The Sleeping Giant is a series of

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks, such as shales, capped by a ...

s formed by the erosion of thick,

diabase Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-gra ...

sills on

Sibley Peninsula The Sibley Peninsula is a and peninsula in Ontario, Canada, on Lake Superior. It projects into the lake from Superior's north shore, and separates Thunder Bay to the west from Black Bay to the east.''Sleeping Giant Background Information'', 3. ...

that resembles a giant lying on its back when viewed from the west to north-northwest section of

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. As one moves southward along the shoreline toward Sawyer's Bay, the Sleeping Giant starts to separate into its various sections. Most distinctly in the view from the cliffs at Sawyer's Bay, the Giant appears to have an

Adam's Apple The Adam's apple is the protrusion in the neck formed by the angle of the thyroid cartilage surrounding the larynx, typically visible in men, less frequently in women. The prominence of the Adam's apple increases in some men as a secondary mal ...

. The formation is part of

Sleeping Giant Provincial Park Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, established in 1944 as Sibley Provincial Park and renamed in 1988, is a park located on the Sibley Peninsula in Northwestern Ontario, east of Thunder Bay. The nearest communities are Pass Lake, in the township o ...

. Its dramatic steep cliffs are among the highest in Ontario (250 m). The southernmost point is known as Thunder Cape, depicted by many early Canadian artists such as William Armstrong. One

Ojibway The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

legend identifies the giant as Nanabijou, who was turned to stone when the secret location of a rich silver mine now known as

Silver Islet Silver Islet refers to both a small rocky island and a small community located near the tip of the Sibley Peninsula in northwestern Ontario, Canada. A rich vein of nearly pure silver was discovered on this small island in 1868 by the Montr ...

was disclosed to white men. Sleeping Giant is the namesake and general setting of the 2015 Canadian film ''Sleeping Giant''.

Seven Wonders of Canada

It was voted number seven for a list of

Seven Wonders of Canada The Seven Wonders of Canada was a 2007 competition sponsored by CBC Television's ''CBC News: The National, The National'' and CBC Radio One's ''Sounds Like Canada''. They sought to determine Canada's "seven wonders" by receiving nominations from vi ...

, with a total of 177,305 votes, beating the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy () is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The bay was ...

and

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

by almost 90,000 votes.CBC's Seven Wonders of Canada Results Page, accessed 6 June 07
/ref> Ultimately it was not selected by the panel of judges,

Ra McGuire Ramon Wayne "Ra" McGuire (pronounced "Ray"; born June 13, 1950) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and founding and longtime member of the rock band Trooper. McGuire performed with Trooper and musical partner Brian Smith from 1975 until their ...

Roberta Jamieson Roberta L. Jamieson, OC is a Canadian lawyer and First Nations activist. She was the first Indigenous woman ever to earn a law degree in Canada, the first non-Parliamentarian to be appointed an ''ex officio'' member of a House of Commons committe ...

and

Roy MacGregor Roy MacGregor (born 1948) is a Canadian author of fiction and non-fiction. Career Roy MacGregor was born in Whitney, Ontario in 1948 and grew up in Huntsville, Ontario. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Laurentian U ...

, who decided their vote by geographic and poetic criteria.

References

* Ontario Parks
Sleeping Giant Background Information
' (2003) Queen's Printer for Ontario. . Retrieved on 26 September 2007. {{reflist

External links

Information on the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

Sleeping Giant Background Information

Information from the City of Thunder Bay on the Park
Landforms of Thunder Bay District Anishinaabe mythology Sills (geology) Rock formations of Canada Igneous petrology of Ontario

Seven Wonders of Canada

See also

References

External links