Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

About this place

Sleeping Giant Provincial Park lies on the Sibley Peninsula in northwestern Ontario, Canada, jutting into Lake Superior east of Thunder Bay, about 33 km from the city in a straight line. It was created in 1944 as Sibley Provincial Park, renamed in 1988, and covers 244 square kilometres. Its main feature is the Sleeping Giant, a series of mesas formed by the erosion of thick diabase sills, which from Thunder Bay looks like a giant lying on his back across the lake. Its cliffs, about 250 metres high, are among the highest in Ontario. One Ojibwe legend says the giant is Nanabozho turned to stone. It was voted one of the Seven Wonders of Canada in a public poll. The park takes in clear blue Lake Superior water, towering basalt cliffs and dense pine and birch forest. Among its best-known sights are a rock arch in the water called the Sea Lion and the Thunder Bay Lookout, cantilevered over the cliff with a see-through grate floor above the drop. The park has a network of hiking trails, from short walks to viewpoints to a long route up to the top of the Giant. To the east it borders the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area. The weather on the lake changes quickly, so bring a jacket.