Pickle Lake: Ontario’s Last Frontier
Population: Somewhat smaller than Toronto

The pavement may end here, but our town is a wonderful place for new beginnings. The air is clean and the lakes are clear. Many of the current residents have been in the community for 50 years or more; the stories they tell are real life examples of the courage, determination, and sense of humour necessary to build a life and future in the Canadian north.
Vast virgin forests, never touched by a logger’s axe, stretch for hundreds of miles beyond the horizon. Dotting this region are thousands of lakes and rivers, harbouring the majestic Canadian Monarch of the Forest, the moose. This huge wilderness is only three hundred miles from the coast of the Hudson Bay, Ontario’s sub-Arctic. Aside from the moose, the region offers viewing opportunities for woodland caribou, the elusive timber wolf, black bear, forbearing animals, game birds, bald eagles, gulls, ravens, the ever present songbirds, and migratory birds such as ducks and geese.
The Pickle Lake area is the starting point for adventuresome canoeists desiring to paddle to Hudson, James Bay, the Winisk Wilderness Waterway or the Albany River System.
Along with the abundance of fish and game our boreal forests provide the mushroom connoisseur with a variety of tasty morsels. Wild mushrooms and wild rice- a gourmet’s delight! The wild rice harvest is a local native industry as well as an annual tradition.
Pickle Lake is accessible from Highway 17 with an all-season paved highway running from 300 km north of Ignace. Traveling from the west it is also accessible via Highway 72 and Highway 516. There is also scheduled air service daily into Pickle Lake via Thunder Bay and Sioux Lookout. Pickle Lake is the most northernly community in Ontario that is accessible year-round by road. A gravel road stretches 250 km farther north and west of Pickle Lake to Windigo Lake.
The all-season gravel road provides many outdoor recreational opportunities. There are direct access points to various lakes and rivers, boat launching sites and picnic areas. For the outdoor winter enthusiast the area abounds with unlimited space for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and ice fishing. The Township also includes a natural ice curling rink; bowling alley; a library and a community hall. There is an annual ICE WORM Festival held in February or March.
Both local residents and the itinerant traveler can enjoy sand beaches, berry picking, rock hounding, searching for Hudson Bay agate or ancient Native pictographs, panning for gold, hiking and canoeing, and our northern lights dance all over the night sky. We are known for our annual BLACK FLY Festival that is held on the July 1st weekend.
Pickle Lake has a number of tourist outfitters that can cater to every need and budget. Services range from drive-in or boat-in housekeeping establishments to fly-in lodges and outpost cabins. Non-residents not using the services of an outfitter must have a Crown land camping permit available from the local Ministry of Natural Resources.
The residents of Pickle Lake invite you to come share with us this last frontier; it may not be here forever.