Ontario's Great Hidden Secret

This year for Thanksgiving weekend I decided to return to the small city in Northern Ontario which was my home for over 3 decades: Elliot Lake. 

Of course, a big part of my agenda was meeting with old friends.  Bonus was that the holiday weekend actually brought back several former students, and it was wonderful to see them again too.

Because it's October, I was struck anew by the sheer natural beauty of the country around Elliot Lake, a natural beauty which has been largely unknown to most Ontarians.  It's high time people got to know this wonderful area better.

                                      Toronto - Elliot Lake Routes    Deer Trail Touring Route

The main route from Toronto to Elliot Lake takes you north along Highway 400.  After you pass Parry Sound the road drops down from 4 lanes to 2 and becomes Highway 69 but it's still the same road, all the way to Sudbury.  And it is, by stages, being 4-laned over the entire distance.  At Sudbury, you turn west on Highway 17, the Trans-Canada Highway.  About 2 kilometres past the little settlement of Serpent River, you come to the junction of Highway 108 and turn north.  Less than 20 minutes later, you arrive in Elliot Lake, after a total drive of about 5.5 hours, plus whatever amounts of time you spend stopped.

The somewhat slower alternative route (from May to October) takes you northwest from Brampton along Highway 10 and Highway 6 to Tobermory.  There, you take the ferry M. S. Chi-Cheemaun across to Manitoulin Island and continue north along Highway 6 to Espanola.  Just past Espanola, you join Highway 17 and continue west as before.  Total driving time by this route is about 6 hours, but the overall travel time is about 2-2.5 hours longer because of the time for the ferry crossing.

As soon as you turn north on Highway 108, you begin climbing.  Although the road seems to roll up and down like a roller coaster, the ups are always greater than the downs.  By the time you arrive in Elliot Lake, 25 kilometres north, you have climbed over 300 metres higher than the shore of Lake Huron -- not that you can really tell exactly where this has happened.

Elliot Lake was originally built, all in one go and very quickly, as a uranium mining town.  During three short years from 1955 to 1958 a complete community with all the necessary services sprang into existence, with a capacity of nearly 15,000 people.  The actual population was probably more than double that amount, with many people living in trailer parks at the various mine sites, or even in tents pitched wherever you could find a piece of level ground.

That's not as easy as it sounds.  This region is full of some of the hardest rock of the primordial Canadian Shield, all heaved up into steep hills and cliffs with the low areas filled by rivers, lakes, and swamps.  "Flat land", as Southern Ontarians think of it, is a rare luxury, and that's an understatement.  The community was built all around the slopes of a hill which qualified because it wasn't nearly as steep as most of the other hills nearby.  Of course, "steep" is a relative word -- particular when you try to hike up that hill with an armload of merchandise from downtown or drive up it during a winter snowstorm!

The uranium industry, like all other resource-based industries, was subject to waves of boom and bust.  Elliot Lake is no exception.  During the mining years, from 1955 to 1995, the community experienced two major booms and two crashes.  The second boom gave rise to a sizable amount of new construction, with three new subdivisions springing up.  The largest of these is located some distance apart from the main part of the city, and is therefore known locally simply as "the sub."

When the second boom collapsed, the mining companies were left with a huge stock of nearly-new housing on their hands, and it was plain that this time the mining was over for good.  Rather than just bulldoze it all, the companies transferred all this new housing to a non-profit corporation called Elliot Lake Retirement Living, and the city was well on its way with the reputation by which most Canadians know it today, as one of the most unusual retirement communities in the world.

Well, that's enough history to go on with.  Time to see what Elliot Lake looks like today.  Because of its particular and unusual location, there is almost no street in Elliot Lake that doesn't offer some view of a hill, usually covered with forest.  Some of the views are spectacular indeed.  When I lived here, I would see this panorama every day as I drove down to Timmy's on the highway for my morning coffee, and in 32 years I never tired of it.

That tall hill across the valley with towers on top is the Fire Tower Lookout hill.  Originally it was the location of one of the network of observation towers built across the province's forest country to aid in spotting forest fires.  The tower system was eventually rendered obsolete by aerial spotting, but the framework of the tower is still there.  The hill's summit has been developed as a park, with scenic views to the east, south, and west from an observation deck on the highest point.  It's also the crossing point of numerous hiking trails that wind through the forest up and down the range of hills.

This small city sits in between two lakes, and has a number of access points to the shorelines of both.  The larger one, Elliot Lake itself, is several kilometres long with the city at its eastern end.  On its shores are two beaches, a boat launch area, and a picnic ground, all connected by a popular walking trail.  Here are two early-morning views of Elliot Lake from the boat launch:

And this is the view from the Spine Road Beach Park, which is also the starting point of more forest trails extending to the west.

Also adjacent to the downtown area is the smaller Horne Lake.  On its shore, right by the highway, is located the memorial to the miners of Elliot Lake who died as a result of the mining operations.  Some of the many names are the men who lost their lives in mining accidents; many more, though, are the men who died from lung illnesses contracted during their working lives.  I knew several of them, and taught the children of many more.

The small park around the memorial also connects with the walking trail system.  In fact, the woods all around Elliot Lake are threaded by hundreds of kilometres of foot trails, bicycle trails, and trails for motorized recreation used in summer by ATVs and in winter by snowmobiles.  Set amongst the trees are hundreds of streams and lakes.  The whole region is an outdoors paradise.

But you don't have to be an outdoorsy type to enjoy this region.  I'm certainly not!  I like to describe myself as one of the all-time great indoorsmen!  But I can certainly enjoy and appreciate the beauty and quiet of the northern woods, and this is where the real secret attraction comes in.

One of my first adventures when I arrived in Elliot Lake was to drive the scenic back-country route along secondary highways which winds northwest to the valley of the Little White River, and then follows that river southwest towards the small town of Iron Bridge.  In the 1990s this incredibly beautiful touring route was rebranded as the "Deer Trail".  And there's no better time to tour the Deer Trail than during the fall colour season.  While the colours around here normally peak right at the beginning of October, they are running about 2 weeks late this year, so I got some incredible views of the Deer Trail in all its autumn glory.

To reach the Deer Trail, simply leave Elliot Lake heading north.  The scenery is already lovely, of course.  After about ten minutes you will arrive at a roadside sign stating "Highway 108 Ends, Highway 639 North."  The provincial King's (primary) Highway turns into a secondary highway at this point simply because at this point, on your right, was the site of the last uranium mine at the north end of the mining district.  Before proceeding any farther north, it is important to read IN DETAIL my own carefully-crafted driver's safety notice -- especially if you are not a northerner.

Everyone okay with that now?  Actually, don't get me wrong.  There are a few curves with the wire-strung-on-posts guardlines.  These roads are perfectly safe to drive on -- just don't imagine that you are going to go all the way at anything like the speed limit.  Besides, you want time to slow down and enjoy the scenery -- that's the whole point of the trip around the Deer Trail to begin with!  And there are other bonuses.  These roads are not busy, and there are very few advertising signs -- in many parts of the tour, none at all.  The wilderness is gorgeous, hardly even spoiled by the rustic road winding through it.  

The very first curve after you roll onto the secondary highway 639 runs smack through the middle of a marsh, and it's quite common in warmer weather to see one or more turtles making their way across the road right here.  Other wildlife you may well spot along the route include deer and moose, smaller mammals such as squirrels and chipmunks, birds -- including bald eagles and hawks -- and more.

About 10 minutes north you find yourself dropping into a deep valley which holds Mississagi Provincial Park, a natural wildlife reserve.  Here you can find hiking trails in several directions.  A little farther on, turn off to the left at the sign to "Flack Lake" for a beautiful view of one of the larger lakes in the region.  It's just a few hundred metres off the main road.

Not long after the Flack Lake turnoff, you will cross the Boland River.  Ahead of you looms the single highest and steepest hill on the route.  This one can certainly be a challenge if you are hauling a large trailer -- which I don't recommend on this road.  It's a stiff 1.5 km of nonstop climb to the top.  Pull off on the right at the crest of the hill, get out, and look backwards for this amazing view of Flack Lake in the distance behind you.

A short distance ahead, you come to this even longer, equally steep descent into the valley of the Little White River.  Nothing highlights the steepness of the road quite so much as the blue barrels placed at intervals all down the left side -- they contain sand, to be spread under the wheels during winter if you lose traction on the snow and ice!  Partway down the long hill, on the right, is a turnoff which gives access to a beautiful hiking trail around Cobre Lake.

And about 30 minutes or so after leaving Elliot Lake you reach the end of Highway 639 at the junction of Highway 546.  You now turn left for the 64 kilometre run down to Iron Bridge.  Up until now, the road has been fairly straight.  But here on 546 is where the snake bends really come into play.

You'll have many views of steep or even sheer rocky hills -- mountains, really -- looming on either side of the waterway.

Most of the way, the road follows the river -- often within sight of it -- and also crosses the river twice.  The bridges are single-lane Bailey bridges -- and the only rule of the road here is that you yield to anyone already on the bridge.  The second crossing comes in this narrow, steep-sided valley which I for one have no hesitation in calling a gorge or canyon.

The river looks innocuous enough at autumn low water, but in spring it becomes a foaming torrent which is quite capable of washing out the road altogether.

About 35 minutes southwest the road curves away from the river and climbs a long steady slope up to the height of land on the south side of the valley.  It then drops down, with many curves, snakes around the shore of Constance Lake, and starts into the farming area in the hills north of Iron Bridge.  Again you come to a dead end.  A left turn will take you to Iron Bridge on Trans Canada Highway 17.  But if you are heading for Sault Ste. Marie, turn right onto Highway 554 and follow that road to its end at Highway 129, then turn left (south) on 129 to come out to the Trans Canada at Thessalon.  Just after you turn south on 129, be sure to watch for this beauty spot -- Appleby Lake -- on your right side.

If you take the road to Iron Bridge, you will come in a little less than 10 minutes into that village and so to Highway 17.  Turn left (east) and enjoy more scenery along the meandering course of the majestic Mississagi River to Blind River.  From there, 20 more minutes east brings you to the junction of Highway 108, where you can return north to Elliot Lake.

Altogether, it's possible to drive right around the entire circuit in 2.5 hours.  But why rush?  You're here to enjoy the scenery, so take your time, stop often, and get out to enjoy the silence of true wilderness.  There's so little traffic that you can usually hear another vehicle approaching anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes before it even comes in sight.  And how often, in our frantic, hectic lives, can we say that with any degree of truth?

I had many reasons for leaving Elliot Lake and resettling in southern Ontario.  But not all of me went along for the move.  There's still a sizable chunk of my heart for which this little city, and the beautiful country in which it's located, will always be "home".  If you do choose to visit here, I hope you'll understand a bit better afterwards just why it's so special to me.