Five reasons to stop at Kakabeka Falls, but we won’t camp there again
Day 4 and we're still in Ontario
As the Destination Northern Ontario website proclaims, there are five good reasons you must stop at Kakabeka Falls when you’re next in Northwestern Ontario:
1. Easy to get to
Like many other waterfalls in Northwest Ontario, Kakabeka Falls is easily accessible. In fact, it's literally right off Highway 11/17 about 30 kilometres west of Thunder Bay. You exit, you park, and the first view of the waterfalls is right there, steps from your car.
2. The falls are not commercialized
Kakabeka Falls is located within Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park and thus is set in a wilderness setting. The closest thing to commercialization would be the few souvenirs to purchase at the Ontario Parks Store in the Visitor Centre.
3. Trails and viewing decks are easily accessed
The Boardwalk Trail begins at the parking lot and wraps around the falls. It is wheelchair accessible with viewing platforms along the trail. The view from the pedestrian bridge is amazing.
4. Great views of the falls from many angles
The boardwalks and viewing decks make it possible to see the falls from various spots.
5. It's a bargain!
For the price of parking a mere couple of bucks an hour, you can visit the waterfalls—the second-highest waterfalls open year-round in Ontario. Not sure what other attractions can be so beautiful to see and yet so inexpensive. You can easily tour the waterfall by paying only for an hour of parking.
Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park offers tent and RV camping in three campgrounds: Whispering Hills, Riverside and Fern’s Edge.
Whispering Hills has electrical hookups with some pull-through campsites. Only a few campsites in this campground do not have electricity. Amenities include comfort stations, laundry facilities and showers. The trailer sanitary station is located at the entrance to the campground.
Located close to the river and falls, which was our choice, Riverside and Fern’s Edge offer non-electrical campsites. Amenities include a comfort station and vault privies, according to the parks website.
We never could find the vault privies and the comfort station, well, the men’s washroom was locked shut the two times we made the trek up the hill from our campsite.
The showers were distant and poorly signed. We almost gave up finding them.
The noise of traffic on the adjacent Trans-Canada Highway was a bother, even during the night.
So . . . we won’t be overnighting at Kakabeka again.
Now, we did enjoy a wonderful supper of Lake Nipigon whitefish panfried in butter on our new Coleman Cascade 222 camp stove that we fired up for the first time.
We picked up the fish earlier in the day from The Fish Shop, Liisa Karkkainen's famous store just off the Trans-Canada Highway 11/17 20 minutes east of Thunder Bay—a must-visit any time we’re in that neck of the woods.
We also picked up smoked maple salmon nuggets and smoked whitefish that served us well as snacks for several days.
The carrot cake that is made for Lisa by a retired school teacher gentleman was divine.
This time, we did not stop at Thunder Oak Cheese Farm for the finest Gouda made in Ontario, and we still have to stop at Stanley Hill Bison for a meat fix.
Next time.