Sudbury - Day 2 - Dynamic Earth and Onaping Falls

Continued from Day 1 ...

After having spent time in Parry Sound, we drove on to Sudbury, an hour and half drive north. Not too many know, but Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population. By land area, it is the largest city in Ontario and the fifth largest in Canada.

Sudbury was once a major lumber center and a world leader in nickel mining. Mining and related industries dominated the economy for much of the 20th century. It is that mining history that we will take a look at, as we visit Big Nickel, and Dynamic Earth.

The Big Nickel is a nine-metre (30 ft) replica of a 1951 Canadian nickel, located at the grounds of the Dynamic Earth science museum. It is the world's largest depiction of a coin.

It was now time to visit Dynamic Earth.

Dynamic Earth is an interactive science museum in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It is a MUST VISIT if you are in Sudbury.

Did you know there are 4,800 kilometres of mines beneath and surrounding this city. That’s enough tunnel to stretch from Quebec City to Victoria.

Owned-and-operated by Science North, Dynamic Earth is an earth sciences museum which builds on the city's mining heritage, focusing principally on geology and mining history exhibitions. 

One of the problems of the website (as of time of writing of this article) is that you cannot book English language tours reliably. So your best bet is to visit the museum when it opens to get tickets for a tour. Definitely take the tour including the mine visit.

The tour starts with a seven-story elevator ride descending to a cavern. The mine's temperature are averages at 13°C (55°F) all year long. 

Then the tour goes through a demonstration mine to showcase the evolution of mining from turn-of-the-century to modern day. Here, we see various uniforms of miners (based on their roles), hung to dry near the lamps. In the early twentieth century, miners had to pay for most of their own equipment, and clothes, and these needed to be washed and dried every day.

As you step into the underground chamber, you need to select and put on hard hats (helmets). There's children sizes as well. I don't remember if you can take a stroller here, but I don't think it is advisable. If you have to carry a toddler, you shouldn't really be doing this tour. But with children who can walk, and especially who knows a bit about mining (perhaps from the game Minecraft), this is a must do.

Does it get cold inside? Slightly. We went on a hot summer's day (it was 32C outside), but underground was a cool 15C. We were fine in the beginning, but by the end of the tour (about an hour long), we began to wish we had brought a slight jacket for the kids.

Flipflops are also not a good idea. I normally wear sandals in the summer, but took care to wear sneakers, and boy was I glad. It IS a mine, just not a working one (thankfully lol). 

The tour guides keep it highly entertaining. It is also amazing to hear of how little was done in terms of safety a hundred years ago. Children as young as 10 or 12 used to work in the mines, sometimes preferred because they could climb into small pipes to dislodge rocks and boulders. And if they didn't get out of the way in time ... too bad. You read about such stories in Charles Dickens, and here you see examples of it.

The tour explains how standard slowly shifted as time went on, and more and more safety measures were put in place. There was also a (simulated) explosion showing how mines used explosives. The kids loved that experience (and so did the adults).

We also visited a Refuge Chamber (also known as Refuge Stations). These are sealed, secure, accessible rooms that preserve life through the monitoring and management of essential gas levels for underground mining. If something happens in a mine, such as a collapse, or power outage, you need to rush to these rooms. The guide told us about the Chilean miners, and how they stayed in one such room during their ordeal. 

She also assured us this was the deepest working Canada post letter box.

Overall, this was a highly educating, entertaining and somewhat different type of museum tour than what you normally are used to. I would highly recommend Dynamic Earth and the mine tour to anyone visiting Sudbury.

After lunch, it was time to visit Onaping Falls.

Onaping Falls is the name of a small town about 30 minutes drive from Sudbury, and the main attraction there is the eponymous Onaping Falls.

If you are with family that includes kids and seniors, you want to drive to the AY Jackson visitor centre site. You can park the car there, and take in the beautiful sight of the falls.

Unfortunately, some people still trying to express themselves with spray paint. Hopefully the officials can deter them and clean up.

If you want the best views and a good hike park down the road at alt parking and walk up the sand hill.

Alternatively, there is a 5 minute (or less) walk and you will see the falls from a distance. The first lookout is stroller-friendly, after which there's a lot of rocks if you wish to continue.

Onaping Falls is the place you can spend a couple of hours easily. I am told it's even better in the Fall when the trees get full colors in middle of October, and with no mosquitos to boot. Just walk up to any convenient place and watch.

We would head back to Toronto tomorrow. There's a couple of other places in Sudbury, especially for the evening, if you want to roam about. Bell Park is one. For us, we were still giddy about visiting a real mine.