Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park and Mount McKay
Kakabeka Falls are massive. Dropping 130 feet, The Kaminiquistia River barrels over the Precambrian chert caprock and down the gorge at an average rate of 1,800 cubic feet per second here, eroding the soft shale underneath the falls and along the gorge walls with incredible force. The morning we arrived they had released a dam upriver and flow was estimated at over 10,500 cubic feet per second, which was impressive to even the employees we spoke to. In addition to the falls, the park also protects some of the oldest fossils in the world – rare stromatolites, which are 2 billion year old fossilized blue-green algae found in the chert. Growing in shallow seas, the algae would settle on top of each other in columnar patterns; when the rock is cross-sectioned, the columns produce amazing patterns.
Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
Me, Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
View upriver from Portage Trail, Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
Polished cross-section of chert with stromatolites, Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
Unpolished, natural stromatolites, Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada
While stopping in the Thunder Bay area we also took a drive up Mount McKay that provides overlooks onto the city of Thunder Bay and Lake Superior:
Mount McKay Lookout, Ontario, Canada
Mount McKay Lookout, Ontario, Canada
Mount McKay Lookout, Ontario, Canada
Mount McKay Lookout, Ontario, Canada
I am LOVING your blog- I absolutely LOVE waterfalls – there is just something awesome about them! 🙂
Thank you for reading, Dana, and I’m happy you’re enjoying the blog! I have a love of waterfalls too – I have a category on my blog for them and I think I must have done over a hundred waterfalls hikes now in the past two years. Can’t get enough!
That’s so awesome! 🙂
Awesome set!
Thank you, John!
That is one serious waterfall! I am always amazed at how many large waterfalls there are on the north side of the Great Lakes.
I was amazed how many waterfalls flow into Lake Superior, particularly on the north side like you said, and from Minnesota, bubbasuess. We didn’t really go around the north side of any other Great Lakes though, only the south and west sides of Huron and Ontario.