Wawa, No (Live) Moose, But Plenty of Poutine

Scenic High Falls, Wawa, Ontario

Leaving Rainbow Springs Provincial Park we crossed northern Ontario and followed along the shore of Lake Superior.  We were headed for Wawa.  I had found it on the map, on the eastern shore of Lake Superior, in the middle of nowhere. We like the middle of nowhere, so we planned on spending a week. On the way we were already “in the middle of nowhere,” seeing only lakes and rivers and forrest, interrupted occasionally by a small town. There were lots of signs warning of moose crossings, but we had yet to see one. We stopped in White River for gas and had an excellent lunch at the Continental Restaurant. Homemade tomato rice soup and a turkey club made with real turkey breast.  Another reason we like traveling the back roads is you get away from chain restaurants and fast food joints on every exit of the interstates. You cannot distinguish one exit from another, one state from another, the offerings are always some combination of the same six chains. Here in the middle of nowhere we were finding great food.  We’d had a great shore lunch and a German dinner at Huber’s Resort, now this lunch. Life is good.

It was cool, raining on and off and very foggy when we arrived at the Wawa RV resort. It is a good size resort, fairly empty, on a dammed up river, not to far from town and a nine hole golf course. It looked just about perfect. We stopped in Young’s General store, an old building housing a store selling basic supplies, fishing gear, souvenirs and odds and ends. The front porch had a stuffed moose, it may be the only one we see on the trip. We also stop at the Wawa Visitors Center, not just to see what there is to do in the area, but also to take pictures of their rather large Canadian Goose. So far we are seeing all this wildlife, none it real.

The only moose we saw in Ontario

The Wawa Goose

The weather turned sunny but it remained cool and windy for the rest of our stay. Here’s how we spent our week in Wawa. We drove to see Lake Superior from its eastern shore and came upon dark grey waves and choppy seas, not the placid blue expanse we saw from Whitefish Point in Michigan or Thunder Bay to the west.  While the weather wasn’t real bad it was easy to visualize just how rough Superior might get.

Lake Superior

We spent some time fishing in the river. The water is not very deep and you have to paddle and cast around the stumps, logs and branches from the trees that were flooded out by the dam. We found the fish small and few and far between. We drove further into the back country  down a gravel back road, over Steep Hill dam and through the “badlands,” a treeless area where you can see the bedrock of the Canadian shield. (we also passed an abandoned mine … so the treeless part may not have been natural). We saw some seaplanes parked on Lake Wawa and stop in for a brochure on flying north for fishing. We decided maybe we’d do that on a future trip. We played golf. We picnicked at Scenic High Falls. All in all, it was one of the more scenic areas in an already scenic Province.

The Badlands

An Abandoned Mine

On the culinary side it was a winner. We discovered Canadian french fries, or home fries. Large servings of hand cut, deep fried, generously salted, pieces of heaven. We have been unable, in the rest of our travels through Canada, to pass these french fry stands by. Many offer poutine, which is the fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy, but we always stick with the plain ones. Our nod to healthy eating.

A Wawa Sunset