Pukaskwa National Park

Ontario'S Only Wilderness National Park, About 1,878 Square Kilometres On The North Shore Of Lake Superior; The Coastal Hiking Trail Runs 60km Along A Shore With No Road, And Anishinaabe Pukaskwa Pits Are Found Along It · Marathon, Ontario

Pukaskwa is ONTARIO'S ONLY WILDERNESS NATIONAL PARK - about one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight square kilometres of Canadian Shield and boreal forest on the north shore of Lake Superior, with a single short road into one corner and nothing at all in the rest of it. The COASTAL HIKING TRAIL runs sixty kilometres south along a shoreline with no road, no settlement and no easy way out, over headlands and cobble beaches, and it is among the hardest and best long walks in eastern Canada. Along that coast are PUKASKWA PITS - stone depressions built into the cobble beaches by Anishinaabe people, whose purpose is still not fully understood and which are protected and not to be entered. For most visitors the park is the day-use end: the boardwalk to Halfway Lake, the suspension bridge over the White River at Chigamiwinigum Falls, and Hattie Cove, where you can swim in Superior if you are brave.

Highway 627 via Heron Bay, north shore of Lake Superior, Marathon, Ontario, Canada

THE OPERATING SEASON RUNS ROUGHLY MID-MAY OR EARLY JUNE TO EARLY OCTOBER, when the Hattie Cove campground, the visitor centre and the services are open and a PARKS CANADA ENTRY FEE APPLIES, recently around CAD 6-9 per adult daily with a Discovery Pass covering it. OUTSIDE THE SEASON THE PARK IS EFFECTIVELY CLOSED - the road is not maintained and there are no services. THE COASTAL HIKING TRAIL AND ALL BACKCOUNTRY TRAVEL REQUIRE REGISTRATION AND DE-REGISTRATION with Parks Canada, and the trail is a SERIOUS 60KM WILDERNESS ROUTE that takes most parties five to eight days one way with a boat shuttle arranged to get back. Day-use trails from Hattie Cove are short and well made by comparison. Highway 627 from Highway 17 is paved; Marathon is the nearest town with services.

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