Norma Rawlings, A Hike With the Group of Seven

A Hike with the Group of Seven

11/2/2022

Onaping Falls. A.Y. Jackson painted a landscape highlighting High Falls on the Onaping River in Sudbury. It was displayed in the local high school for years before it mysteriously disappeared. It is still missing, but Onaping Falls remains fully present in all its glory.

Sudbury’s landscape brings to mind the Group of Seven on a regular basis, and Onaping Falls was particularly in keeping with their painting style. It has an abundance of trees reflecting their glorious colours off the water, with an iron bridge spanning the river and permitting views forward and back that take your breath away. It is no wonder that Sudbury and the north inspired so much artwork from the Group of Seven.

I swim with a woman named Lynn. She warned me to wear my running shoes because there were a lot of rocks on the Onaping Falls hiking trail. I heeded her advice but did not appreciate the ruggedness of the terrain until my girlfriend and I were at the lookout admiring the falls trying to figure out how the devil to make it over to them. It never occurred to us that we had to billy goat our way straight down what appeared to be a treacherous rockslide to the water. Only the trail markers painted onto the rocks encouraged us to head lower. Low and behold, we made it without injury and began to walk along the water.

The fall colours were in full blaze and the reds this year were resplendent. It was postcard worthy. Every photo was sublimely colourful. The falls are spectacular, running into rapids then falling 46 meters to the river below. That portion of the river is called High Falls. The falls sit at the intersection between the Canadian Shield and the crater caused by the meteor crash millions of years ago.

The falls are in the northwest quadrant of Sudbury’s municipal area. They were their own town from 1973 to 2000 before being amalgamated into Greater Sudbury. The area boasts an abundance of fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, cross country skiing and downhill skiing.

Marisa and I felt very fortunate to spend two hours hiking the Onaping Falls trail. It was Thanksgiving weekend and being immersed in the vibrant beauty of nature around every bend in the path made us feel fully in keeping with the holiday. Onaping Falls is a hike I would strongly recommend doing…with your running shoes on.