TERRACE BAY — Parks Canada invites you to, over rocks and ripples, take in the splendour of Lake Superior’s north shore.
Or you might paddle through time with interpreters guiding the way.
The Over Rocks and Ripples guided kayaking program is for “new paddlers,” said Liam Giffin at Parks Canada’s Nipigon office.
“Over Rocks and Ripples is a drop-in program,” he said in a phone interview. “Visitors can come in on their own schedule, and it’s a little more accessible to new paddlers. It stays in a very enclosed area, very safe, so if you don’t have a lot of experience or confidence out on the water this is a great starting point.”
Giffin said Over Rocks and Ripples has from two to six participants per one-hour outing, guided by an interpreter.
For more experienced kayakers, there’s A Paddle Through Time. It’s a program for two to 12 participants per session with two interpreters, and has a duration of 1½ to two hours.
Giffin described this program as “a little more rugged. It actually goes out along the shoreline for about one kilometre to a place called Danny’s Cove.
“With that one, you’re actually out on the lake itself, so you get to really get a sense of Lake Superior.
“You feel the swells and the wind and everything, and it takes you across a really beautiful rocky landscape.
“The interpretation focuses on the geological history of that landscape, because the shoreline is composed of really, really ancient rocks that speak to its pre-glacial history.
“That’s a sort of thing you don’t find on the surface, really, anywhere else in Ontario.”
Both programs launch below Aguasabon Falls, southwest of Terrace Bay.
Over Rocks and Ripples is available between 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. daily until Sept. 13 at the Terrace Bay Beach. Details are available on the Parks Canada website.
A Paddle Through Time: A Geological Tour with Parks Canada is available Saturdays until Aug. 29.
Reservations for A Paddle Through Time must be made at least two days in advance through the Parks Canada website or by phone at 807-887-5467.
“The main character is the landscape,” Giffin said of the kayaking experiences on offer.
“The shoreline we find at Terrace Bay is really representative of the north shore of Lake Superior — lots of jagged basalt and, you know, just the beautiful little waterfalls at the base of the Aguasabon River, and then the nice sandy beach.
“It gives a really diverse introduction to the shoreline landscapes of Lake Superior.”
This is the third year for A Paddle Through Time and the first year that Over Rocks and Ripples has been presented as a “full-time” program, Giffin said.
He added that the response from users has been “pretty positive.”
“Our team out at Terrace Bay is really good at this. That’s one piece of feedback we’ve had — about the calibre of our guides and the fact that they’re very welcoming and we have some real storytellers.”
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Aug 04, 2026 at 14:43
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