On our way north, Chutes Provincial Park was full. Luckily, we found a great boondocking site just north of it. On our way south, we headed straight to the same boondocking site. We still wanted to visit the park and hike, so after a great dinner and a good night sleep we did just that.
We had a bit of a celebratory dinner since it was our two year Van-niversary. Here we are somewhere in the bush along Highway 128, celebrating with steaks and wine. Happy Anniversary!
We headed out to the park in the morning and bought a 2-hour pass. For some reason there is no information about it on the provincial parks website about these passes, but you can buy a 2-hour, a 4-hour, or a day pass. Any one of these passes will allow you access to all provincial parks, so you can plan accordingly.
Chutes Provincial Park is a 100 hectare park near Spanish River, with 130 campsites, but only one trail. The Twin Bridges Trail took us over, you guessed it, two bridges. It also offers multiple vantage points of several waterfalls, rapids and logging chutes.
There are seven waterfalls, each one unique and impressive in it’s own way. Here is one of the larger ones. Mostly, we just want to share the sound of the water with you.
The trail follows the River aux Sables through beautiful wooded terrain and is mostly an easy walk.
Every now and then another waterfall comes into sight,
or a calmer and serene view of the river peeks through the trees.
The first portion of the trail is an easy walk, but there are two loops that are a bit more rugged,
We stayed close to the river and turned back after hiking both sides for a total of a 4 km hike.
It was the middle of August and the weather was very hot and humid. The water was very tempting but a swim here would have made for a rather thrilling ride…
One can only imagine the thrill of the log-hopping workmen that moved millions of feet of lumber per year on these northern rivers.
The land around us was once owned by the Spanish River Lumber Company, one of the largest in the region, and many of their logging camp were up river. The loggers would walk up to 100 km from the town of Massey to their camps.
The inspiring scenery is all around us, the same views that inspired the Group of Seven.
So instead of jumping in the water we enjoyed some of the flora, fauna, and geology as they presented themselves to us.
We also found this wonderfully smooth rock outcrop,
and were delighted to find more of these beautifully watermarked rock formations. Do you see any veins of quartz? Those may contain gold, platinum, or copper!
And one more waterfall.
We’ll leave you with one last raging waterfall.
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Pleasant walks and of course the waterfalls were the centre of interest.
Indeed they were! Thanks for coming along!
Stunning scenery. I can’t imagine working on those rapids.
I know, right? What a terrifying job!
I don’t know if I’m just in a blabby mood today, but I ‘ve got lots to say. (I give you permission to just nod and smile at the babbling fool passing through.) First, I love that you are celebrating your Van-niversary. Two years of memories with many more to come. My wife and I will probably never do this, but I like to live vicariously through you. Neither of us likes to be in a vehicle for any length of time and my wife is the type of person who likes to stay in fancy hotels instead of camping. I know COVID messed up your retirement plans, and I hope your retirement doesn’t get delayed much longer.
I traveled a lot with my family when I was a kid, but my parents way of traveling is much different than mine. Dad’s idea of traveling was to drive 700 miles and get up and do the same thing the next day. We did stop along the way (usually at wildlife refuges) because that’s what he was passionate about. It was primarily about getting to our final destination, though both parents had a love for the outdoors. I’m sure the term it’s way more common than I realized, but you have taught me the term “boondocking,” as quite naturally that’s what most of your posts are about.
I like many of the places that you have visited. Your blog is fantastic that way because you always find interesting stuff off the beaten path. Most of the places I’ve visited in the past have day passes. I had no idea there were two and four hour passes. Is that strictly enforced? It strikes me as curious because I don’t understand why anyone (the forest service, etc.) would care if you were there for two hours or four hours. Perhaps this is just a way to collect extra money or control the amount of visitors at one time?
Pete, you may babble any time and we will always love it 🙂 The nice thing about your babbling is that other than the nice compliments, we sometimes see our posts through your eyes and see it in a bit of a fresh light. So than you for taking the time and babbling brain power to comment! Clarification about the different passes – it is true for Canadian provincial parks, I am not sure that it’s the same for US state parks though. I think that the idea behind it is to make it a bit more affordable for people who want to spend a couple of hours and make it seem like a better deal if you are not intending to make full use of a place. Thanks again!
Beautiful. Northern Ontario is such a ruggedly natural spot. You capture it so wonderfully in your pics.
Thank you! I really fell in love with Northern Ontario during these two trips!
Wow – what a gorgeous place. Love the videos. Congratulations on 2 years of traveling in your Van.
Thank you! What two years those were!
I had no idea that you could buy a 2-hour or 4-hour pass! That’s a total game changer. I’m not surprised that Chutes was full, it’s a really nice campground and the hiking trail along the river is awesome. This brings back memories when we were there. Congrats on your van-niversary!
Thanks so much! We also didn’t know about the pass, and the parks don’t advertise this at all.
Happy Van-niversary! That dinner looks like the perfect way to celebrate!
This looks like a wonderful place to visit, and as always, I like any of your videos that feature flowing water!
I can’t imagine the life of a logger…
Thanks, Jim! It was a lovely dinner in a perfect isolated and remote setting. Just how we like it! I will try and have more water videos, but I sometimes forget that I have a video camera on my phone and just go crazy with my camera!
glad the dinner worked out so well!
I love waterfalls! Will have to add this park to my list!
A bit of a trek for you, but if you are ever in Northern Ontario… 🙂
Well I recognize Canada is BIG, but I would like to spend a summer driving around once I’m allowed! I’ll have to get your recommendations whenever I make it that way!
I have lots of recommendations if you make it! It is not too bad of a drive to Ontario. It usually takes us about three days to get to Denver if we don’t make too many stops and take the most direct route, although it isn’t the most exciting route 🙂 Can’t wait to do it again….