The breakfast room at the hotel was huge. It opened at 6:30 AM and was immediately inundated with tourists ready for a day on the train. We met a nice couple from Northern Kentucky who were in town just for the ride.
Arriving in the parking lot at 7:00 AM, we were just in time to see the train pull in. Nineteen cars and not an empty seat in any of them. This was a lucrative business for the Algoma Central and all the hotels and restaurants nearby.
Agawa Canyon Tour Train Map
Dawn comes late this time of year
But the train was right on time
We boarded Coach 3, as counted from the front of the train. They had changed our assignment a while back but the ticket agent said we had come out ahead. This car did not have two double rows of seats. Rather, it had one double row and one single plus a non-operational bar in the middle of the car.
Sandy getting aboard
The two opposite seats were taken by two very nice retired school teachers from southern Ontario, Carol and Janice.
The train pulled out at 7:30 sharp. I had my Canon Rebel with the Sigma 18-250 lens, which allowed me more flexibility in getting the shots I wanted. But one I missed right at the beginning was a bald eagle flying through a valley below us. We did have coupons for lunch sandwiches that we picked up in the "dining" car along the way. Our view was out the west facing windows looking towards Lake Superior.
Screen in car shows the engineer view
Montreal River
Once we reached Agawa Canyon, we got off the train with the warning to be back on time or it was a long walk home. We had two choices. Walk to the waterfalls or climb 250 feet of stairs to the overlook. Carol and I chose the stairs while Sandy and Janice decided to stay on level ground.
Carol, Janice and Sandy
The start of the climb
Let's do it
I can see our train from here
At the top
Looking remarkably unstressed after the climb
Back on the ground, Carol and I decided we had enough time to see some waterfalls. We saw them all before getting back to the train just in in time. I lost some pictures because the camera setting wheel got bumped from my programmed automatic setting to aperture priority, which was set too open. This resulted in some severe over-exposures before I realized and corrected the error.
The train started the return trip on time. We did not switch sides so got another view of the same scenery on the way back.
This is a cool scene
Loggers still ship via ACR
We arrived back in the Soo about 5:30, ahead of the posted time.
It was tricky getting out of the parking lot. I called Rabbi and we met him back at the casino for another supper. Then it was back to the Days Inn to relax and get ready to head home tomorrow.
