Ontario North Shore Waterfalls

Best Waterfalls – Ontario leg of Lake Superior Circle Drive

Traveling clockwise on the Lake Superior Circle Tour from the Minnesota North Shore, you cross the border into Canada at the Pigeon River. But before you cross be sure to stop at the Minnesota Grand Portage State Park visitor center to take a short hike to High Falls, one of two waterfalls competing for the title of highest waterfall around Lake Superior. The trail to the falls is an easy half mile walk and is handicap accessible. See pictures of High Falls on our post featuring Minnesota North Shore Waterfalls.

Once into Ontario, you’ll have a chance to see the other waterfall claiming to be the Lake Superior’s highest: Kakabeka Falls, which is in Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, 18 miles west of Thunder Bay, Ontario.  Along the Ontario North Shore of Lake Superior are two more outstanding waterfalls: Rainbow Falls, and Aguasaban Falls (pictured at the top of this page). All three waterfalls are shown in the following slide show (click on any image to see a larger view).

Waterfall Slide Show


  • top of kakabeka Falls, Ontario
    The top of Kakabeka Falls
  • kakabeka Falls, Ontario
    The mist was thick from the roaring Kakabeka Falls near Thunder Bay Ontario
  • top of rainbow falls as it leaves Whitesand Lake, Ontario
    The beginning of Rainbow Falls at Whitesand Lake
  • rainbow falls rapids downstream, Ontario
    Looking downstream from rainbow falls bridge
  • last cascade of Rainbow Falls, ontario
    The last cascade of Rainbow Falls
  • lower aguasaban falls, ontario
    lower aguasaban falls view from the bridge
  • lower aguasaban falls, Ontario
    lower aguasaban falls below the bridge.

As you continue East around Ontario’s section of Lake Superior there are more waterfalls along the eastern shoreline. However on our recent trip this section hadn’t received the amount of rainfall that the northern shoreline had, in fact it was pretty dry. So we took a pass on trekking in to see these falls. However four of them (Magpie High Falls, Silver Falls, Sand River Falls, and Chippewa Falls) can be seen on our Eastern Shore SuperiorTrails web page.

The entire Ontario section of the Lake Superior Circle Route is about 500 miles. While it could be done in one day, we recommend taking at least two or three days to allow time to see some of the villages along the route (Rossport is our favorite), scenic lookouts along the route and visit some of the several of the Ontario Provincial Parks along the route.

Campground Links:

Minnesota North Shore State Parks

Ontario North Shore Provincial Parks

Ross