at Voyagers Inn for their famous Apple Fritters. When doing research for this trip, every blog I read had mentioned these fritters, and they did not disappoint. They were more like a deep fried apple-cinnamon loaf of bread, which was a perfect sugar boost after sitting in the car all day.
By the time we got to our site at Pancake, which is a campground literally off the highway, it was already fairly dark and about 0 degrees. There wasn’t much to see there (other than of course being on Lake Superior) but we were just staying the night and heading out early the next morning so it was just a place to safely park and sleep for the night.
We made dinner by headlamp and layered up with our packable down jackets (a MUST-HAVE! see pack list below) and decided against a campfire – we were exhausted and wanted to crash for a big hiking day the next day.
Day 2: Pancake Bay Provincial Park to Lake Superior Provincial Park
Waking up to negative temperatures was not so fun. We slept well and were super warm and cozy in the car, but with a lack of space, it meant we had to open the car doors to properly change – which meant letting the cold in. And I’m not the biggest of people, so once I am cold, I am cold for a while.
Too cold to want to try and boil water for coffee and breakfast, we headed out to get gas and more fritters at Voyagers Inn since it was just a few minutes down the road (the opposite way) and then headed north to our next park – Lake Superior Provincial Park.
The hour and a half drive was beside Lake Superior the whole time which made for awesome, and distracting, driving views but the sun was shining and warming up the day. We got to our site mid-morning and by then, we had totally warmed up with temps around 8 degrees and our layered hiking clothes on. It’s a beautiful Ontario park that I would highly recommend for car camping – it’s remote, very large so it feels private, and there’s a ton of outdoor activities to do.
We were excited to finally get to our first hike of the trip and decided on Orphan Lake, about a 10 minute drive from our campsite. It was only an 8km loop but quite hilly so it made for a good trek. The path was fairly well maintained and took us through evergreen forests, pond crossings, waterfalls, a pebble beach which meets the Coastal Trail, and one of the best lookouts I have seen in Ontario. At the halfway point, the lookout shares an incredible view of Lake Superior and because it was fall, the colourful forest around it looked like a painting. I honestly couldn’t believe it was real and not a green-screen. If you’re in this area, this is a hike I would add to your to-do list for sure. Plus the loop made it easy to find our way back when we were in unfamiliar terrain.
Day 3: Lake Superior Provincial Park
For our second day at Lake Superior, we decided on the Awausee Trail, a longer looped hike that was marked a bit harder than Orphan Lake. It was a challenging day hike but it was a good workout with great views of Lake Superior early on (again, more Group of Seven paintings from here). It’s quite an uphill climb to the lookout points but they don’t disappoint as you look over Agawa Bay. We saw a few other hikers throughout the day but we mostly had the trail to ourselves.
Day 4: Lake Superior Provincial Park to Pukaskwa National Park
We were sad to leave Lake Superior PP and wish we could’ve stayed longer but we committed to going back another time to explore more of the hiking routes.
With a late start to the day, we drove a couple of hours to Pukaskwa National Park, our first (and only) Parks Canada campground of the trip. We stopped in Wawa along the way as it was one of the only towns we had heard of before, but it really wasn’t anything special to see, except for some giant creepy geese along the main road. But, this is where we first discovered Robin’s – a Thunder Bay based coffee chain in the Northern Ontario region. Maybe it was the fact that we were drinking camp coffee, but having a good old fashioned coffee from a drip machine at Robin’s was much needed. The one in Wawa was a sight to see as it looked like it was straight out of the 70’s. We grabbed a ‘persian’ donut which the employee told us they were famous for – it’s a sweet, fried cinnamon roll covered in bright pink icing and I wish we could eat it every day.
As it was off-season, when we got to Pukaskwa, it was quite deserted, and also meant a lot of their washrooms and services were closed. The park itself was nothing special, and we both sort of expected more from a national park. If we go back there, we would try a summer trip so we can do some of the Coastal Trail or the epic-looking canoe routes – this seems to be more what the park is known for. In any case, we benefitted from the nearby trails as we were able to leave our car on our site and walk to the trailheads directly within the park.
We arrived around dinner time, and even though we stocked up on groceries earlier in the day, we were feeling lazy and decided to drive in to Marathon, about a 20 minute drive north. We went to a fish and chips restaurant and ate inside – the first time since March due to the pandemic closing down restaurants. Since we were so far north and with a way smaller population than the GTA, we felt pretty safe and way more relaxed inside a restaurant than we thought we would. It was quite a luxury to get served hot food on demand and have cold beer at our disposal even though we had only been gone a few days.
Day 5: Pukaskwa National Park
With a full day to explore the park, and doing what we thought was a day-trip, we hiked the Bimose Kinoomagewnan Trail which showcases the Seven Grandfather Teachings of the Ojibway, the Indigenous people for whom this land is home. The looped trail was muddy and not well kept, and only took a couple of hours. We were finished by lunch.
Unsatisfied with the pond views we got at the lookouts, we went to the nearby Manito Miikana trail to get up close and personal to Lake Superior once again. This was a cool trail that had you walking through a beach littered with white-washed driftwood (which I deemed ‘the elephant graveyard’) that the Group of Seven artists had painted many times – like A.J Casson’s ‘October Lake Superior 1929’. After the beach, we started ascending the cliffs on the shore of Lake Superior, which took us to a great platformed lookout that oversaw Pukaskwa and a good panoramic view of the lake around us. With the beachfront and cliffs, the water was choppy with small whitecaps and made it look like an ocean which was quite a view.
Tired from the day, we relaxed the rest of the afternoon by the campfire, making pepe pizza (tortilla pizza’s) over the grill, reading and playing backgammon until it got dark.
Day 6: Pukaskwa National Park to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park
We left Pukaskwa early as we wanted to stop in Thunder Bay before we drove to our most northern park of the trip. We met up with an old co-worker of mine (my first boss ever!) who had moved to Thunder Bay with his family a few years ago. Catching up over lunch right on the waterfront was a nice treat, even though we were in full camping mode and hadn’t showered since leaving home. Living in your car makes you look and feel disheveled but we gave him fair warning before we saw him.
Post-lunch and a few beers later, we drove the hour to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, where we were able to see The Giant himself throughout our whole drive there. We chose an RV campsite thinking it would give us a more remote experience but it was quite loud and the sites were closer together than expected (plus, the neighbors later stole our firewood while leaving it out to try for the afternoon. Bad camp etiquette!). The actual park itself was amazing but I would choose another site next time. As it was getting dark, we wanted to make a fire but the camp office was closed for the day, so we were stuck with bags of kindling that they had out back. It worked in a pinch but the fire would die out pretty quickly if we didn’t keep adding to it every few minutes.
Day 7 & 8: Sleeping Giant Provincial Park
The hikes of Sleeping Giant are incredible, with a ton to choose from, but to get to the good stuff, you need to be ready for a full day of hard hiking. The famous ‘top of the giant’ 22km round-trip trail is what we had our eye on, and is basically the reason we came to this park in the first place. Offering breathtaking views of Lake Superior and the famous ‘pillar’s’ you see when you google pictures of the park, we set off early to get our hike on.
The first 8km of the trail is flat and through a forest – which gives you a false sense of ease as you think the entire trail will continue this way. There were a few people mountain biking that section which now in retrospect, we would totally do next time.
Then, the climb begins. The challenging trail takes you to the top of the tallest cliffs in Ontario and provides incredible views of both the east and west coast of the Sibley Peninsula. As you overlook Tea Harbour, you’ll hit the very-vertical rock stairs that you semi-scramble up, exhausted, but you’ll feel good knowing you’re almost at the top of the trail where the views will reward you. Once we got to the top, it was busy with lingering hikers taking an extended lunch. After taking the obvious pictures and scarfing down food, we got out of there pretty quickly, not wanting to be around others with the pandemic and all.
As you hike down the same way you came up, you know what to expect, but once we hit the 8km flat part back to where we started, albeit easy, it never seemed to end. Every 20 minutes, we thought were were almost there and it just kept going, and going, and going. A bike would have been lovely at this point as we dragged our feet to the end.
The next day, we took a flogger day (‘chill day’) doing little hikes, wandering around the park and relaxing by the gorgeous and sprawling waterfront. It’s probably super busy in the summer as there were a ton of picnic benches along the shore but there were only a few other families there while we were there.
Knowing it was thanksgiving weekend, we made ourselves a backpackers style Thanksgiving Dinner and an extra-large campfire as it was our last one of the trip.
Day 9: Sleeping Giant Provincial Park to Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park, Aguasabon Gorge and Pancake Bay
Knowing we had a big drive ahead of us, we left Sleeping Giant just after sunrise and headed to the day-use-only Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park, which some fellow hikers told us a was a must-see as we headed back. It was a 3km looped trail to the Canyon and allowed us to cross another park off our list – and I have to say, was definitely worth the side trip.
Right from the parking lot, a trail boardwalk connects two lookout platforms over the canyon. The canyon itself looks like its out of Jurassic Park – I honestly couldn’t believe that was in our home province. The views are totally panoramic of the 150m wide gorge and 100m cliffs and you can see the unusual arctic plants on the canyon floor, making it look like another planet.
After spending a bit of time at Ouimet Canyon, we headed east towards Pancake Bay Provincial Park, stopping at Aguasabon Gorge along the way. It was a cool stop along the highway and you only need a few minutes here, but was a nice way to stretch out our legs.
Low on food in our barrel and knowing we were driving for a few more hours, we grabbed a pizza at a little place in Wawa, eating it in the car as we drove through a pink and purple sunset on a clear night. It was a perfect night for driving and a good end to the trip.
We camped out in a random site in Pancake Bay as we didn’t pre-book, just choosing an available site on arrival. We considered just camping in the car at the side of the road somewhere but we weren’t sure if it was a sketchy area or not so we opted to pay for a spot in a campground to literally be able to park and sleep (we were just there for the night, leaving asap in the morning).
Day 10: Pancake Bay Provincial Park to Home
On our long drive home, we stopped at a few first nations reserves to check out the general stores and trinkets, using the stops as opportunities to get out of the car and move for a few minutes. The route took us back on the Trans-Canada highway, which was such a beautiful way to head home and end our trip in a gorgeous setting. By the time our 10-day trip was over, the leaves started falling and the colours were dimming – our trip was timed perfectly to get the best of the best in terms of autumn scenery.
Total Ontario Parks/Parks Canada Parks visited: 5
Van Life Gear: Fall Road Trip
The Bedroom:
- Sleeping pads (self inflating): 1 double + 2 singles
- Sleeping bags: 1 double + 2 singles
- Comforter/warm blanket
- Pillows
- Window covers – we got these from CT
- Eye mask + ear plugs (optional!)
- Headlamps + extra batteries
- Lantern (we use an expandable one like this so it’s more compact)
The Kitchen:
- Nalgene water bottle
- Reusable coffee thermos’ (good quality ones to keep things hot for hours and hours)
- plates
- bowls
- Sets of cutlery
- Cooler bag (to fit inside barrel)
- Camping barrel
- 1 Frying pan
- 1 Pot and lid
- 1 stove (for this trip, we brought a tabletop style portable grill vs our usual backpacking one)
- 3 bottles of gas for the stove (with colder weather, we used way more gas than usual)
- Water jugs
- Cooking oil
- Extra ziploc bags
- Coffee press
- Fire starter
- Camp suds + sponge
- Water bags (platypus)
The Closet:
- Hiking boots
- Slip on shoes/driving shoes
- Warm slippers (for the car only)
- 2 pairs of hiking socks (merino wool)
- 1 pair of warm ‘night’ socks (not to be worn at other times! keep your night stuff clean!)
- 7 Underwear
- 1 sports bra/bathing suit
- long underwear (top and bottom)
- 2 workout t-shirts
- 1 workout long sleeve shirt
- 1 ‘night’ cotton t-shirt
- 1 fleece sweater
- 1 ‘night’ sweater
- 1 hiking pants
- 1 lightweight ‘night’ sweatpants
- 1 packable down jacket (mine’s from uniqlo)
- 1 windproof rain jacket
- 1 winter hat/earmuffs
- 1 pair of gloves
The Bathroom:
- 2 rolls of toilet paper in a ziploc bag
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Lip balm
- sunscreen
- Hand sanitizer
- Baby wipes (showers were closed the whole trip due to COVID)
- Contacts and solution
- Glasses and sunglasses
- Med kit (advil, pepto, polysporin, moleskin, band-aids, cortisone, tweezers, gauze, alcohol wipes)
- Knee braces
The Living Room/Misc:
- Compact foldable camping chairs
- Backgammom
- Books
- Watercolour set and canvas paper
- Phone chargers
- Umbrella
- Bungee cords
- Hiking poles
Meal Plan (10 Day Car-Camping Road Trip)
Day 0: grocery run ahead of trip
Day 1:
- Breakfast: N/A (at-home)
- Lunch: wraps, grilled beef strips, grilled veggies, salsa, cheese, rice (pre-made)
- Dinner: spaghetti and meat sauce (pre-made, frozen – will defrost by dinner time), salad kit
Day 2:
- Breakfast: coffee, baileys/milk, greek yogurt, granola
- Lunch: pita, hummus, cucumber, tomato, avocado
- Dinner: ramen, eggs, sriracha sauce packet, soya sauce packet
Day 3:
- Breakfast: coffee, baileys/milk, eggs, mushrooms, salami
- Lunch: pita, tuna packet, mayo packet
- Dinner: Indian Dal (pre-made kit, cook packet in boiling water), instant basmati rice
Day 4: grocery run day
- Breakfast: coffee, baileys/milk, oatmeal, almonds, peanut butter
- Lunch: pita, cheese
- Dinner: TBD from grocery store + salad kit
Day 5:
- Breakfast: coffee, baileys/milk, greek yogurt, granola
- Lunch: pita, salami, mustard packet
- Dinner: pepe pizza (wraps, pizza sauce, cheese, garlic)
Day 6:
- Breakfast: coffee, baileys/milk, bagels, Nutella
- Lunch: pita, cheese
- Dinner: couscous, sundried tomatoes, pesto
Day 7:
- Breakfast: coffee, baileys/milk, bagels, honey, cinnamon
- Lunch: pita, peanut butter, jam
- Dinner: canned chili, pita, garlic
Day 8:
- Breakfast: coffee, baileys/milk, oatmeal, almonds, peanut butter
- Lunch: pita, tuna packet, mayo packet
- Dinner: thanksgiving dinner (instant mash potatoes, gravy mix, stovetop stuffing, dried cranberries)
Day 9:
- Breakfast: coffee, baileys/milk, oatmeal, almonds, peanut butter
- Lunch: pita, peanut butter, jam
- Dinner: mac and cheese, salad kit (we ended up getting pizza instead from a restaurant)
Day 10:
- Breakfast: coffee, baileys/milk, oatmeal, almonds, peanut butter
- Lunch: pita, peanut butter, jam
- Dinner: N/A (home)
Backpacking with blisters 