Sleeping Giant Provincial Park is located on the tip of the Sibley Peninsula and the rock formation, the ‘Sleeping Giant’ is a local icon. You can see the Sleeping Giant from Thunder Bay’s harbour front, and the provincial park offers more than 100kms of trails.
One Ojibwe legend identifies the giant as Nanabijou, who was turned to stone when the secret location of a rich silver mine, now known as Silver Islet, was disclosed to white settlers. The Sleeping Giant is a series of mesas formed by the erosion of thick, basaltic sills on Sibley Peninsula which resembles a giant lying on its back. Its dramatic cliffs are among the highest in Ontario at 250m.
Unfortunately the weather didn’t completely cooperate today and the ‘Sleeping Giant’ formation was often obscured in fog, but I was still able to do a few kilometres of trails and did have a good day.
This formation in Sleeping Giant Provincial Park is known as the Sea Lion. Prior to the early 1900s (when the Sea Lion’s head broke off) this landmark resembled a lion sitting on its haunches looking out into Parry Bay on Lake Superior. The former shape of this natural arch inspired the name of the Sea Lion. The lion’s head has fallen off but the name has carried on. The Sea Lion stands approximately 7.5 metres high, has a width of 1.5 metres and juts out 15 metres into Lake Superior. The erosive power of the Lake has cut an arch through the dyke. The softer, sedimentary rock surrounding the Sea Lion will continue to erode. The ‘arch’ of the Sea Lion will eventually collapse, possibly leaving a stack. Over time, the entire section of the dyke protruding from the shoreline will disappear.
With the Sleeping Giant in the background…at a moment when the fog cleared!
No comments:
Post a Comment