The Rest of the Province
Niagara Falls provides a spectacular day’s outing from Toronto, and the storybook village of Niagara-on-the-Lake offers a tranquil environment in which to enjoy the many wines of this region. Heading west, the north shore of Lake Erie is dotted with resorts and good beaches; St Thomas and Port Stanley are particularly popular. North of this, between Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Huron, are London and Stratford, home of Canada’s annual Shakespeare festival. Kitchener-Waterloo offers the chance to see Ontario’s pioneer past in the Mennonite settlers of this region. Further north, Midland commands a spectacular view of the Georgian Bay Lake District, a popular resort area. Various minor ski resorts are located around Georgian Bay, mostly on the Niagara Escarpment. About 2.5 hours north of Toronto is the protected wilderness of Algonquin Park, Ontario’s oldest provincial park; 7600 sq km (2934 sq miles) of forest and lakeland provide the perfect environment for outdoor recreation, particularly canoeing and hiking.
At the eastern end of Lake Superior, Sault Ste Marie straddles the US border and is an important commercial centre. It is also a good starting point for trips to the northern and western wildernesses. A railway (Algoma) and the Trans-Canada Highway head westwards around the north shore of Lake Superior. The principal attraction here is the Lake Superior Provincial Park, a region with many beautiful ravines, lakes and waterfalls but chiefly famed for the Agawa Rock Pictographs. Nearby is the hunting and fishing resort of White River.
The Highway continues to Thunder Bay, the western terminus of the St Lawrence Seaway. Fantastic canyons and rock formations can be seen between Thunder Bay and Lake Nipigon; the lake itself and the town of the same name are popular resorts in the heart of historic Native American country.
The far north and west of the province is a largely uninhabited wilderness of lakes, swamps and forests. The main trans-Canadian railway crosses Ontario at about 50°N; north of that, there are very few roads and only one railway line, which follows the Moose River to Moose Factory, one of several small settlements on the shores of James and Hudson Bays.
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