Ouimet Canyon P.P. is located on Ouimet Canyon Road, in Dorion, ON. The park is rather small, but features one of the most unique geologic formations in Ontario - a 150m wide and 100m deep canyon. Conveniently located outside of Thunder Bay and featuring a short yet wheelchair accessible trail, the park is a well-known and common day-trip in the area. I visited in August 2025.
Ouimet Canyon Park was established in 1972, as there had always been interest in the area, due to the impressive nature of the cliffs. (there is little info on the canyon's history outside of this. If you know anything, please email me at ntremblett19@gmail.com. Any/all information is appreciated)
Ouimet Canyon was named after the nearby rail station on the CPR line. This name is in honour of Joseph-Aldric Ouimet, a Canadian politician in the late 1800s.
Ouimet Canyon has rather few amenities, but the few are:
- a provincially rare and regionally impressive canyon (duh)
- a wheelchair-accessible trail, complete with benches
- two viewing platforms actually over the canyon edge
- a pavilion and picnic benches to stay at
- a separate trailer parking lot, good for turnarounds
- a third lookout, overlooking a marsh
- rare arctic plants that survive on the canyon floor (see species)
- great day trip location from Sleeping Giant
There is one trail and a half:
Starting at the parking lot, you head west to a bridge over a foliage-filled Gulch Creek. Down a small rocky section, you get to the first lookout, and after a 335m jaunt north, the second. These lookouts are complete with interpretive panels, telling you the canyon's story and its rarity. The 2 lookout platforms are incredible, dangling you off the edge and overtop the floor. Looking down may make you dizzy, but its well worth it. Highly recommend this one. (you could bike, but there's no need due to the length)
I'll admit, this is not a trail, but rather a staircase to a lookout over a marsh. This lookout platform was built by the Friends of Ouimet Canyon, and it features a commemorative sign thanking this group for their 24 years of service to the park. For the record, there once was a Marsh Trail around the same lake, but it was removed many years ago. (no bikes due to a staircase)
From Highway 17, you diverge onto Ouimet Canyon Road. After a few kilometres, you see the park sign and turn right. At first the road is flat and straight, but this is bound to change. So much so that if you have a travel trailer, you must leave it in the trailer parking lot accessed on your left (the marsh lookout is accessed to the right of the trailer parking lot). Anyways, you march on down the windy road for another kilometre before a sharp turn, after which is the main parking lot for the Ouimet Canyon Trail. This is where the vaulted toilets, pavilion, former store (now merchandise and information is from Sleeping Giant), and main trail access. See trail map below.
View from the first lookout.
Note that the photos in this section are not explicitly from this park, they are good photos of species that live here.
Arctic plants at the canyon floor (see sign above)
Marshy habitat at Gulch Lake and the marsh lookout
A mixed forest under the bridge (Gulch Creek)
Thick birch forest
Day trip from Sleeping Giant.
Some people visit nearby Eagle Canyon after visiting here, featuring the second-longest suspension bridge in Canada, but I didn't go there due to the high prices and the necessity for a waiver (scared of them lol).
View of the bottom of the canyon.
You can tell that I am not from this part of the province, as when I first heard about there being canyons in Ontario, I presumed they'd be small and crappy. But of course, Ouimet Canyon does not dissapoint. For the record, Ouimet Canyon is in the heart of Canyon Country, a nickname for the area around Dorion, so this feature is not necessarily unique. But Ouimet Canyon is by far the most accessible, most protected, most beautiful, and largest in size. These regional canyons show just how biodiverse Ontario is - canyons, wetlands, boreal & Carolinian forests, grasslands, plains, Arctic tundra and more is all contained under one roof. And as previously mentioned, these are impressive canyons. For a place not known for canyons in any way, Ontario's got a good one in Ouimet.
Visit this. A short walk with insane views. 10/10 day trip.
Map:
