As we were heading back along the north shore of Lake Superior we continued to take the opportunity to visit areas of interest that we had initially been unable to see. The Town of Red Rock, Neys Provincial Park and Chutes Provincial Park were three stops on our list.
I became interested in visiting Red Rock when I learned of a new Interpretive Centre in the community. Red Rock is east of Nipigon and south of the highway. It is named after the unique geological features that surround it. The shale, limestone and sandstone in layers of rock became red in colour due to the presence of iron bearing hematite. Red Rock was, at one time, a Company Town, with employment from paper mills.
But, like many northern towns based on one industry, the mills closed after 7 decades and the town has had to reinvent itself.
The community itself is quite pleasant. We stopped to ask for directions at one point. A gentleman said he’d tell us if we sold him our trailer. We had a laugh about that before he headed us in the right direction.
The Red Rock Interpretive Centre was, indeed, quite interesting. with well-developed displays related to the history of the town. The Domtar Paper Mill’s history, for instance, includes it being used as a prisoner of war camp.
The Town of Red Rock is situated on the shore of the Lake Superior Marine Conservation Area. One of the features of the centre is a virtual underwater submarine tour that takes you below the surface of Lake Superior and describes the lake in a unique manner on large screens. It was quite well done with details of lamprey infestations and their impact on fisheries, a visit to a shipwreck and artwork inspired by the lake.
Moving east we arrived at Neys Provincial Park where we had booked a camp site. The park is in an area where there had been a POW camp for German soldiers during the Second World War. The far north was peppered with such camps as it was believed it would be difficult for prisoners to escape due to the barren wilderness. There are interesting display panels that describe the camp during this period.
There is also a beautiful,timber-strewn beach at the park . We took the opportunity to explore the shore and later, after dinner, walked back with lawn chairs to enjoy the promising sunset. It was most pleasant and I occupied myself taking various photos as the sun went down. Claudia walked along the beach and noticed the lovely full harvest moon rising from behind the tree-lined shore. It was quite a spectacular sight. After we returned to the camper, I changed cameras and lenses to walk along the road to take a few pics of it in all its glory.
One of the last provincial parks that we had intended to visit on this trip was Chutes Provincial Park where there is another waterfall worth viewing. Located in the town of Massey, it is well worth the stop.
Again, we had booked our campsite and, after checking in set up quickly. A short walk took us to a set of stairs which, unfortunately, were closed for safety reasons. making access to the main falls more difficult. We did, however, walk the long way around to a platform named ‘Falls Lookout’ This gives a commanding view of the main falls at Chutes. Even late in the summer and in early fall, there was a large amount of water cascading down the river and it made a great photograph.
If you follow the Twin Bridges Trail upstream along the Aux Sable river you pass several more viewpoints where a series of rapids, cascades and smaller waterfalls, known as the Seven Sisters, can be seen. Once again, as we found at several parks we visited, this river was used by loggers and the name ‘Chutes’ refers to the long wooden chute used to bring logs downstream years ago. These chutes allowed the large logs to avoid getting damaged going over the falls. The chutes were long wooden trestles filled with water into which the logs were guided to bypass the falls.
This area would be great to visit in the fall when the leaves are turning and nature is in its full coat of many colours. We could see a taste of that while at Chutes and more changes along the highway as we proceeded to Sudbury.
