Page 103 - Travel Guide to Canada 2019

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MATTAWA VOYAGEUR
COUNTRY
Voyageurs once travelled through the
junction of the Mattawa and Ottawa
rivers as they paddled from Montréal to
the Great Lakes. These watery trails were
a big part of opening Canada to the west.

The wilderness along these routes still
draws paddlers from afar—they come for
the friendly bilingual community, the
excellent canoeing and kayaking, the
landscape of windswept pines and the
granite outcrops of the Canadian Shield.
At the height of summer, the annual
four-day Mattawa Voyageur Days includes
canoe races, live music and fi shing
competitions (www.voyageurdays.com).
NATURE’S HARMONY ECOLODGE, MATTAWA • DESTINATION ONTARIO
TEMISKAMING SHORES
The town of Temiskaming Shores, and its COCHRANE private campgrounds.
surrounding area, is an outdoor adventur- The Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat is the only Manitoulin Island is also a part of North-
er’s dream. Long before the ice age, this area enclosed facility in the world dedicated eastern Ontario and has many summertime
was mountainous, but the movement of solely to polar bears. Cochrane is also the powwows and festivals. Manitoulin is home
enormous sheets of ice wore them down, departure station for the popular Polar Bear to six Anishinaabe First Nations communi-
leaving what is still Ontario’s highest Express passenger train to the remote James ties and is a stop along the Georgian Bay
point—Ishpatina Ridge in Lady Evelyn- Bay communities of Moosonee and Moose Coastal Route, a popular road trip for RVers,
Smoothwater Provincial Park. The town sits Factory (www.cochraneontario.com). drivers and motorcyclists that circles Georgian
on a long shoreline and is surrounded by Bay, connecting the area’s Manitoulin Island,
farming communities, a cheese factory, DRIVING TO EXPLORE Sudbury and French River. Manitoulin—
beautiful beaches and has almost unlimited Doing a loop driving tour may be one of the which claims to be the world’s largest fresh-
boating in summer and snowmobiling, best ways to experience this part of water island—boasts fantastic beaches,

tubing and snowshoeing in winter. The Clay Northern Ontario. Even surrounded by fi shing opportunities and a wealth of cultural
Belt tract of fertile soil seems to hold the wilderness, there is a system of well-paved events and art galleries.
heat in the summer months, creating a roads and small communities with all the
pleasant mini-climate that extends the services a road-tripper would need. RVers
season for warm weather activities. Fishing and campers will fi nd sites at Lady Evelyn-
is excellent. Anglers cast their lines for Smoothwater, Killarney and French River
trout, walleye and bass. The sport is provincial parks, as well as at numerous
year-round. When Lake Temiskaming
freezes, hundreds of fi shing huts appear CEDAR MEADOWS RESORT & SPA, TIMMINS • DESTINATION ONTARIO
on the lake (www.temiskamingshores.ca).

TIMMINS
With gold in the ground and gold in their
hearts, the people of Timmins have a
history of welcoming visitors to explore
and experience the region’s history, its
many free festivals, concerts and paddling
events. Paddlers from across North
America come to The Great Canadian

Kayak Challenge & Festival, a late summer
festival that attracts thousands of visitors
for kayak and canoe races, seminars and
workshops (www.thegreatcanadiankayak
challenge.com). The Hollinger Golf Club is
Northern Ontario’s only 18-hole champi-
onship, full bent grass golf course. Created
in 1922, the historic, professionally designed
course was carved out of the boreal forest
(www.hollingergolf.com).