This is one of those nice out-of-the-way spots that not many people have been to.
Round-trip: 1km
Difficulty: Easy
Location: Batchawana Bay, ON
Click here for a google map of the route.
From Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario drive north on Highway 17 for 60km. Turn right onto Tribag Mine Road. This is a single-lane road that is a little rough, so depending on your vehicle you may not be able to drive all the way to the falls. In that case just park off the road, making sure other vehicles have lots of room to get by and walk or bike along the road the rest of the way.
Drive down Tribag Mine Road for 6km. Every second kilometre is marked starting with 2. If you get to km 8 you have gone too far. Just after kilometre 6 watch for a parking area on the right side of the road and park there. There is a steep trail, with a black cable for support that starts at the parking area and seems to head toward the river. We went down it, but it didn’t seem to go anywhere. We ended up bushwhacking along the river to the falls, which was beautiful. If you like you can walk up the road to the falls from the parking area.
The falls are on a curve to the right, opposite a rock wall that has a creek running down it. The Batchawana Falls are about 15 feet high and produce a surprising amount of mist. We got soaked when we climbed down into the gorge to take a few pictures. There are also a few other smaller falls further upstream, but I haven’t checked them out yet.
Hey!! We went to this spot last night. The drive off highway 17 was okay for the first 10 mins or so but then we got to a place where we could not pass. We were in a car. We pulled over about 2km from where you marked to park and walked the rest of the way in. There wasn’t much garbage we found so that’s a positive! The walk in was over pebbles and stones so ankle support shoes would be helpful! Definitely recommend checking it out! Thanks for your posts, really helps make the most out of Covid times!
The drive in was a little rough but our minivan handled it fine. We drove 6.8 kms from Highway 17 and found a little spot to pull over. From there, the falls was a very short walk. I was happy to see that the garbage was largely cleaned up. Based on Burt’s comment we had brought a garbage bag but it was not needed. Incredible spot, loved the spray. Well worth the trip. And don’t forget to check out the Group of Seven painting of this spot by J.E.H. MacDonald.
I was at the falls two days ago. picked up a bunch of cans and garbage. amazes me that people who go there leave garbage. Do they like looking at garbage if they return? do they want to go to cool places and see the garbage of the people there them?
Any tourists take heed.
We are sick of going into places like this and cleaning up your left behind garbage.
Empty cans, smashed beer bottles, empty propane containers, you name it, it’s disgusting.
We have some U.S. plate numbers recorded of people seen littering and will report them if ever seen again.
Have a little respect.