Some places are defined by the people who pass through them. In Thunder Bay, they’ve come for centuries: voyageurs paddling canoes across Lake Superior, traders hauling furs to the coast, and a young man named Terry Fox running into history on one good leg. Here on the edge of the world’s largest freshwater lake, every journey leaves its mark.
Terry Fox and the Marathon of Hope
Photo Credit: Jenn Coleman.
If you were an American in 1980, you likely remember the Miracle on Ice, when a scrappy, youthful U.S. hockey team stunned the world by defeating the seasoned Soviet squad at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics. That same year, another young athlete was capturing hearts on a much longer playing field.
In April 1980, 21-year-old Terry Fox set out on his Marathon of Hope, running across Canada to raise money and awareness for cancer research on one leg. Over 143 days, he covered 3,339 miles from the Atlantic coast to Thunder Bay, Ontario, becoming the youngest Companion of the Order of Canada and earning the Lou Marsh Award as the nation’s top athlete. His run ended here on September 1, when the cancer returned. Seven months later, he was gone.
Today, the Terry Fox Monument marks the place where his journey stopped. But for travelers, Thunder Bay is often where journeys begin. Perched at the head of Lake Superior, this northern outpost has drawn voyagers for centuries, its landscapes shaped over a billion years, its stories carried forward by wind, water, and the people who call it home.
A Billion Years in the Making
Photo Credit: Jenn Coleman.
A billion years before canoes and cargo reached these shores, molten rock pushed toward the surface, creating copper, silver, and amethyst, along with striking geological formations like dikes and sills. During the Ice Age, glaciers carved Lake Superior’s basin and split open Ouimet Canyon, leaving behind a rare botanical time capsule—alpine flowers thriving 600 miles south of their nearest kin.
Visitors can view the canyon from scenic lookouts in Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park or head to nearby Eagle Canyon to cross Canada’s longest suspension bridge or zip down the country’s longest zip line. A few miles away, amethyst mines invite treasure hunters to sift through purple crystals born of that ancient volcanic past.
The Sleeping Giant and Ojibway Legend
Photo Credit: Jenn Coleman.
From here, the Sibley Peninsula stretches 32 miles into Lake Superior, ending in the iconic silhouette of the Sleeping Giant. This series of towering mesas, formed by the erosion of diabase sills, shelters Thunder Bay’s harbor. Storms echoing off its cliffs once inspired the city’s name.
According to Ojibway legend, the Giant is Nanabijou, a benevolent god who gifted the Ojibway people a sacred silver vein. When the Sioux sought to claim it, they sent a scout who betrayed the secret to white traders. In anger, Nanabijou summoned a storm to drown the intruders, then lay down across the bay to guard the silver for eternity.
Today, the climb to the Giant’s Head is the region’s highest-rated hike, winding through boreal forest before ascending nearly 1,000 feet to panoramic views of Lake Superior. For a shorter trek, the Sea Lion Trail offers a less-than-two-mile round trip to a natural stone arch with views of the Giant across the water. Even non-hikers make the pilgrimage to the 150-year-old Silver Islet General Store for fresh-baked treats and tea. Once part of a mine that yielded $3.25 million in silver, it’s now a favorite stop on the Lake Superior Circle Tour.
From Fur Trade to Living History
Photo Credit: Jenn Coleman.
In the early 1800s, Thunder Bay was a hub for the fur trade. Fort William, then the largest fur trading post in the world, now stands as one of Canada’s premier living history museums. Costumed interpreters bring 1815 to life, showing how goods from deep in the Canadian interior made their way east across the Great Lakes. Guides also share how the Ojibway traded copper from this region as far south as Mexico centuries before Europeans arrived.
Chasing Waterfalls
Photo Credit: Jenn Coleman.
Just 20 minutes from the fort, Kakabeka Falls thunders 130 feet into a gorge. Known as the “Niagara of the North,” it once posed a formidable obstacle for voyageurs. Today, boardwalks provide effortless access to sweeping viewpoints.
Less than an hour farther, Pigeon River Provincial Park marks the U.S.–Canada border and features the 120-foot High Falls. Adventurers can see two waterfalls over 100 feet tall in one day and, with a passport, hike in two countries before sunset.
A Place Where History and Nature Converge
Photo Credit: Jenn Coleman.
Thunder Bay’s story is etched in stone, whispered in legend, and immortalized in the footsteps of those who have journeyed here—whether in birchbark canoes, on a prosthetic leg, or in well-worn hiking boots. It’s a place where history and nature converge, inspiring new generations to explore, endure, and dream.
Hi! We are Jenn and Ed Coleman aka Coleman Concierge. In a nutshell, we are a Huntsville-based Gen X couple sharing our stories of amazing adventures through activity-driven transformational and experiential travel.