[2023 – Ontario, Canada –24 km – 1 day – Sleeping Giant Provincial Park]
For the first time this hiking season, I share the trail with many other people.
The Top of the Giant Trail outside Thunder Bay is popular, even on a Thursday, despite the pesky hordes of mosquitos.
Everyone I walk by smells like mosquito repellent.
One woman is wearing a mosquito net over her head.
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Part of the trail is shared between walkers and cyclists, but at the base of the incline to the summit, the trail is only for hikers.
When I arrive at the junction in the early morning, there is not a single bicycle locked up in the bicycle racks.
But on my return, I count twenty bicycles.
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This is a relatively easy trail, despite the 300-metre ascent and the warnings of the difficulty of the trail.
But I take my time anyway, breathing in the Lake Superior air, peering more closely at the flora than I usually do.
I even chat with some fellow hikers, more than simply a greeting, which is unusual for me.
I have all day for this hike.
There is no hurry.
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To hike the Top of the Giant Trail is to climb to the top of the Sleeping Giant, after which the provincial park is named.
From a certain angle, the volcanic rock mesa looks like a stone figure sleeping on its back.
The Ojibway call the Sleeping Giant Nanabijou — The Spirit of Deep-Sea Water.
Legend has it that the giant was real, but was turned to stone when the location of a nearby silver mine was given to the white man.
There are many view points along the route and I stop at all of them, gazing out over Lake Superior.
The summit arrives, and there is a view, but that is not the end of the trail.
Another couple of kilometres takes me to the rock towers, pinnacles of stone separated by a deep chasm.
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Here there are no guardrails to prevent a fall,
no conveniences,
nothing tamed.
Only the fractured rock,
the vast forest lining Lake Superior,
and fresh water as far as the eye can see.
