Courtesy Canadian Lighthouses of Lake Superior
Porphyry Island Beckons with a Lighthouse, Trails & Gallery
Kayakers at Porphyry Harbour (with black volcanic sand) after crossing Black Bay.
An adventure to Porphyry Island on Black Bay about 8 miles east of Sleeping Giant Provincial Park starts with how you get there. Most people arrive by kayak or canoe, sailboat or power boat. Or you can hire a fishing charter, a floatplane or helicopter (there’s a heliport at Porphyry).
Once on Porphyry Island, you can spend a night at the guest house and take in the photo gallery.
This is home to the 1873 Point Porphyry Island Lighthouse, leased and managed (along with those on Trowbridge and Shaganash islands) by the preservation group Canadian Lighthouses of Lake Superior.
Paul Morralee, the group’s secretary, says visitors to Porphyry find such a rich experience – from exploring and hiking to rock hunting and birdwatching – that they often wish they had more visitation time.
You can plan a trip for one day or several. If you’re there for a day trip, you might have lunch, then hike a couple of miles of trails. The trails bisect Porphyry Island Provincial Park, a nature reserve that covers most of the island.
The flipped view of Sleeping Giant alone may be worth the trip, Paul says. Looking west, you see it reversed from what you’re used to seeing from Thunder Bay. This fresh perspective “kind of sweeps people off their feet,” he adds.
Courtesy Canadian Lighthouses of Lake Superior
Porphyry Island Beckons with a Lighthouse, Trails & Gallery
The Sleeping Giant’s head is illuminated by city lights of Thunder Bay in a long-exposure image looking west from Porphyry Island.
Porphyry Harbour is where most people enter as paddlers or boaters. Canadian Lighthouses posts two students on-site in July and August. “What happens, if you arrive by kayak or canoe, is you’ll find a place to camp and then find the students. They will take you for a tour around the sites.”
Those sites feature the 80-foot light tower and the Gordon Graham Gallery (fog alarm building) displaying photographs by the former keeper for whom the gallery is named.
For lodging with more comfort, there’s a three-bedroom guest house that sleeps seven and has 260-degree views of Lake Superior and the Sleeping Giant. The former keeper’s home has electricity and running water, but bring your sleeping bags. “We call it glamorized camping,” Paul jokes. Online booking is available. For nonmembers, it’s $200 (Cdn.) or $153 (U.S.) per night, a great bargain for U.S. travelers. Members of CLLS get a discount.