Mission Marsh Conservation Area
Boardwalk Trail
Packed Trail
TRAIL SPECS:
Trail distance:
Boardwalk Trail: 0.3km
Packed Trail: 2km
Total trail time:
Boardwalk Trail: 5 minutes
Packed Trail: 30 minutes
Negligible trail elevation
Trail Rating:
(both): BEGINNER
Located at the end of 106th St on Mission Island via Island Drive in Thunder Bay East End, Mission Marsh offered free parking and an excellent view of the bay as well as the Sleeping Giant. There was a picnic area as well as many informational placards.
We took a boardwalk down from the parking lot which brought us right aver the water. We soon came to a set of mounted binoculars for getting a better look at the features around the bay, as well as he plentiful waterfowl in the area.
The boardwalk soon circled back to the parking lot, and it forked, leading us up a small hill with hand railings to assist climbing. Atop the hill was a lookout platform, but the trees had grown tall enough to partially block our view.
The boardwalk loop was very short, but a well-trodden path offered us a longer hike. At the point where the boardwalk forked toward the lookout, we took the packed trail which brought us around to the other side of the street.
One the other side, we came to several inlets off of the Kaministiquia River. There were several small islands in these little inlets upon which assorted geese, ducks, and cormorants were sunning themselves, safe from hikers. The trail brought us to a narrow path surrounded on both sides by water. Half way down the path, we encountered a single goose guarding some eggs, so we decided to turn around and leave the nesting ground undisturbed.
Circling back around the inlets toward the mouth of the river, we arrived at a beach that led us towards the mouth. The main path led back toward the picnic area and then back down near the beach. Eventually the beach got thick with shrubs, so we cut through a small patch of tall grass back onto the trail. The trail came out at the mouth and veered to the right, passing a bench on the way back to the parking lot.
There were many benches along the trail to rest and/or take in the beautiful scenery. There were also a lot of assorted bird feeders and bird houses, making Mission Marsh and excellent bird watching location.
 looking across from the boardwalk trail towards the sleeping giant |  looking at some ducks swimming infront of the sleeping giant |  some of the marshy pond areas off the packed walking trails |
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 pretty ducks |  some sort of old post, perhaps from an old boat dock |  view of the lake from the left-most side of the packed walking trails |
 the packed walking trails |  the final section of the packed walking trail |