Agawa Canyon
Train Trip
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Agawa Canyon |
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*NOTE: we did the trip
again in July 2001, and I have up-dated and added to some of the
descriptions below. Driving from Southwestern Indiana up through Michigan and into Canada made for a long driving day, but we still came into the area early enough to enjoy many sights. For example, about an hour before our journey's end we found ourselves approaching Mackinaw City, the site of Colonial Fort Michilimackinac, and of course the amazing Mackinac Bridge (PIC 1) - high and impressive, and five miles long! As we nervously drove across the bridge, Mackinac Island - accessible only by ferry - was visible to our right...but
that would have to wait for another trip.
The International Bridge (PIC 2) crossing the St Mary's River and taking us into Canada at Sault ("Soo") Sainte Marie was pretty spectacular too - even if it did pale in
comparison to its big brother at Mackinac. Although it was early evening by then, we weren't worried about getting up early to catch the train the next morning because we had purposely allowed a full day to relax and leisurely explore the area first - our train tickets were for the second day. (This might be a good time to advise you that tickets must be ordered - and paid for - well in advance, and you should book extra early if you anticipate going during the busy Autumn season.)
This was our second trip to Canada this year, the first being to the more traditional destinations of Toronto and Niagara
Falls (click HERE to look at that one) and once again we found it to be familiar in some ways and very different in others. As we all know, most things are pretty much like they are in the USA...but it did seem odd to buy gasoline in "litres", and also to find out that in Canada, Canadian bacon is called "back bacon" or even "pea bacon" in some areas. (You were maybe expecting them to call it "American bacon"?) And everybody knows that Canadian law calls for both French and English on practically everything from signs to labels, but it's still a little strange to pick up something familiar - such as a Diet Coke - and see all the additional French.
We also had a mini-adventure at the border crossing. It seems that you are not
allowed to bring pepper spray (or Mace) into the country, and they confiscated
my wife's little unit. I guess Canada doesn't have any crime. :-)
Sault Sainte Marie, which - not surprisingly - is just across the water from the city of the same name in Michigan, is a very nice small city with several worthwhile sights, including a scenic waterfront (PICS 3, 4, 5) on the St. Marys river where you can watch giant ships going between the Great Lakes, and can even take a boat tour of the locks. If you want to stay on dry land, they also offer scenic double-decker bus tours. For those who appreciate indoor activities, there's a casino down the street and a nice mall right next to the train station. (At the bottom of the page is a link to both Sault Sainte Marie and the official website of the Agawa Canyon tour train.)
There are also many very good restaurants in the city, including an amazing
number of Italian ones.
We stayed in a motel just down the street from the train station, so would have been able to easily walk to the train early the next
morning - however, we drove because the day dawned rainy. We were disappointed but not surprised - the Canadian weather forecasters were amazingly accurate, and for several days had been predicting that rain would arrive by that morning. (Thankfully, it turned out they were also right when they said that it would be clear and sunny by mid-day!) While on the subject of motels, I might mention that there are several nice ones close by - within a block or so of the train station, mall, and waterfront. These include the Holiday Inn, Quality Inn, Days Inn, and Travelodge Suites, which we selected because we loved the idea of having a microwave and refrigerator in our room.
The train begins boarding an hour before the 8AM departure, which allows plenty of time to look it over and have breakfast on the dining car for those so inclined. Since we had paid extra for reserved premium seating on the dome car (reasoning that if we were going to do this, we might as well do it right) we were able to board, find our seats, and enjoy a complimentary continental breakfast that wasn't available to those with regular tickets. We kind of missed being able to eat in the dining car - normally a highlight of any rail trip - but judging from the crowds we were probably better off leisurely nibbling our bagels and donuts aboard the dome car. Of course, we were not restricted from visiting the dining car but we had everything we needed close at hand, and I didn't see any of our co-passengers
going to the diner. Our dome car attendant, Leanne, proved to be friendly and informative - just what you'd want on a trip like this. With hindsight, though, I'm not sure I'd recommend the premium dome
service. It was extremely nice to have a quiet, adults-only atmosphere with reserved seating, and choice picture-taking views from the upper dome for half the trip. (You're rotated to the lower seats for the return trip, to give those folks who were downstairs in the morning their chance.) However, the extra cost
of the dome car (almost double) might not be worth it for a lot of people, even
if it does include food. And actually the food was a little
disappointing, although I did enjoy having a bottomless coffee pot close
by. If you don't drink coffee you're at a disadvantage because the
orange juice that's put out with breakfast is the only beverage
included in the cost of your dome car ticket. If you want soft drinks,
bottled water or alcoholic beverages (available after 11AM) you'll
have to pay extra for them. For the price of the tickets, we felt that
at least the soft drinks should be included, but that's not the way it
is. By the way, you can also bring your own food and drinks on the
trip (although not alcoholic ones).
For those train buffs who are into rolling stock, the train totaled 15 units, including 3 engines (one facing backwards - but more later about that), then the regular passenger cars with the diner about mid-way in the lineup, and our dome car bringing up the rear. All equipment dates from the fifties and is in very nice condition, having been refurbished in recent years. Diesel locomotives (PICS 6, 7, 8) were FP9A's and one upgraded FP7A, all rated at 1750 HP and weighing in at 124 tons each. They were originally built by GM Diesel in London, Ontario, for Canadian National. Passenger coaches (PIC 9) were originally built for CN by Canadian Car and Foundry in Montreal. My understanding is that at least one of the coaches was a "gift-shop coach" but since we didn't go on that part of the train, I'm not sure if that meant all or part of the coach was dedicated to a gift shop. The dome car (PIC 10) is marked Wisconsin Central (the parent company) and also "Algoma Country" on the side. It was originally built for Union Pacific by American Car & Foundry, which also built the diner. We had 460 passengers on our trip, but in peak Autumn periods the train is lengthened by as many as 20 additional units, including another dome car and a second diner, and carries up to 1600 people!
When we first boarded we found booklets on each of our seats, and these proved to be very helpful as we left the station for our trip North. They're full of
historical information, and also contain descriptions of the sights for the entire
trip, which helped us as we looked out. The rain had almost stopped but those of us in the dome seats for the morning were still looking out through wet windows, and no one tried to take pictures as we passed slowly out of the city. We went by the St Mary's Paper Company mill and then the Algoma Steel Corp, finally passing through the Algoma Central
train yards. We could see a lot of old equipment sitting around, but don't know if they were candidates for future refurbishment or they just hadn't gotten around to scrapping them!
As we picked up speed and proceeded North, the weather gradually got better and the scenery got more spectacular. We wound around many curves, and sometimes could see the front of the train through our windows. (PIC 11) About 20 miles out, we passed over an 810 feet long, 100 feet high trestle that crosses the Bellevue Valley but we all knew that a much more spectacular one lay further ahead - the one made famous in all the Agawa ads and literature. (See it at top left.) At about the 30 mile point, we passed the small village of Searchmont, which consists of a few dozen houses and buildings clustered in the area on both sides of the track. This is a pretty remote area, and the village serves as somewhat of a ski area in the winter but probably exists mostly as a base for a lot of fishing and camping activities.
As our journey progressed, we passed lakes of all sizes, some with several cabins around the shore and others that seemed completely unspoiled. (PIC 12 ) The farther North we got, the fewer cabins we saw. Leanne told us that the Algoma operates a regular passenger train that comes through the same route, and for many of the people living in the area it was the only way to get back and forth to civilization. She said that sometimes that train makes about as many stops as a city bus, but I think she was kidding!
As we kept moving, we gradually got higher and higher and the view got more breathtaking. (PIC 13) When we were about an hour away from Agawa Canyon we came to the larger trestle, which crosses the Montreal River and is 130 feet high and over 1500 feet long. At its base is a power dam that supplies Sault Sainte Marie and the entire area. My wife had been nervous about this crossing, but it turned out that it looks much scarier from a distance than it does when you're actually on the train. The view from aboard the train (PICS 14, 15) doesn't really show the whole scene as well as the more famous picture, but of course you'd have to jump off and hike way up the mountain to take that type of picture!
Leanne put lunch out about a half-hour before our arrival at the park. She informed us that if we didn't want to eat until the train started back South in the afternoon, we could fix ourselves a plate and she'd wrap it and hold it in her refrigerator. However, most of us were ready to eat by then. There were 3 kinds of sandwiches, and for dessert, mini-tarts and brownies. (The food was OK, but
nothing to rave about.)
The high point was passed (PIC 16) and we started down, the final 12 miles approaching the canyon featuring a descent of approximately 500 feet as the train went down into the Agawa Canyon. As it starts winding down, there's a brief space between the distant hills during which you can faintly see the shore of Lake Superior, 10 miles away. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to get a picture but I'm not sure it would have shown much anyway. The Agawa River was visible below, and we gradually came down level with it, finally crossing over before coming to a stop alongside - 114 miles North of our starting point in Sault Sainte Marie.
The park itself, which is owned by the railroad and exists mostly for the purpose of creating a destination for the trip, is just big enough to stroll around and see some sights (PICS 17, 18, 19, 20) and possibly make a stop at the gift shop, depending on how much hiking you want to do and what use you feel you can best make of the two hour stopover. We had been delayed briefly on our trip North by a passing freight, so actually arrived about 15 minutes late...but it was made very clear to all passengers that the train would still leave at 1:30, as scheduled. Not a major problem for most, but it did inhibit those who wanted to explore the more remote trails. There are several of varying lengths and difficulties that can be hiked if you're energetic, and a couple of them end up with views of small waterfalls. We opted (always wanted to use that word) for just walking down along the river. (PIC 21) The water in the river looks like iced tea, which is caused by tannin leaching down from cedars along the banks. (PIC 22) Soon after our arrival at the park, the train crew moved the engines onto a siding and down to the other end of the train, hooking them into place at our dome car so that the engine that previously had faced backwards was now the lead engine. Meanwhile, attendants began turning all the seats, so that all passengers would be facing forward for the return trip. A pretty slick way of effectively turning an entire train with the least amount of effort.
We boarded for the return trip (PIC 23) seating ourselves in the same numbered seats, but in the lower level. The view on the trip back wasn't quite as good as that up in the dome, but since by now the sky was clear and the weather nice it was easier to see distant scenery. (Also, I was closer to the coffee!) In addition to our regular reserved seats, the lower level of the dome car also featured a lounge section, with comfortable sofa-type seating.
Time seemed to move pretty quickly on the return trip, with many of the passengers leaning back and relaxing - some even dozing - and it seemed that in no time at all we found ourselves pulling back into the station...almost exactly on time at 5PM.
Our only remaining adventure occurred at the duty-free shop the next morning as we prepared to cross back over into the USA and head for home, and I'll tell the tale in the hope that it will save someone else some future trouble. Canada has a couple of different sales taxes that can add quite a bit to your expenses, but tourists can get a refund of the Goods and Services Tax - GST - on hotel bills and gift shopping. We had saved the receipts from our previous Canadian trip and combined them with those from this trip, in preparation for getting a GST refund. However, we found that there are a couple of catches. First, each individual receipt has to be at least $50 - no problem for the hotel receipts, but only one gift shop receipt was over $50...and it was one of those from our previous trip two months ago, which leads to problem number two. Apparently we should have had someone (?) inspect our merchandise and authorize (?) our receipt during that visit. Oh well...
And finally, now that I've bored you with my tale, here's a link for the official Agawa website. Also, a link to the Sault Ste Marie Chamber of Commerce, and last, but CERTAINLY not least, a link to TRAINWEB. |
