Town of Nipigon + Rainbow Falls Provincial Park

Cochrane, Ontario near by :)

On the road early again today with Nipigon, ON in our sights. We come upon this sign to Cochrane...the other Cochrane in Ontario. We've heard of it in the past and here we are a mere 625 kms away. We'll be heading south so we won't actually visit our sister town. 

 

Nipigon emergency clinic

Chris has been struggling with an ache in his mouth but can't really tell which tooth is bugging him. We head straight to the one dentist in the Town of Nipigon only to find a big For Sale sign on the door. We stop by a pharmacist to see what they think and they suggest we head to the near-by emergency clinic and see a doctor. Well, it turns out to be a great solution. The doctor diagnoses an abscess and steps to take going forward. At least now we know what we are dealing with :)

Zechners Food Market mural

Next we head to the local grocery store in town as we are getting low on things and will be a bit remote for the next 4 days until we reach Sault Ste Marie. Zechners Food Market was established in 1937 and is still locally owned and operated. For a small town it's a great store with good selection. 

Paddle-to-the-Sea

Everyone has heard of or read the kids book "Paddle to the Sea" by Holling Clancy? We both remember the story but had no idea the story began in Nipigon. In the story a young indigenous boy carves a wooden figure of a man in a canoe. He sets Paddle free on the snow and when the spring melt happens, Paddle begins his journey from Lake Nipigon to the Atlantic ocean. The town has embraced the story and has a park with a statue of Paddle in it. 

Nipigon was also in our sights as we want to kayak the Nipigon Narrows, which are part of the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation area. The Nipigon River is the largest tributary of Lake Superior. Fun Fact: Lake Superior is the largest fresh water body of water in the world by surface area. It is the third largest volume wise. 

The Nipigon Bridge - still smoky today

As we get out on the river, we see The Nipigon River Bridge. That was on our list to see so this is a different vantage point to see the magnificent structure. It reminds us of bridges in Spain, built with cables.

Chris trolling his fishing line.

The river is almost impossible to paddle upstream against. We give it several tries and end up aborting and let ourselves be carried back downstream. Eventually we head through a narrow gap and end up in a side bay where Chris pulls out his fishing rod. 

Closest we get to the bridge :)

We enter the river again farther upstream via a narrow under pass. This has us much closer to the bridge but as soon as we hit the channel we are rapidly pushed down stream once again. 

Driving over the Nipigon River Bridge

On our way out of Nipigon, we cross the Nipigon River Bridge we were trying to kayak up to. Another view of it before it's in our rear view mirror.

Good diesel price $1.35/liter

Leaving Nipigon we stop for diesel at a First Nations gas station. We were told it will be the cheapest fuel until Sault St. Marie. We like these prices better than the $1.65/liter ahead we see on our GasBuddy app. 

Lake Superior in the smoke

Time to get underway to Rainbow Falls Provincial Park, our stop for the next two nights. It is a smoky evening so the views of Lake Superior are muted. 

Our home for 2 nights