Destination Guides: Kakabeka Falls, Ontario, Canada

Are you going to travel along the Trans Canada (Highway 17) through northwestern Ontario, at some time in the near future? Maybe you are planning to take the Lake Superior Circle Route. This can prove to be a wonderful experience for you and your family.

Picturesque Kakabeka Falls, located beside the Kaministiquia River, is an ideal travel destination to add to your travel itinerary, if you are looking for a small town with excellent camping and shopping facilities. Here, you can search for fossils in among the crumbling shale along the river, go swimming or hiking in the summer, as well as skiing during the winter months.

Kakabeka Falls is located approximately 25 km west of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada on Highway 17.
The name Kakabeka Falls, meaning thundering water in the Kaminsitiquia River,  refers to the waterfalls, located in the Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park.

The bridge located just above the waterfalls, as well as numerous wooden walkways and observation decks in the park, make it possible for tourists to photograph the water plunging over the cliff into the deep gorge.

Historically, the legend of Green Mantle tells the story of an Ojibwe chief and his daughter Green Mantle, who sacrificed her life to save their people from the Sioux by leading them over the one hundred and thirty foot waterfalls on the Kaministiquia River at Kakabeka Falls. Local residents insist that at times, she is still visible in the mist.

Like Niagara Falls, the Niagara of the North, also has water diverted for power generation.

Kakabeka Falls is a small, quiet town with an array of shops, motels and restaurants, dedicated to serving a tourist population. The town hosts a street fair every August. Note that Kakabeka Falls is located in a rolling-hills farming area, in among a number of other small towns that also welcome tourists to their fall fairs and offer locally grown produce.

Historically, the Kaministiquia River was the route used by the settlers who came to northwestern Ontario, along with many voyageurs, fur traders, explorers and missionaries forced to portage the waterfalls, as they traveled eastward to Lake Superior.

Note the words of the Canadian writer, George Munroe Grant, as he spoke about the water, in the year 1882.

"One may sit by the hour spell-bound and study the motion of color of this wondrous creation. The foam is softer in appearance than the finest wool, more translucent than alabaster, and behind it the more solid mass of falling water is seen, by gleams and flashes, in color and transparency like the purest amber."

Are you thinking about adding Kakabeka Falls to your tourist agenda? You will be glad you did.