Lake Superior Provincial Park - Sleeping Giant Provincial Park - Pukaskwa National Park
Day 1
We arrived at Pukaskwa after driving 3.5 hours from Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. Upon arrival, we checked in at the main gate and received an orientation on hiking and camping in the backcountry. Anyone coming into the park must receive this orientation and agree to the rules of the park. We found a picnic table to reorganize our packs, prepare our meals, and then we made lunch before taking off to our campsite.
We booked our campsite somewhat last minute and there were a couple options available for the backcountry. As this was the last stop on our trip, we decided to take the closest campsite available and it turned out to be a great decision. Not only was it one of the most stunning campsites we've ever been to (definitely top 5), the location was superb. It's just off the main trail, easy access to the water, beautiful views and perfect spot to have a fire and set up a tent.
The 5km hike into Playter Cove - Campsite #1 is along the coastal trail. It starts off through an old controlled burn area, with views overlooking Hattie Cove and opens up into a board walk that crosses a marsh. From there, the trail moves inland through a gorgeous, luscious forest. It's well marked and becomes a little strenuous right after the wetlands. There are a couple of steep sections that required a little more focus and we moved a little slower with our multi day packs on. We took our time watching our footing, but overall wasn't too bad. Just at the bottom of one of the steepest sections, was Playter Cove!
We were pretty excited when we got to our campsite and saw how unreal the site really was. It was a beautiful day and the water looked crystal blue. The site had an outhouse (one of
the nicer backcountry outhouses I've ever used) and a bear proof locker. Walking up to it, there was a beautiful private sandy beach off to one side, that led out to Playter Cove, which is part of Lake Superior and the rest of the site was out on the point that gradually led to the water. We set up camp, went for a swim, had a fire, and just took it all in. The stars at night were insanely beautiful, it was mesmerizing!
Day 2
We woke up early to take off for White River Suspension Bridge and Hook Falls! We decided to do a day hike from our campsite, rather than pack up and set up camp further down the coastline trail, but there are lots of campsite options to do so, if you're so inclined. The hike to White River Suspension Bridge was about 4km from our campsite. The trail was fairly gradual, with only one or two steep sections, but nothing like the hike coming into our campsite. We left early in the morning and the trail was not busy. It's common for people to do the hike out to the bridge as a day hike from Hattie Cove, the round trip its about 18km.
We had it all to ourselves when we arrived! It was fun walking across the suspension bridge looking out at the stunning Chigamiwinigum Falls. The area is beautiful, and there's campsites down by the river, but it was really pretty looking down at the gorge from above. The bridge was definitely a unique sight in the backcountry, spanning 30 meters across!
We continued on the trail another 2km to Hook Falls. The trail from here was mostly downhill or flat running parallel to the river, before opening up to a rocky, beach area. We didn't know what to expect going this little bit further, we debated spending more time around Chigamiwinigum Falls, rather than hiking to Hook Falls, but we made the right decision! Hook Falls was incredible!
We brought our fishing rods and on our second cast we'd caught pickerel for lunch! We spent the afternoon in the sunshine exploring the area. Hook Falls is beautiful and we couldn't miss out on walking across the rocks to get up close and personal with it as well as climb up beside the falls to have a view from above. Down the river is a perfect little swimming hole to enjoy too. It was such an awesome way to spend the day!
We hiked back to our campsite for another afternoon swim. We'd brought a dehydrated meal for dinner and after the day of hiking in the sun were really excited for it. Sadly, it was absolutely disgusting and made me want to vomit because it smelled so awful. This is how I learned to never rely on dehydrated meal in the backcountry if you aren't sure you like it. Luckily, we had left over Mr. Noodle and lots of snacks, so we munched on that instead.
Day 3
We came out of our tent and were greeted with an unreal sunrise! The weather was calling for torrential downpour, so we quickly had breakfast and packed up our tent and took one last selfie at the campsite. We didn't run into anyone on our hike out and we made it back to the parking lot, just before the rain started.
There is only one way in and out of Pukaskwa, so the park rangers make it very clear that you have to sign out with them face to face, so they know they don't need to send a search party after you if they don't hear from you. We said our goodbyes and started the long 8 hour drive back to Sudbury.
