Cross Country Adventure 2022 (day 22)

 Sturgeon Falls KOA Campground, Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, Canada

7 August 2022

Retired North Bay Ferry

Marc-  Today we visited locally.  We started off by going to the city of North Bay nearby.  North Bay has a long public waterfront with walkway on Lake Nippising.  There is a large pier, marina, and several sandy beaches and many flower gardens.  There is also a large playground and a carousel.  The old passenger ferry, Chief Commanda, has been permanently docked as a floating bar / restaurant.  The new high speed catamaran ferry, Chief Commanda II, is tied up at the end of the City Pier.  The park also has a stage and large grassy area (this morning there was a well attended yoga session taking place).

Current ferry routes marked on the Lake chart and current ferry.

Lake Nipissing is connected to Lake Huron by the French River however a canal and locks were never made to allow ship navigation despite the above article in 1900 extolling the advantages of such a waterway.

Public yoga in the park.

Beachplum roses.

Balloon flowers.

Fried dough in the shape of a beaver's tail (very popular).

North Bay Marina

Heavy rain began to fall so we opted for an early lunch. We followed the advice of local friends Eryn and Mike and went to Average Joe’s Restaurant on Trout Lake.  The City of North Bay sits between the two lakes.  The food was good, and then we went to the Green Store nearby for ice cream and shopping.  Planes land nearby.

Planes that land on water make a lot of sense here in a land of many lakes and few roads.

On the way out of town we drove by a local tourist attraction created by a self-proclaimed artist in residence. 

Before returning to the campground we stopped to see the Sturgeon River House, a Museum of the fur trade era and early French settlers.  It is on the site of the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading Post.  Unfortunately the Museum was closed so we toured the grounds.

Former Hudson's Bay Company Trading Post.