Oh, Canada: So beautiful, so close

Think about the Pacific Coast Highway or maybe the shores of Maine, those spectacularly rare places where rock cliffs tumble majestically to the sea. Now think about the places where a Midwesterner can get in a day of driving.

It may be hard to believe, but those two -- spectacular coastline and the Midwest -- are not mutually exclusive. If you can make it to the northern shore of Lake Superior, you'll see what I mean.

I've lived in southern Michigan for most of my life and like to think I know what the region offers. I've hunted Ohio and Michigan, fished the Great Lakes from both the U.S. and Canadian sides, and hiked, biked and camped the north woods.

But I have to admit I was dumbfounded the first time I crossed into Canada at Sault Ste. Marie and turned northwest. Once you clear Sault Ste. Marie, which on the Canadian side looks a lot like any U.S. city but with a Beer Store, the transformation is almost immediate. Forested, rocky hills roll to the horizon. Rivers spill down down hillsides in photo-opp waterfalls. Moose crossing signs punctuate Highway 17. Enormous bare rocks loom over the icy blue water of Lake Superior and form the abrupt southern edge of the Canadian Shield, where retreating glaciers scoured the rock foundation of all but a thin layer of soil from the Great Lakes to the Arctic.

Lake Superior Provincial Park is an absolute spectacle. Hardly anyone goes there. And it's pretty darned close to home.

Getting there

It's really all about where you are in relation to Sault Ste. Marie. If you're coming from Ohio or Indiana, you'll need nearly six hours of freeway driving to get from the Michigan line across the Mackinac Bridge and over to the Soo.

The good news is there are plenty of diversions along the way, including Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island (that's not a typo; everything is spelled Mackinac except Mackinaw City and they're all pronounced the same) and the Soo Locks, where huge cargo ships drop from Lake Superior's altitude to Lake Huron's.

If you fish, the St. Marys River between Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, is quickly becoming a world-class Atlantic salmon fishery, and that's not even the half of it. The river also gets runs of steelhead, king salmon, coho salmon and pink salmon that make for high-end fishing from April 1 until everything ices over.

Once you're through Sault Ste. Marie, the drive up the coast is beautiful and decreasingly populous. You pass several provincial parks along the way -- Pancake Bay, Batchawana and Lake Superior -- and it's about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Sault Ste. Marie to Wawa. Wawa sits near the north end of Lake Superior Provincial Park. It's a full-service town best known as the jumping-off point for fly-in fishing and hunting trips in the Canadian bush.

Crossing into Canada is easy. Bring a passport and be prepared to answer a few simple questions about your intent, asked by friendly, officious Canadians. The U.S. Customs folks are notorious for being a little less friendly, but I've always found that if you answer their questions briefly and accurately, and don't reek of Cuban cigars or other unusual types of smoke, they'll let you slide through with minimal hassle.

One tip: If you're taking any expensive personal items -- a laptop computer or a video camera, for instance -- it might be worth stopping at the U.S. Customs office before you leave the country for a Form 4457. That will prove you owned the items before you left the country so you won't have to pay duty on them. You show the Customs officer the stuff and he or she signs the form. It took me about five minutes for two items.
If you're taking a hunting rifle, definitely get the form, but also check with Canadian officials about what you'll need to take a weapon into their country. You can do it -- many people do -- but there is paperwork.

Camping

Ontario's provincial parks offer several campgrounds along Highway 17 between Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa. Pancake Bay has one, and Lake Superior has three. Aside from the Crescent Lake Campground in Lake Superior Provincial Park, which is primitive, all offer electrical sites and at least one restroom with flush toilets and showers. Camp sites are about $31 Canadian per night.

If you plan to go, try to book a campsite in advance by visiting www.ontarioparks.com. Here's why: Pancake Bay and the Agawa Bay campground in Lake Superior PP are both situated on a narrow strip of land in between Highway 17 and Lake Superior. If you can score a site right on Lake Superior, that's a home run. If you get relegated to the back of the loop, you're pretty much screwed. Those campsites can be seen from the highway, and you can rest assured (if you can rest at all) that the highway noise will be brutal.

A slightly lower profile campground is the Rabbit Blanket Lake Campground at the northern end of Lake Superior PP. That campground sits on placid Rabbit Blanket Lake, and while the sites close to the highway can be a bit loud, there are plenty farther back where the loudest sound you'll hear are the loons.

Hardier souls can also opt for back-country camping, which obviously involves a different set of rules than car camping. And keep in mind that all the parks mentioned here are in bear country, so it's wise to be mindful of the smells you're giving off at your campsite. In three days of camping our site was visited by nothing more than a bold chipmunk, but 3 a.m. is the wrong time to wake up to grunts and snuffles and realize you forgot to move your Snickers stash from the backpack you're using as a pillow.

The sights

If hiking to panoramic vistas is your thing, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything in the Midwest that bests Lake Superior Provincial Park. Hikes range from 10 minutes to a week or more, with everything in between, and even the shortest walks offer a fantastic payoff.

Trails pass through hilly forests of spruce and birch, where rocks and roots make it imperative to pay attention to your feet. That can be hard to do when you catch a glimpse of Lake Superior or a smaller inland lake such as Orphan Lake.

The Orphan Lake Trail climbs to its namesake, then continues on to a sweeping beach where the waves stack up smooth rounded pebbles for as far as you can see. Just watching the water is fascinating here. Each rising wave gives off an aquamarine glow, then curls over and moves thousands of small rocks with a click-clack rhythm. The loop continues with a stop at a gorgeous, easy-to-reach waterfall on the Baldhead River. A few easy steps across the rocks put you right where the action is. The entire trail can be covered in under three hours with moderate exertion.

One of the most amazing sights in the park sits at the end of the shortest trail: the eons-old pictographs, rock drawings left by the Ojibwa on a bare cliff facing Lake Superior. Part of the trail cuts smack-dab down the middle of a narrow chasm formed by enormous splitting rocks. But there's no mistaking that the pictographs are the star.

Creatures real and mythical were painted on the rocks as much as 1,500 years ago. The approach is narrow, angled and slick, even on a dry day, and indeed shuts down if Lake Superior's wave action is too boisterous. But it's worth the effort, and the hardy can step off the rocks and swim among the submerged boulders.

The park is home to black bears, moose and gray wolves, but sightings can be infrequent during summer. Those critters know where the people are and tend to avoid us. Loons and bald eagles aren't too hard to find, however. Nor are those brassy chipmunks.