A beaver dam cut our 2017 Agawa Canyon train ride short

This year, we finally made it all the way

Interview requests

This week’s column focuses on a unique and personal journey. It’s a train ride that started eight years ago and was completed just a couple of weeks ago.

No, I didn’t live on the train during this entire stretch. And no, I’m not a vagabond, tramp or old-time hobo singer like Jimmie Rodgers or Boxcar Willie.

Allow me to explain.

My wife, son and I went to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., in August 2017 to take a trip on the Agawa Canyon Tour Train. This 10-hour excursion through Northern Ontario and the Canadian Shield has run on the tracks of the Algoma Central Railway (now owned by Canadian National Railways) since 1964. The 183-kilometre trip passes through the Algoma Steel corporation, Goulais River, Trout Lake, Mongoose Lake, Montreal River, and many spots where the Group of Seven set up their paintbrushes and canvases to create Canadian masterpieces.

The final destination is the magnificent Agawa Canyon Park, which was created more than 1.2 billion years ago and remains preserved and largely untouched to this day.

The best time to travel to Agawa Canyon is in the fall, when the leaves start to change colour. There’s really not a bad day, week or month to take this adventure, of course.

The trip had been recommended by a work colleague of my wife’s. I had been through the Soo, but it had been decades since I had last seen it. Our son was enamoured with Thomas the Tank Engine and loved all things trains. When you put it all together, it made sense for us to take the seven-hour drive from Toronto and see what it was like.

A two-day package was organized through Tourism Sault Ste. Marie. The train station was located across the street from the Quality Inn we stayed at. “I was able to check into the hotel,” I wrote in an early morning email to my father on Aug. 22, 2017, “and was able to trade in my printed voucher for our train tickets at the station before the ticket booth closed at 7 p.m.”

We easily made it to the train depot at 8 a.m. Our journey had begun, and we couldn’t wait to see the canyon and all of its beauty.

Alas, we never made it to our final destination. Canada’s national animal got in the way.

“On the day that the train left,” I wrote to Agawa Canyon Tours on Sept. 4, 2017, “we travelled for slightly over three hours and stopped around the 84th mile. From what we understand, a beaver dam broke in the middle of the night. This caused flooding on the track and, I assume, a portion of the surrounding area. It was therefore impossible to travel the remaining 30 (or so) miles to the canyon. Our train was eventually sent back, having never reached our ultimate goal.”

The train conductor said over the loudspeaker that this was only the second or third time he had experienced this in 30 years. (I’ve since found out that the train only infrequently doesn’t reach the canyon.) Andrew, our son, was a bit disappointed. My wife and I were both amused and frustrated. The other passengers were a mix of emotions, too.

Our train ride was fully refunded. We enjoyed a few days in the Soo and found the residents to be warm and welcoming at every turn. We headed back to Toronto on Aug. 23, 2017, and returned to our daily routine.

My wife and I were determined to go back one day and finish this train ride. We wanted to experience what the beaver dam had ruined for us. It was all a matter of timing, which is far from a perfect science.

Until this year, that is.

We scheduled a return trip to the Soo between Sept. 10 and 12. This was during Andrew’s first few days of school, which wouldn’t be an issue for him to miss. The package deal to Agawa Canyon no longer existed, but I arranged for us to stay at the same Quality Inn. The train depot had since moved to the Canal District, but that was only a short 10-minute walk from the hotel.

The weather was beautiful. The people in the Soo were just as warm and welcoming as we remembered. The Sept. 11 train ride was just as pleasant as it had been eight years ago. (We even got upgraded to more comfortable seats by one of the train’s attendants, Beth.) The scenery was breathtaking from start to finish. Most importantly, Andrew happily looked out his window during the trip.

With each passing mile, we got closer to the point where our first excursion had abruptly ended. Would we reach the canyon this time, or would we be jinxed once again?

We made it.

Agawa Canyon Park was magnificent. The scenery was straight out of a storybook, including stunning rock formations, gorgeous landscapes and crystal-clear water. We saw Black Beaver Falls and Bridal River Falls. We walked by small exhibits dedicated to the Group of Seven and the red boxcar they rented from the railway. The wonderful memories of what we experienced that day will stay with us forever.

That’s my story of the train ride that took eight years to complete. I would highly recommend going on the Agawa Canyon Tour Train. Try to do it in one visit, if you can.

Michael Taube is a political commentator, Troy Media syndicated columnist and former speechwriter for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He holds a master’s degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics, lending academic rigour to his political insights.