Featured Park - Rainbow Falls

Ontario Parks Insider

Rainbow Falls Provincial Park offers visitors two completely different camping experiences.   For campers looking to soak up the rugged scenery of Lake Superior, Rossport Campground is set on a thin slice of shoreline along the northern coastline. Five kilometres further east along the TransCanada Highway, Whitesand Lake Campground features protected inland campsites, nestled nearby the calm waters of Whitesand Lake and the picturesque cascades of Rainbow Falls on the Whitesand River.

The ultimate experience for some visitors is to spend half their vacation camped along the ocean-like vistas of Superior and the other half amongst the thick boreal forest. Whichever the preference, a walk in the woods is a must. Two main choices here are the Superior Trail, a 4.8 kilometre hike to a dramatic overview of Lake Superior and a 3-kilometre hike beside Rainbow Falls. The Rainbow Falls walk is made up of stairs and wooden platforms where hikers can stare down a 60-metre chasm and witness, on a sunny day, the prism of light penetrating through the river mist and creating a number of rainbows – hence the name “Rainbow Falls.” After crossing a bridge over the cascades, the trail leaves the riverside and leads to another lookout - this time out over the expanse of Lake Superior.

The Rainbow Falls Trail is part of the Casque Isles section of the Voyageur Hiking Trail.  This trail extension twists and turns along the rugged north shore of Lake Superior, between the communities of Terrace Bay, Schreiber and Rossport. The Voyageur Trail system itself was initiated in 1973 and continues to be a work in progress, maintained by hundreds of volunteers and the parks it links with – including Rainbow Falls. Over 600 kilometres of trail have been completed and the final plan is to have the trail skirt the edges of Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

The Lake Superior hike overlooks the watery graves of a number of ships sunk along the north shore, including the elaborate steam yacht Gunilda, sunk in 1911. The ship’s owner, millionaire W.L. Harkness, refused to pay the $15 needed to have a local navigator guide him through the shallows at Rossport and the ship sank because of it. Superior has a reputation for rough waters, challenging to navigate and close to 400 ships lie on the bottom - an equal number have collided with the shore or crashed into piers, or with other ships.

Wasaga Beach wasn’t always fun and games

Ontario Parks Insider

Think Wasaga Beach and visions of endless sandy beaches, blue shallow waters, sand dunes, sand castles and volleyball might conjure in your head; but what about naval battles, red coats and sunken schooners?  In a few more years those visions, and the stories behind them, might just gain a bit of ground on those more common images of Wasaga. That’s because a brand new Welcome Centre is being planned and set to open to the public in 2012 in time to mark the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

But this story begins many years back.   During the war of 1812 the HMS Nancy, a cargo schooner pressed into military service by the British, was attacked and sunk near the mouth of the Nottawasaga River by American forces.  Over time the river currents deposited silt and sand about the sunken hull and an island was formed. In 1928 the hull was raised, placed on the island and the Nancy Museum was officially opened to commemorate this episode in the War of 1812.

Snap forward to today and you will see an aging blockhouse marking the entrance to this important historic site.  To ensure that Nancy Island and Wasaga Beach Provincial Park continue to be a significant and sustainable national historic site, Ontario Parks is building a new Welcome Centre.

The new building will provide a facility that functions not only as an orientation to Nancy Island Historic Site and the War of 1812, but also as a small Welcome Centre to interpret the rich natural and cultural resources of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park. The facility will provide an orientation to a unique provincial park which is located completely within a town and where tourism is recognized as its major industry.

The new 3,000 sq. foot Welcome Centre is being designed in-house by Ontario Parks’ architect, Matthew Harvey.  Matthew has created a nautical theme, detailing the building with ship’s masts, authentic porthole and a clerestory “widows walk”.  The colour scheme of red siding and black and white metal trim is reminiscent of the uniform of British soldiers of the War of 1812.

Matthew is a LEED’s certified architect, and as such many of the building’s features are in keeping with LEEDs principles and with the values of Ontario Parks, including:

  • Operable windows and natural daylight from overhead clerestory windows in the main exhibit space coupled with electronically controlled Daylight Harvesting Systems,
  • Motion detectors, LED lighting and energy saving electrical fixtures,
  • Linoleum flooring made from renewable materials such as linseed oil, cork and jute,
  • Standing Seam galvanized metal roof with low emissivity,
  • Low maintenance local plant materials for landscaping, and
  • High insulation levels.

The completion of the Welcome Centre is planned to coincide with the Bicentennial of the War of 1812.  New interpretive displays commemorating the war will also highlight the bicentennial celebrations and the 200 years of peace between Canada and the United States.

The trials and tribulations of Étienne Brûlé - 400 years later

Ontario Parks Insider

Samuel de Champlain referred to him as “… my lad …” and he was considered an indispensable cog in the mechanism of the early fur trade. But to Étienne Brûlé, the fascinating freedom of aboriginal life was stronger than the duties bestowed upon a French ambassador in the new world.

Shrouded in mystery and locked in time, the full account of Étienne Brûlé’s accomplished life will never truly be known. Stitched together by third party mentions and historical references, what we do know is that Étienne Brûlé should be better known than he is today.  If the accounts stand, Brûlé could be considered the first coureur-de-bois, the first European to see all of the Great Lakes and the first French / Huron interpreter. The trouble is that Brûlé’s independent and courageous spirit got him into a bit of hot water. 

Étienne Brûlé arrived in Canada sometime before 1610. This was the year that a “youth who had already spent two winters at Quebec” asked Champlain’s permission to go and live with the Algonquin in order to learn their language. Champlain granted Brûlé his wish, making him the first European to attempt such a venture. A year later, in 1611, Brûlé returned to Champlain to tell him of a most positive experience he had living with and learning from the Algonquin.

There is a four year gap in any reports of Brûlé, and it is believed that he returned to live among the natives in Huron country. During this time, and the year before, he would have been the first European to see the region and make the long trip up the Ottawa, Mattawa and French rivers to Georgian Bay.

In 1615 Brûlé travelled south with a delegation of Huron to gather allied military support for Champlain’s skirmish with the Iroquois. During this three year trip, he was the first European to see Lake Ontario and he ventured as far south as Chesapeake Bay, which makes its way to the Atlantic Ocean.   On his return trip, Brûlé was captured by the Iroquois and received the unfortunate title of being the first European to experience their torture techniques. Through promise of prosperity or miracle from above, the truth only Brûlé would know, he was eventually released and returned to Huron country. 

There were many more expeditions, including an epic trip to, and possibly around, Lake Superior. But as time went on and Brûlé continued to embrace the native lifestyle, his respect in the eyes of Champlain and the missionaries began to deteriorate. In their eyes, Brûlé had chosen to live in debauchery and that was a sin that could not be easily pardoned. Adding insult to injury, Brûlé was also chastised for continuing to facilitate the fur trade after New France was captured by the English, rather than returning to France. For this Champlain accused Brûlé of treason and never saw him again.

Brûlé’s death is even more mysterious than his life. After 20 years of living among the Huron he was killed. Speculation has forever circulated around his death - a trade dispute, love affair, or some other unknown reason. What is known is that the event or circumstances around his death were so severe that it is believed Brûlé’s murder “breathed a curse on them (the Huron)”. Epidemics, hauntings and hardships ensued and the Bear Nation he lived with in Huronia deserted their village and disbanded. 

The courage and inquisitiveness Étienne Brûlé had as a young man sparked many achievements, unfortunately his free spirit attitude would ultimately be his demise.  2010 marks the 400th anniversary of Brûlé’s arrival in Canada.  Many of the locations that we now cherish as provincial parks were explored by this remarkable man.

Orange is the new green – Make the drop with Orange Drop

Ontario Parks Insider

Ontario’s parks are one of our greatest natural and cultural resources. We enjoy them today and want to keep them sustainable and healthy for generations to come. That’s where Stewardship Ontario’s Orange Drop program comes in. Propane tanks and other liquids under pressure are potentially explosive. If you’ve got propane tanks, cylinders or canisters of any size, don’t leave them behind – and never put them in with your regular recycling or garbage, even when empty. Join Ontario Parks green scene by making the drop – the Orange Drop.

When you bring your used containers to an official drop zone, we’ll ensure that they’re recycled or reprocessed into new materials. It’s easy and it’s free. Visit makethedrop.ca and enter your postal code to find the drop zone nearest you. For our environment, for our children and for ourselves, it’s time to make the drop!

Interested in learning more about our 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) solutions? This summer, we’re bringing our Orange Drop education program to communities across Ontario. Watch for us, or check out our list of upcoming events. You can also tour our Virtual House to learn more about what you can recycle in your home and where you can return it in your community. Follow us on YouTube and Twitter to learn about our community activities, collection events and education tours and for updated videos and information.

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