Categories: Travel

A scenic Ontario park is filled with centuries-old pictographs and world-class hiking

Image via Taylor Lucas/Curiocity Group

The weather is warming up, the skies are clearing, and that means one thing: summer road trip. And what better place to stop than Lake Superior Provincial Park?

Did you know that besides stunning views of Lake Superior, you can check out 35 red ochre pictographs that date back centuries? It’s well worth the trip, and here’s what else the park has to offer.

Lake Superior Provincial Park is one of the largest provincial parks, covering about 1,550 square kilometres, located between Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa in Northern Ontario.

The Agawa Rock Pictographs are a popular attraction at the park, and while there is no exact time of when the art was created on the rocks, it’s estimated to date back many centuries. To get close to the pictographs, you’ll have to wait for a day when the waters aren’t rough as the rocks scale against the lake.

When I lived in Sault Ste. Marie, I visited the pictographs a handful of times, and trust me, they get more beautiful each time. If you’re able to visit on a clear day, the backdrop of blue skies against the water makes it even better.

You’ll find the descending trail leads you down to the pictographs from the parking area as it scales along the 15-storey-high crystalline granite cliff.

If you like to hike, there’s no shortage of that either.

According to Ontario Parks, “11 trails let visitors explore the variety of landscapes – rocky shores, beaches, lakes and rivers, waterfalls, forests, wetlands and rolling hills.”

You can find out more about each trail’s difficulty level before venturing out.

Northern Ontario is calling!