Gros Cap itself is something to get excited over but a 60-degree day in mid-March!!! What a difference a year makes!! Last year this time we were digging out of our most recent blizzard with over two feet of snow on the ground! This year, the snow is already all but gone! Unbelievable! I consider myself a snow-lover, but I'm over it for this year...BRING ON SPRING!!
Gros Cap is a remarkable place where the Canadian Shield jumps nearly 700 vertical feet out of Lake Superior. The scenery is amazing and what's better is that it's so accessible! Located only a short 20-ish minute drive east of Soo, Canada the last two or three miles of road are a bit rough but not like what you have to drive on to get to places like this elsewhere in the Algoma District!
Today's trail would be along the Gros Cap Loop Trail. I don't have an exact figure but I'm guessing it's about a 3-mile round trip. The eastern half of the loop takes you through a typical Canadian Shield mixed hardwood forest. Views don't exist here but the young woodland is pristine. The western half of the loop is where the real excitement is, save it for last! There are three overlooks but the northernmost provides the most sweeping view. Great on any day, I highly recommend this hike on a nice, 60-degree day in March:):)
Mileage Hiked: 3.0 miles
Trailhead Temp: 60'F
Min. Elevation: 1,050'
Max Elevation: 1,250'
Gros Cap is a remarkable place where the Canadian Shield jumps nearly 700 vertical feet out of Lake Superior. The scenery is amazing and what's better is that it's so accessible! Located only a short 20-ish minute drive east of Soo, Canada the last two or three miles of road are a bit rough but not like what you have to drive on to get to places like this elsewhere in the Algoma District!
Today's trail would be along the Gros Cap Loop Trail. I don't have an exact figure but I'm guessing it's about a 3-mile round trip. The eastern half of the loop takes you through a typical Canadian Shield mixed hardwood forest. Views don't exist here but the young woodland is pristine. The western half of the loop is where the real excitement is, save it for last! There are three overlooks but the northernmost provides the most sweeping view. Great on any day, I highly recommend this hike on a nice, 60-degree day in March:):)
Mileage Hiked: 3.0 miles
Trailhead Temp: 60'F
Min. Elevation: 1,050'
Max Elevation: 1,250'
The trailhead...the road enters private property to the right (rusted sign) while the trail exits to the left...I'd be doing the loop in reverse to save the prettiest part of the trail to last which meant for the first quarter mile or so I'd be following the access road back east...
After a rather boring but brief quarter mile walk the trail heads south into the woods...
Yew are here! Haha...sorry, a bit of biological humor, I couldn't help myself. The green plant covering the forest floor here is called Canada Yew...
A weird spot to put the trail name marker...at least a quarter mile from the road where it starts!
Still some snow here and there but looking more like mid-April than March!
A rather creepy-looking little cedar portal...
As the trail continued south and west it passed a couple small outcrops like this...
Melt-water empties from a small pond beneath the Firs...
A special find (at least to me!)...a Striped Maple, can you guess how it got its name;)
This was a particularly pretty spot as the trail passed through a young grove of Paper Birch...
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