Lake Superior Provincial Park: Video Review

Are you considering a trip up to Northern Ontario to visit Lake Superior Provincial Park?

This park has an incredible reputation for its beautiful sights, wildlife, and, of course, that iconic view of Lake Superior. But we couldn’t have prepared ourselves for just how much we were going to fall in love when we made the trip this summer.  

The park offers 11 hiking trails, including the infamous Nokomis Trail, rated one of the top 5 day hikes in the country by Lonely Planet’s “Discover Canada” guidebook.  You will also find over 250 bird species within the park’s boundaries, 8 canoe routes, great fishing spots to explore, multiple beaches, including dog beaches, and a visitor center with events run by the Natural Heritage Education Program.

In terms of camping, there are two car camping or front country campgrounds – Agawa Bay and Rabbit Blanket Lake, with over 200 campsites total, including electrical and non-electrical sites. Additionally, there are 163 backcountry campsites available in the park, including sites accessible by both hiking and paddling.

We spent 6 days at this beautiful park this summer, and it wasn’t nearly enough!

In this video review, we’re going to share some of the must-see elements in and around the park, including dog beaches, hiking trails, and a little “mishap” John encountered while hitting the trail with our older pups. Plus, at the end, we sit down to discuss our thoughts about the park and share our final rating.

WARNING: If you suffer from motion sickness, please be aware that there are clips throughout the video that involve rapidly moving video or erratic video recording. John is learning, hahaha! If that style of video content does bother you, we recommend skipping to the full review at 21:17.   

This video is part of The Kas Pack’s Ontario Parks Reviews series. CLICK HERE to visit our YouTube channel and subscribe to get notifications when new parks are added.

Lake Superior Provincial Park – July 2023

John: Today’s video is brought to you by caffeine. Because without caffeine, patience runs wild.

The Voyageurs’ Lodge Apple Fritters (1:04)

** The Voyageur’s Lodge is a stop on the way to Lake Superior Provincial Park that is well known for carrying some of the world’s best apple fritters. After hearing them recommended countless times, we made a point of stopping to try them out and share how large they were with all of you.

John: Oh ya, here we go. Apple fritter time. Alright, so a 6-pack costs $24. First time seeing these guys. Ahhhhhh…

Trapper’s Trail (4:34)

John: Alright, so Indy and Dav and me just arrived over at the Trapper’s Trail. We’re going to be checking it out.

Britt and Luc are checking out another trail. We’re only here for a limited time, so we’re just splitting up trails. But ya, this is the Trapper’s Trail.

It’s an easy trail, according to AllTrails. We picked this one for baby girl, you know. She’s 15 years old, so if we can make it easy for her, then we will.

So, guys, I think we’re ready to go. By the way, for your dog poop and there are potties for us humans. This should roughly take us about 25 minutes.

And Indy, we’re going at baby girl’s pace. So, sniff all you want.

This is the entrance to the trail.

No regards for mud, eh baby girl? Nice little lookout right off the bat. And you’re not going swimming yet baby girl. Maybe when we get back.

Just a heads up, we are in a pretty wooded area, and one thing you should probably do is… Actually, it’s not too hot out right now, I believe the vehicle said it’s like 16 degrees Celsius. Not too bad at all. But we are in a wooded area, and there are quite a few mosquitoes. So, dress appropriately – long sleeves, long pants, no sandals, of course. And get some of that bug spray on yourself.

Also, for your dogs, one of the best things you can do is a 50/50 mix of apple cider vinegar and water, and spray them just before going onto the trail. They may not like it, but mosquitoes don’t like it, so there’s that.

That’s good puppies. Careful, baby girl. We’re taking our time, buddy. As I was watching her, that’s what we walked by.

Looks like there’s a lookout point here, so let’s check that out.

Checking out the trail. Look at that, guys. Apparently, there’s moose on this body of water here. Indy, let’s go!

Alright, so we ran into a little mishap at the lookout point. Things were great… Sorry, mosquitoes. Things were great when we were at the point checking things out, and we turned around to leave, and baby girl ends up falling in the, into the water.

She fell in right at the beginning of that little walkway there, so she only went waist deep. I don’t think she appreciated it, but it definitely did cool her down. I think when we get back to the campsite she is going to go into the lake, so to speak. To get herself a little cleaned up.

But on these boardwalks, moving forward, just a heads up, there are points where it’s probably not too safe for your pups, especially if you have two where one might bump into the other one. Which, that’s what happened. But, that’s on me. I got her out. She looks like she’s okay. But, ya – I bought her off with some treats after, eh baby girl?

But ya, I take 100% full responsibility for her going in. I should have been more careful, knowing that she’s not so easy going on her, with her balance and everything at her ripe old age of 15.

So moving forward, when I see boardwalks or any kind of lookouts or anything like that, like this coming up ahead, I will stop shooting and 100% focus on both dogs and make sure that they get by safely. Right baby girl?

Shaking! I don’t blame you for wanting to shake baby girl. You gonna be schtanky!

As you can see, the terrain is pretty rooty. Got some good grip. There are some occasional rocks here and there. All in all, not to bad for people. For an older pup, it might be a little more of a task for them. But, the main thing is to go at their pace. Apparently, she’s leading the pack right now. Even going for a little swim.

Not bad at all.

So, this looks like it’s going to be about 100 ft downhill right here, so we’re not going to record this venture here. But, it’s quite a ways down there. So, the main thing is the safety of these two guys. Take it slow and steady.

Alright, and we’re going back uphill. You guys are being good puppies. The good news is we’re not too far away from the highway.

We’ve been on this trail for about an hour now. We’re going at baby girl’s pace here. So, if it takes us an hour, an hour and a half, two hours to complete and she loves it, then it’s 100% worth it. That’s a good girl!

I see that there’s a boardwalk coming up ahead. Looks like for a pretty nice little stretch here on this body of water. I’ll be shutting off the camera and focusing on the pups. Baby girl’s falling behind a little bit, so you might see Indy more upfront. But, she’s doing pretty good considering.

Alright, so the three of us made it through that boardwalk there, no problems this time. That’s good puppies. You guys did really good today! Good boy! Good boy Indy, leading. Good boy! Good girl for finishing! Ya!

Nokomis Trail (15:26)

Britt: Lucifer and I, we’re going to do the Nokomis Trail. Let’s check it out!

Hey! Are you a big hiking dog? That’s were we’re headed. You’ve got this, Goose!

Check out that view. Is that not incredible? Eh, Lucifer? He’s too busy checking it out too. Eh, Lucifer?

Agawa Bay Campground (16:36)

Britt: So, as you can see, the sites here at Agawa Bay are a lot more open to one another. There definitely isn’t the same level of privacy. Although, you do have the view if you get a waterfront site. Which makes it a little bit more worth it.

As you can see, it’s a little more open, a little less private in here. You can kinda see through the trees and even see the sites on the other side down there. That’s the big difference between Agawa Bay and Rabbit Blanket is the style of trees that you are camping among.

Now, if you can get a waterfront site, and this one here is 326, you can see the view is absolutely incredible. And this is where people are tempted to stay at Agawa Bay because to see that view is worth often sacrificing a little bit of privacy.

Dog Beach, Agawa Bay (18:06)

John: So, Indy and I are heading to the dog exercise area, and it’s just right after the entrance there to the campground. As you can see, there’s a dog poop bag area. Indy made a donation not too long ago, so we put it in there.

But ya, this is the dog exercise area. I imagine that there’s multiple entry points, this being the first one. Woo! Spin. Good boy.

Hey dude, what’s going on here? Ya, and there’s this area right here, it looks like there’s actually some little fish in there too. Oh Indy, eh? Good boy! We’re gonna really enjoy that in the car.

To be honest, this is my first time going to be putting my feet in Lake Superior. Rabbit Blanket is not part of Lake Superior. Woo, ya! She be cold! But ya, it’s a pretty good, nice area for your pups to enjoy the day. Do you want to go in this spot over here again, dude?

Dog Beach, Old Woman Bay (20:23)

John: Alright, we are at the Old Woman Bay. It’s a little windy out here today. I’ve got Indy with me, checking things out. I think over there is the old woman.

But ya, this is the dog park, dog beach, and it’s actually quite nice! It’s probably a little chilly to go in right now, but it’s definitely a nice location for your pups.

A little wild today, though.

Our Review (21:17)

Britt: Alright, so we’re coming to you from Mississagi. We actually left Lake Superior, didn’t have a chance really to stop and record this, so we figured we’d do it here.

As John was showing, we have a gorgeous view, so why not?

John: Site 1, baby! Number 1!

Britt: But, going back to Lake Superior.

John: Okay, so there’s two campgrounds at Lake Superior, Agawa Bay and Rabbit Blanket. We ended up staying at Rabbit Blanket. So, just to give you an idea of how far each campground is away from each other, it seemed to be about an hour’s drive between the two.

Hiking Trails (21:59)

Britt: Ya, they were quite a distance. But between those two campgrounds, there are all the trails and lookouts. And there are a ton of trails to choose from if you’re a hiker, which is one of the things that had us so excited about going.

There are a total of 11 trails at the park and they range from easy to very difficult multi-day hikes for those that are willing to take a little bit of an extra challenge on.

I took little man Lucifer and we did the Nokomis Trail and I ended up finding out from some of you online that Nokomis means grandmother, so that’s kind of a cool way because it overlooks that Old Woman Bay and it all kinda connects together. So, that was kind of an interesting fact for me.

It’s actually ranked among one of the top 5 day hikes in the entire country according to Lonely Planet. They did a “Discover Canada” guidebook and included that there.

The trail was stunning. Absolutely stunning. There was multiple lookouts along the way. By the time you’re seeing this, you’ve already seen the footage that we took with little man Lucifer showing off those lookouts. I loved it. I would love to do that trail every day, if I could.

John: And I ended up taking Indy and Daviana to the Trapper’s Trail, which is ranked easy. We did that one because baby girl, she’s 15 years old, so, you know, take it easy for her.

The one thing that I did notice on the trail was the first half was basically, it was wide enough so, I mean, you and your companions could go side by side by side by side, until about the halfway point, where it seemed to be single file. So, I mean, try to… Indy’s not the greatest leader but he did the best he could and Dav had her little moment. But she’s doing much, much better today.

Britt: But ya, for those that are looking for an easier trail, the Trapper’s Trail is going to be easier for you. If you are just new to hiking or you don’t get out hiking very often.

With the Nokomis, it was more of a challenge, for sure. It’s not something I would recommend for anybody who doesn’t ever hike. I would make sure you work up to it a little bit if you don’t normally get out. Make sure your pet also works up to it a little bit because they also need to be prepared for it.

But Lucifer and I had a great time on it and the views are so worth it. The views are so worth it.

Dog Beaches (24:39)

John: Ya, which leads us to the beaches. So, we had a waterfront site, but we ended up checking out Old Woman Bay and Agawa Bay, their dog beaches. Both were really, really good. When we stopped off at the Old Woman Bay, it was pretty windy, as you could see from the footage. So, it was pretty chilly. But then, when we went to Agawa Bay, it was just, it was pretty nice. It’s still chilly water, but I mean, on a hot day – great!

Campgrounds (25:20)

Britt: And I mean, speaking of the different water temperatures and the different beaches, one thing to consider when you’re going to Lake Superior is that those two campgrounds… As we said, they are massively apart. This park is huge. But they are very, very different as well.

So, Agawa Bay is kinda the more “main” campground. It’s the one most people are talking about when they talk about Lake Superior. It has most of the sites. It has very tall trees. It has the view of Lake Superior, itself. But there isn’t a lot of privacy. Everyone can kinda see each other’s sites. So, you’re kinda sacrificing privacy in exchange for that view of Lake Superior.

That being said, that view of Lake Superior is absolutely gorgeous and if you can get a site like right on the water, I can totally see how that would be worth it.

Rabbit Blanket Lake is a lot smaller campground. It is on Rabbit Blanket Lake, so it’s not on Lake Superior. Like, the site that we had that we showed you guys, that is the lake, it’s not Lake Superior. That makes the water a lot warmer. So, it’s warmer for them to swim in. But it doesn’t have that Lake Superior view where it goes on and on and on forever. You do see the other side of the lake.

Because the park is a lot smaller, there’s a lot less in terms of amenities and things like that. Like the park store isn’t near Rabbit Blanket or anything like that. But the sites are a lot more private. We absolutely love it. It has more of a rustic feeling.

Even the bathrooms, the bathrooms there with the exception of the comfort stations are long drops, but the bathrooms and even the comfort station actually are older. They were kept clean, but they are definitely older. Like, you can tell it’s the more rustic of the two and it’s less catered to kinda keeping up with the times, it’s more just embracing that concept of camping out in the wilderness.

They do a good job of keeping it clean, but it’s not their top priority as far as investing funds to upgrade everything.

That being said, after viewing the two, we have all intentions of going back and staying at Rabbit Blanket because the privacy and the feel of there – it was just, it was the most relaxing, amazing vacation we could have asked for.

As far as choosing between the two, I would say you need to make a list of your priorities and what’s most important to you.

So, if going up there for that Lake Superior view experience is the reason you’re going to Lake Superior Provincial Park, then Agawa Bay is definitely you go-to. If you prefer a more community-based camping experience where, you know, you chat with your neighbour or you get together for a campfire or that kind of thing, Agawa Bay would be a lot better.

However, Rabbit Blanket is a lot more private. The sites tend to be smaller. I know on our site, for example, you couldn’t have put a large trailer on there. There just wasn’t space for it. So, that’s another thing to kinda consider is your trailer size or your gear size.

But, both have their pros and cons and it’s about finding out which one’s best for you.

John: Ya, and I think, especially when you consider… Goose being Goose. If you have, like, a reactive dog, Agawa Bay may not be the best option because the sites are just wide open.

Britt: And there’s people everywhere. Whereas at Rabbit Blanket Lake… I mean, you guys have seen. If you’ve seen any of our previous videos you know that we tend to have to put up tarps to create privacy to block that visual stimuli for Lucifer. And we didn’t have to do any of that at Rabbit Blanket Lake. So that kinda gives you an idea of the privacy level there.

Firewood (29:14)

John: And then firewood… So, as many of you know that Ontario, mainly Northern Ontario, has been under a fire ban until last, I dunno, just a few days ago. Saying that, it was greatly missed. It was just weird camping without that firewood smell going on. But as soon as that ban was lifted, people were out buying firewood and getting their fires going and ya…

Britt: There was a perk! By not allowing fires for so long, by the time we got around to using the firewood, because we ended up getting park wood, it had sat and dried quite nicely. So, for the first time we’re not going to be talking poorly about park wood.

John: We’re not anti-provincial park wood this time.

Britt: Not that we are ever anti-provincial park wood. It’s just, usually we can find a better option outside the parks.

John: We kid when we say that. But the month and a half of there being a fire ban, or so, definitely helped with the fire-starting process. I mean, in that area, for Lake Superior, there aren’t many options. You’d definitely be driving to Wawa or somewhere just to get firewood.

Sorry, I keep looking over at our pups.

Other Supplies (30:56)

John: But ya, and same thing with supplies. Rabbit Blanket did not have much for supplies. So, we ended up just driving to Wawa for ice and whatnot. Even though Wawa, not Wawa, Rabbit Blanket did have ice. But, I mean, since we’re out and about might as well just pick up the ice.

Britt: But I mean, to give everybody an idea. So, we collect the patches and the stickers. And even that  you can’t get at the Rabbit Blanket office. You have to go to Agawa Bay to get it. So, it’s definitely not a good place to be if you have forgotten something. You would have to be willing to take that extra trip.

So, double check your gear. Double check your packing list. Make sure you’ve got everything with you.

Final Rating (31:44)

Britt: But, outside of that, I mean, final rating?

John: I give it a 1.

Britt: Ha, funny! I have a really hard time with this one because this is my absolute favourite camping experience we have ever had. The site was incredible. The hikes were incredible. I don’t think I have ever been so close to saying I’ll give a perfect 5.

That being said, I don’t believe a perfect 5 exists. I believe there’s always something they can improve on. And we agreed when we started this channel that we will stick to full and half paws. So, I can’t give like a 4.99 paws. So, the closest I guess I can give to fit that is a 4.5 but know it’s a 4.5 edging on a 5.

John: Ya, I’ll give it a 4.5 with some extra wags.

Britt: So, there you have it – 4.5.

John: Ya and stay toasty!

Britt: And stay tuned for our review of Mississagi in 2 weeks.

John: Woot, woot!