Sturgeon Falls and Paradise Lagoon

We travelled from Sudbury to North Bay and stopped at a traffic light. We both happened to see a sunflower mural, and I made an immediate detour. Murals are something that we really enjoy and my wife’s favourite flower is the sunflower; I had to go look.

As I took a picture, I could see other murals like this just down the road. Unfortunately, we could not stay and explore because we had an event to get to. I noted this location and saved this for a future trip.

That future trip came today.

I found a parking spot near where I wanted to start our tour of the town and its murals. The sun was warm, and the area felt safe. The murals were plentiful, bright, and easy to find. We love touring murals, and it allows us to get a feel for the community and its people.

We had visited our third mural when I was looking for the fourth, enjoying the experience and time with my most beloved wife when

PAIN!

Ouch!

That hurt!

What happened???

After a second or two, I realized my shoulder was aching. Something or someone had hit me hard!

To explain what happened, let us return a couple of hours ago to Paradise Lagoon.

Paradise Lagoon

Paradise Lagoon is one place Charlene had been begging me to go to for well over a year. It is somewhat remote, and when looking up directions on how to get there, there is a lot of confusion and differing opinions on the best way to arrive at this piece of paradise in the Greater Sudbury area.

After much research, I concluded that the way Google Maps was telling me to go was accurate, and I included it on a week-long trip to Northern Ontario. Paradise Lagoon is one of those magical spots that is exactly as described; it is secluded, beautiful, peaceful, and a real piece of heaven.

Getting here was not.

Leaving there was much worse.

So much worse than I could have ever imagined.

We took the nicely paved Highway 17 out of Sudbury and turned onto a dirt road on our way to this spot. For dirt roads, it was standard; wide, well-maintained, typical dirt road. The change was subtle; it became more of a trail than a road. With each passing kilometre, the road would get narrower. The hills are a bit steeper. The turns are a little sharper. We would pass a cluster of cottages with only solar and wind to power them, and it was becoming more apparent the remoteness of where we were. Cellphone reception had disappeared a long time ago.

Eventually, the road was becoming so narrow that if we had met an oncoming vehicle, one of us would have had to pull over to let the other pass. The small gravel that made up the road at the beginning was now small rocks, and even larger rocks were part of the road, and I had to watch where I was driving.

I figured that there would be no cell reception in this remote area. Google Maps allows the user to download the map for this situation. A helpful feature was when we came to a fork in the road and needed some clarification on which way to turn. I STRONGLY recommend whenever exploring anywhere that could have no cell service, to download the map of an area. Information on offline navigation can be found here.

After a surprisingly long time on a dirt road, we arrived at the roadway to take us closer to the lagoon. There is a place for several cars to park at the entrance. Initially, I wanted to drive closer, but the ruts in the road were too deep, and the rocks were turning into boulders. I decided not to risk it, so we walked one kilometre to the pathway that would lead to the lagoon. I was pleased with this decision because the road had gotten so much worse after where we parked, and the possibility of getting stuck was real.

As we walked, I looked for the pathway; it was barely visible. We followed it as it meandered through pristine forest growth. The walk was only a couple hundred metres, and when we got there, we found paradise.

The way the sun shone through the trees and reflected off the water, the quietness of the remote location, mixed with the sound of water falling into the lagoon, made us genuinely believe we found Heaven on Earth. The road to get here was long and would be a real challenge for many people. Some who have visited this place describe coming by canoe rather than car. Because of this hard-to-find, hard-to-reach location, it has preserved its wildness that so many other sites we have seen have lost.

We should have packed a picnic, brought chairs and books and stayed the entire day. No other place had a hold on us as this one did. Sadly, we tore ourselves from this Nirvana and returned to the car with a promise to my wife that we would revisit this place.

Our following location was only 42 kilometres on the same road we travelled. Lower Goose Falls was right on the route and looked like it could be impressive.

Google Maps had me continue down the road. Until Paradise Lagoon, the road was driveable, and with patience, we got there in one piece. After Paradise Lagoon, it quickly changed.

We somehow managed to get 16 kilometres farther but had to stop. A tree had fallen. I had seriously considered getting out and using the saw to remove it from our path. But, and it was a huge “But,” at this time, the road was not something I would even call a road; more of a snowmobile trail. Our vehicle had to be in 4-wheel drive the whole time. Water from streams and ponds was overflowing on the road, so I had to check the depth before crossing. The road was so narrow that grass and tree were scraping both sides of the car. The rocks on the road were now the size of watermelons.

I had to turn around. I was disappointed because I was having fun on this road and enjoying the vehicle’s capabilities we were driving.

There needed to be more distance to go. If the road conditions were already this bad, I could not imagine what it was like a little further. Could we make it down the road that Google told us to take?

I had to back up several hundred meters just to find a part of the road that was an extra foot wide for a three-point turn. It was closer to 30-point, but I did it. I was thankful I had the car turned around.

I was happy with my decision to turn around. Even though the road was becoming an increasing challenge that my vehicle and I were not equipped to do, I was still enjoying every bit of it. The new car had proven its worth. I had not gotten into any situation that I could not get out of. I was saddened that the next location had to be missed but comforted by the knowledge that the road ahead of me would get better and better. We would return and pass Paradise Lagoon.

I was having fun.

Charlene was not.

Sturgeon Falls and our tour of the town and murals were just a little down the way.

We had just seen our third mural when I was looking for the fourth when:

PAIN!

Hey! What happened???

I was caressing my arm from the pain that was inflicted on me. I looked around, thinking some invisible assailant had just attacked me, but only to find Charlene there. There was a look on her face that was of intensity.

Now in the safety of a city, the emotion of the harrowing drive to and from Paradise and our failed attempt to get to the next stop came welling forward. She was scared out of her mind and released it as a fist into my arm.

I then received a tongue-lashing like no other.

This was the second time Google insisted we travel on a road that should not be on any map. The first time was annoying but easy to discover quickly. This second time could have been dangerous. Charlene puts a lot of trust in me to get her safely from one destination to another. Even though this roadway should not have been considered a road, it was a fun experience for me.

It was not for my wife.

Getting lost and stranded could have been possible on that road past Paradise Lagoon. It would have taken a full day of walking just to get cell service, and the question of how to get the vehicle free from any obstacle would have been an even more significant challenge. This was an unacceptable risk for us to take, and she let me know it.

We toured the town, found most of the murals and quickly forgot about the journey to get here and continued to enjoy the rest of the trip together.