The Agawa Canyon sits deep in the Algoma District of Northeastern Ontario, a shallow gorge cut into the oldest rock on the continent. The Canadian Shield fault that created it is 1.2 billion years old, but the Agawa River has been refining the work ever since, grinding the walls wider and deeper through millennia of erosion. At their highest point, the canyon walls tower above the river below. Four waterfalls cascade from the rim to feed the Agawa -- the North and South Black Beaver Falls, the tall Bridal Veil Falls, and the shorter Otter Creek Falls. Above Otter Creek, beaver ponds feed the falls and provide natural spawning beds for speckled trout. The canyon sits in a transitional zone between the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest and the Boreal Forest, giving it an unusual botanical richness. Annual snowfall is enormous, with a record set during the winter of 1989. The word Agawa itself comes from the Ojibway language, meaning shelter -- an apt name for a place enclosed by ancient rock.

Between 1918 and 1923, the Group of Seven returned repeatedly to the Algoma region, drawn by the raw drama of its landscape. Their method was unconventional: they rented a boxcar from the Algoma Central Railway, outfitted it like a cabin with bunks and a stove, and had it shunted to sidings at locations they chose for their visual power. From these rolling base camps, the painters hauled their canvases into the bush, capturing the tangled spruce, the waterfalls, the blazing autumn maples on panels they carried back to Toronto. The paintings they produced -- Harris's stark compositions, MacDonald's explosive autumn scenes, Jackson's rolling northern terrain -- became foundational works of Canadian art. The Algoma years are considered a turning point that pushed the group toward the bold, distinctly Canadian style that would define their legacy.

The first tracks reached the Agawa Canyon during the winter of 1911, when the Algoma Central Railway pushed its line through the rugged landscape northwest of Sault Ste. Marie. In 1952, the railway began developing the Agawa Canyon Wilderness Park, starting with a simple picnic clearing beside the tracks. The park remains accessible only by rail or hiking trail -- there are no roads into the canyon. This enforced remoteness has kept the place remarkably wild. Since 1952, more than three million visitors have made the journey aboard the Agawa Canyon Tour Train, which runs in summer for the wildflowers, in late September and October for the legendary fall colors, and in winter as the snow train. Visitors get several hours in the canyon to hike five short nature trails, including the Lookout Trail, which climbs 372 steps to an observation platform perched on the canyon wall with panoramic views of the gorge below.

The steep walls and rail corridor make the canyon unappealing to moose and bear, but the gorge teems with smaller life. Beaver and otter work the Agawa River, joined by mergansers, wood ducks, and goldeneyes. Chipmunks, meadow voles, and groundhogs populate the forest floor. The skies belong to the raptors -- merlins, golden eagles, broad-winged hawks, and American kestrels ride the thermals above the canyon rim. Ravens and great blue herons are common sights. In spring and summer, the canyon floor erupts with fireweed, orange hawkweed, oxeye daisies, nodding trilliums, and yellow clintonia. Later in the season, viper's bugloss, bladder campion, yarrow, and evening primrose take over. In winter, ice climbers arrive by train to tackle frozen routes with names like Trestle, Salmon Run, and Sweating Whiskey, camping in tents pitched near the tracks in one of the most remote outdoor arenas in Ontario.