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We are moving our blog about Lake Superior Provincial Park to the WordPress blog site. Our new address is lakesuperiorpp.wordpress.com

We have also re-designed our website (still a work in progress) and it includes our blog headlines.  lakesuperiorpark.ca

thanks for visiting.....so you at the new site.

Sand River flows May 24

The Sand River flow has remained steady for the past week. We got a report from canoers who did the Sand River canoe route during the past week. They said that water levels were adequate for a good trip. We will now use this photo to show water flow/levels that are good enough for a canoe trip on the Sand River.

I like to use the boulder in the center of the picture as the reference point. The flow in this picture is to the right of the boulder. The flow does not go around both sides of the boulder.

Interior Rangers from the park are on the Sand River right now doing maintenance work on the portages and campsites.

Lots of litter along Highway 17

Two members of the Friends of Lake Superior Park volunteered their time on May 24 to pick up litter along Highway 17, near the Agawa Bay campground. The Friends have an agreement with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to pick up litter along a 3 km section of the Trans-Canada Highway. The volunteers cleaned up an extra .7 km of the highway for a total of 3.7 km.

They sorted the litter into 4 categories: recyclable plastics; recyclable aluminum cans; cans and bottles that can be returned for a refund; and garbage (there is no market for glass, so it was included in the garbage).

At the end of the day there was 2 very large bags of plastics; a half bag of pop cans; a half bag of beer cans and bottles; and 5 and half bags of garbage. They picked up 72 beer cans and 11 beer bottles (refund of $8.30). We hope that it was the passengers that were drinking beer and not the drivers.

Plastic beverage bottles were the most common type of garbage, followed by paper coffee cups and pop cans.

Gargantua Harbour Road opened May 25

Park staff have finished repairing the Gargantua Harbour Road. The road was opened to vehicles on May 25.

Gargantua Harbour Road closed due to washout

The Gargantua Harbour Road may not be open for the Canadian long-weekend. The road is closed due to a washout. Park staff will be determining what repairs are needed.

Visitor Centre now open

The Visitor Centre at Agawa Bay is now open for park visitors, school groups and travellers on the Trans-Canada highway. 

Campgrounds now open for the season

The Agawa Bay and Rabbit Blanket Lake campgrounds opened on May 3 for the 2008 season.

Sand River flows May 10

   May 10, 2008

Sand River flows as of May 10, 2008. We will start posting 2 images to show a general view of the river and then an image zoomed in on a portion of the river so that you can see the water level relative to boulders. We have posted a close-up image from May 25, 2007. We believe that this water level was adequate for a canoe trip on the Sand River.

                                   May 10, 2008

   May 25, 2007

Mijin Lake Road open

Park staff decided to open the Mijin Lake Road today (May 8,2008). The Gargantua Road is still closed. It may be opened early next week.

Agawa Rock Pictographs and Lake Superior Provincial Park in new IMAX film "Mysteries of the Great Lakes"

The new IMAX film "Mysteries of the Great Lakes" was launched on Saturday, May 3 at Science North in Sudbury.

Many of the main themes in the film feature Lake Superior and Lake Superior Provincial Park. The film focuses on the Lake Sturgeon , Bald Eagle and Caribou. There are pictographs of these creatures at the Agawa Rock Pictographs and they are featured in the film.

There are also aerial views of the Lake Superior Provincial Park coast - especially of Gargantua Harbour and of the Devil's Chair/Tugboat Channel area.

                         IMAX film crew shooting close-ups of the pictographs

The IMAX film crew had to set up the camera and tripod on an underwater boulder for the shot of the whole of Agawa Rock.

The film debuts at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto on May 8 and will be shown at other IMAX theatres around the Great Lakes starting later this spring. Check the calendars at your local IMAX theatre. It is a great film!

Sand River flows slowing down

The spring melt is coming to an end on the Sand River. The rate of water flow is on its way down. Compare this picture from April 29 to the picture taken April 23rd. The forecast is for some rain on May 2/3 and then back to sunshine.

Red Rock Lake ice-free on April 26

The ice on Red Rock Lake went out on April 26. Fenton Lake is ice-free.

There is still lots of snow on the Gargantua and Mijin roads. The roads have to become snow-free and dry before they open for vehicle travel. No estimate yet for an opening date.

When is the best time to do a canoe trip on the Sand River?

Spring, early summer and the fall can be the best times to do a canoe trip on the Sand River because the water levels are adequate for canoeing. In low rainfall summers, the water level on most of the river is not adequate for a good canoe trip. However, in a wet summer, water levels could be high enough to allow for a good trip.

There are no flow gauges on the Sand River, so we estimate water flows/levels by looking at the water levels near the end of the river.

Flow volumes are at a maximum right now (see picture in our April 24, 2008 post below). 

For a regular canoe trip with decent water levels in the shallow sections of the river, the picture below on May 25, 2007, shows a water level that was enough for a good trip. (This picture is of the portion of the Sand River above the bridge at Highway 17. This section of the river has a waterfall and rapids and the canoe route ends upstream of the photo.)

We will try to post pictures of the water levels until the end of June to help you plan your canoe trip. Call the Lake Superior Provincial Park office if you need more help or information. A canoe route description in a free to download PDF is available at lakesuperiorpark.ca

These pictures of the Sand River are also useful for estimating the best time to paddle other rivers that flow into eastern Lake Superior. Rivers like the Pukaskwa River and the Dog River have relatively small watersheds and they are best paddled in the spring or early summer.

The Sand River is in Spring flood

The picture below was taken on April 23. Look how much the flow has increased since April 15! The air temperatures finally warmed up here on the eastern shore of Lake Superior. A near-record amount of snow in the Sand River watershed was just waiting to let go and flow to the big lake.

Waiting for the snow to melt on the Sand River

This photo was taken on April 15 and the water levels are low (if you look closely, you can see fishermen on the left shore).

Look who came by the Red Rock office

Every winter we feed the birds at the Red Rock Park Office. We've had some interesting wildlife coming by this winter. We put out a beaver carcass for the pine marten. Look who else came by.

Agawa Rock Pictographs

We were able to attend the Tourism Keys workshop when it was held in Wawa, Ontario. We had a chance to try creating a short video about the park. Here is one of our projects...

Visit the world famous Agawa Rock Pictographs  in Lake Superior Provincial Park.

The Power of Lake Superior

Here is another of the short videos we created at the Tourism Keys workshop.

Signs of Spring

It is April 9th, but you wouldn't know it to look out the window at the Red Rock Lake Park Office. The robins are perched in a snowstorm and the worms still below 90 cm of snow. Even though winter seems reluctant to leave, many birds are already starting to return. 

Returning birds seen this week are Canada Geese and diving ducks, such as Golden-eye, Ringed-neck and Mergansers. Sandhill Cranes have been seen passing overhead. Some of raptors have also begun to return, including Bald Eagles, Marsh Hawks (Northern Harrier) and Peregrine Falcons.