We had a very slow start to our rest day in Sleeping Giant, sleeping in and making breakfast in the rain. We headed for the visitors centre to check it out and dry off. Since we had discovered (much to our dismay!) that you could not get the kayaks (sit on tops only, not the sea kayaks we had expected) out to Lake Superior, we were trying to come up with an alternate plan.
The visitor’s centre was very nice and had all sorts of information about the local wildlife and the people who lived in the community of Silver Islet at the bottom of the peninsula. There is a wee island offshore that used to house the world’s richest silver mine in the later 1800’s. They produced 3.5 million dollars of silver (at 1900 prices) over 25 or so years, mining down 10 levels to get to it. They had picture’s from the mine’s most productive years and a mock up of the mine.
We planned a hike down to Silver Islet and out to one of the beaches and headed off. We had hardly left the campground when we saw 2 deer (a doe and a fawn) on the road. Down to Silver Islet we went. When we arrived, we stopped at the General Store that has been in business for the last 130 years straight! Right now, it is run by an older couple from Moncton, NB. They live there from Victoria Day weekend to Thanksgiving and then head back to Thunder Bay for the winter. They run a tea room in the back of the store with their daughter and grand-daughter. We took advantage of the home cooking to have some amazing four fruit pie (made with soy-free lard!) and Adam had some soup as well. The store was really neat, with most of the goods behind the counter and all sorts of old pictures and books about the area from sale (plus some groceries)!
After the yummy food, we set out to explore Silver Islet. The whole community is run without being connected to the grid. All the cottages have solar panels or windmills. We listened to an entire debate outside the store as to the merits of both of these. Only cottagers live in the community now, but it must have been quite the rugged place to live in the winter. As we explored the village, some of the original cabin for the married miners were still in use and well maintained. It was neat to see! There were also lots of sea kayaks in sight, making us a little sad that we couldn’t head out.
We took a picture of Silver Islet (the island) out on the water. It’s hard to believe all that silver (and millions of dollars) came from such a small place!
We hiked out to a secluded beach on a provincial park trail and relaxed for a bit, then hiked back to the campground. Our total walking for the day (per the GPS) was 23 kms, so we were a bit footsore come supper time. We decided that we really didn’t need to stay the next day and climb the Giant (will have to save that trip for when we return with our kayaks)!
Trip Around The World 
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