Ask an Expert: How to Access The Park

Planes, trains and canoes.

With the roar of the float plane’s engines invading the cabin interior and the breathtaking scenery streaming below you, just as it has been for thousands of years, soon you’ll be touching down on waters only accessible via float plane or canoe. From your bird’s eye perspective watch for the woodland caribou herds that call the park home.

Getting to the park interior requires pre-planning. Armstrong, Savant Lake and Pickle Lake are the main access points. Float plane access is dramatic and can put you exactly where you want to be but entering the park by train is quite an experience. Flagging down the engineer and being picked up by train brings to mind what the settlers did on a regular basis. It’s like time travel only with modern onboard conveniences on the train.

Area outfitters are experts and well-equipped to handle all your questions regarding permits, site maps, equipment lists and travel arrangements. Be sure to ask about their fees in advance.

Did You Know

Wabakimi is unusual for another reason. Here the waters drain both north to the Arctic Ocean and south to the Atlantic Ocean.

Almost 800,000 hectares of geography make Wabakimi Ontario's second largest provincial park.  And there’s even more - 2,000 kilometres of water routes.

Nearby and Interesting

Ouimet Canyon, often called Canada’s “Grand Canyon” for its 100 metre sheer cliff walls, is just down the road from Sleeping Giant. There are walking trails and platforms allowing for indescribable views of the canyon.  Near Dorion, you’ll find the country’s longest suspension foot bridge at Eagle Canyon.

Ontario’s Provincial Stone is Purple Amethyst and is mined in open pits throughout the area. If you look closely you may even find some for yourself.

Fort William Historic Park at Thunder Bay is the largest fur trade post in the world and a visit to Fort William is a step back in time to the days of the Voyageur, the commercial carriers of yesterday. 

Thunder Bay is a modern City of 125,000 people and has a number of attractions including, the Centennial Conservatory, Chippewa Park and wildlife exhibit, the International Friendship Gardens and more. This is lakehead country. It is the terminus for Great Lakes commercial vessels. Western Canadian wheat, oil and other cargo arrive for transport to Eastern Canadian destinations and beyond. Thunder Bay harbour is a place of constant action with the loading and unloading of ships, trains and transports going on around the clock. The grain elevators are an amazing sight reaching like fingers into the sky along the harbour front.

Wildlife

Wabakimi is Ontario’s second largest park and is home to a wide assortment of wildlife.

The night time howling of the lonesome timber wolf says you are not alone. Moose, black bear, beaver, otter and more all call this park home.

One of the most amazing wildlife facts in Wabakimi is the existence of about 300 woodland caribou, a designated species at risk. This creature was a favourite of hunters, both native and non-native, and has survived but just barely as a result of human intervention. The careful management of the Wabakimi herd means the potential for a sustainable future. This magnificent animal is almost non existent in areas of its original habitat making the Wabakimi herd all the more important and special.

The fishing is some of the best in Northern Ontario, and many visitors fly in with charter fishing excursions. Be prepared to catch walleye, northern pike, lake trout, perch and white fish. Catch and release is highly encouraged in Ontario and is a big part of our fish conservation and species renewal program.

Wabakimi Wilderness Lodge Caribou Pancakes

Here is a favourite Wabakimi Wilderness Lodge non-recipe. It is a non-recipe because Wabakimi owner and wilderness guide Bruce Hyer makes them up especially for his favourite clients, but he never used a recipe in his life. We looked over his shoulder while he did the following:

Bruce started with an all-natural pancake mix, which uses milk and eggs (but says any favourite pancake mix will do). He added the eggs, and reduced the usual milk, and added about equal amounts of canned pumpkin ‘til the colour and texture looked about right. Beat it up well!

Then he added to eye and taste:
- Some vanilla from his last kayak trip to the Yucatan (but store bought will do)
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Nutmeg
- A little brown sugar
- Raisins or currants (the caribou droppings)
- A little olive or sunflower or canola oil

Separately, he sliced an apple up into crescent shaped pieces. Cook the pancakes (not too fast because with the pumpkin, they are thicker and need to cook through) on one side. Add the apple slices on top (before flipping) so that they form a caribou track : look like a parenthesis (); check in a wildlife track book or on any beach in Wabakimi Wilderness Park.

When the top is well bubbled, flip and finish. Serve with the highest cholesterol butter available, and your favourite syrup (they use blueberry syrup at the Wabakimi Lodge). Then go jump into the Wabakimi hot tub and watch the floatplanes come and go with canoes lashed to the floats!

Naturally Green

While being green may come naturally, keeping things that way takes work. Since the mid 1980s, Ontario Parks has been looking for ways to look green, think green and most importantly – be green.

For more than 30 years, a number of our provincial parks have used solar and green technologies to provide hot water. And those gas-guzzling eight-cylinder trucks that rumbled down park roads for decades are being replaced with more energy-efficient vehicles. In a pilot project, staff at some of our parks are using electric vehicles... and many already use good old-fashioned pedal-power. It’s the perfect way to get around our parks.

Going green is becoming a matter of practice. Our annual Parks Guide – and most park tabloids – are printed with vegetable-based ink, on recycled paper. Environmentally-friendly cleaning products are the norm. And compact fluorescent light bulbs are standard in many of our parks. These bulbs last 10 times longer, use 66% less energy… and provide the same amount of light!

Share a Tale or Say It with Photos

Sure, we'll give you a glimpse of what you can expect on your northern adventure, but the best stories and photos are always first hand.

It might be a story of the lake trout which got away, a picture of the incredible Northern Lights, or even a poem about that first time you heard the call of a loon!

For a chance to have your story or photo featured in an upcoming issue of the Insider, email us your story or photos today! Everyone who makes a submission will also be entered into a monthly draw for great parks gear!

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