Nopiming Provincial Park — Attraction in Unorganized Division No. 19

I recently explored Nopiming Provincial Park for my first time during the August long weekend 2020 and absolutely loved it!

Nopiming in Anishinabe means "entrance to the wilderness" and I would say this accurately describes this truly beautiful, remote and unique park. The park is located in the Canadian Shield and the landscape consists of boreal forest and rocky terrain. Much of the park is completely undeveloped and natural, which I loved. It is secluded and the wilderness is rugged and pristine. Getting to Nopiming is a bit of an adventure - once you pass the town Bird River, the drive continues along rough and winding gravel roads. In some areas, the washboard bumps and potholes were pretty bad and I could only drive a max of 40 km/h. I was able to maintain a speed of around 60-70 km/h for most of the road but it's slow going.

I camped at Black Lake which is a secluded and basic campground with nothing else around for at least an hour in either direction. The sites were all good sized with decent privacy and surrounded by forest. There was a small but pretty beach with soft sand and a swimming area in a little cove off the lake. There are no showers, modern washrooms (just outhouses), running water, amenities or a store at Black Lake, so make sure you stock up on gas, water and food before entering the park. They offer free firewood at the campground office at Black Lake. There was some cell service on the porch of the office if you need to keep in contact with anyone or check emails. The lake itself was absolutely stunning and serene. I enjoyed walking along the trails along the lake from the campground where there were plenty of rock outcrops with amazing views and peaceful spots for sitting. The Black Lake Hiking Trail is 9 km round trip and follows along the shoreline of the lake beginning from the campground. I attempted to hike here, however, found it difficult to follow the trail as it was not well marked and official trail signage was non-existent. I ended up turning around about 2 km in, to avoid getting lost as I was hiking on my own. The portion that I did hike was gorgeous though, as the trail climbed over rocks and hugged the lake with amazing views.

I hiked the Walking on Ancient Mountains Trail, located around 11 km north of Black Lake. It was a 2 km round trip, short but scenic hike. The trail started off following through forest and then climbed on top of the rock face, with beautiful views of the surrounding landscape. It ended on the summit of a large rock with stunning panoramic views.

There is another short hiking trail called Fire of 83 that is located closer to Beresford Lake in the north section of Nopiming, but I didn't get around to hiking this one. Tulabi Falls and Bird Lake are both located closer to the entrance of the park and I will be exploring here later this month. Nopiming is a wonderful slice of wilderness to get away from the busyness of the city and enjoy nature. Will plan to...

This is my new favourite park/outdoor space. The forest is incredible and the lakes are beautiful. I stayed at the Black Lake Campground which was also great. Firewood is provided and there are clean washrooms. 315 becomes gravel but is wide and smooth, 314 (40km to Black Lake) is also gravel but more narrow and rough, though not too bad, and stays gravel and rough up to Beresford Lake. Campground office is open from 3-5pm, and there is a greeter at each major campground to help you out if needed. Definitely hike the Black Lake Trail, it...

We went to Gem Lake. Map makes it look like the road goes right up to the lake. There's actually about a 2km hike in over rough terrain. Going way out, to camp backwoods, we were hoping for pristine wilderness. Instead, we ended up dealing with garbage and broken glass everywhere. The place is really trashy from the parking lot to the campsites, even an unofficial, off the map site we found was littered with glass and garbage. We did catch a great meteor shower and a nice pickerel, but we could have done...