Lookout North Bay, Ontario

North Bay, Ontario on the shores of Lake Nipissing provided some great adventure and sightseeing.

The community has developed a waterfront with parks, trails, beaches and attractions.  While exploring is became obvious quickly that the waterfront is where the locals hang out. It was busy.  There were cyclists, walkers, people pushing baby strollers, reading books, playing Frisbee and volleyball. There are families having picnics, boats coming and going, people taking pictures (including me) and kids acting cool down at the beach. It helped that the weather was near 28 degrees Celsius during my days in North Bay.

It is always interesting how the perception of the community (based on what we heard and know from when living in BC) is so much different after we have visited the community. Many instances we would of liked to stay allot longer and mingle with the locals. But when researching starts at sunrise and finishes at sunset, there is not much time to mingle.

HOWEVER, I found that some of the nicest people I meet on my travels are the people in the wilderness hiking, boating, canoeing and so forth. Funny how the outdoors attracts nicer people in many cases.

Some of the highlights of North Bay, Ontario include.

The Kate Pace Walkway and the Kinsman Walkway, combine together, creating a hiking, biking and rollerblading pathway from one end of the community to the other.  There were gardens, picnic tables, viewing benches, marinas, attractions and sandy beaches. And it was busy when we were on the trails.  Another cool adventure destination is the  wetland park in the community called the Laurier Woods. Great for hiking and birdwatching. There is a lookout.

But my favourite adventure while in North Bay, Ontario was the trails near Dushesney Falls. It is marketed as a waterfall and not as much as a trail system. But after more research I found out it included a lookout and a whole network of trails crisscrossing a river and eventually hooking up with the waterfalls. There is one trail called the Rigamortous Trail. It is straight up, with loose rocks and tree trunks. I was sweating buckets with my camera backpack on. I loved every minute of it.

There is a lookout too (main picture). I could see for miles overlooking Lake Nipissing and the community of North Bay. On the map there is actually two lookouts. The second lookout was not a lookout at all but a boulder with overgrown trees around it with no views.

The only issue I had were with the trail signs and the map. The trail names on the map did not always match the signs on the trail. Seems many trails have two names. Then there are the trail signs themselves. Seems putting trail signs on posts is not a good idea as the local kids spin the signs around and point them in the wrong directions. The result is I did two extra hill climbs and one backtracking experience. Now that is what I call fun.

Next on my trip plan is Algonquin Park.  It is time for a canoe adventure.