Ishpatina Ridge is the highest point of land in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, at an estimated

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. Ishpatina Ridge rises approximately above the immediate area. It was only truly recognized as Ontario's highest point after topographical mapping by the Government of Canada revealed this fact in the 1970s. Before then, the more popular Maple Mountain was thought to be higher. The ridge lies in

Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park is a remote wilderness park in northeastern Ontario, Canada, north of Lake Temagami. It is one of five provincial parks located in the Temagami area. This park encompasses Smoothwater Lake, Makobe Lake, t ...

. Due to its remote location, Ishpatina Ridge is a challenge to reach. The closest major highway, Highway 560, is more than 30 km north. There are a few logging roads and trails in the remote area, but they are difficult to travel in poor weather. The most popular approach route to Ishpatina is by canoe/portage via a logging road to the south out of the town of

Capreol Capreol ( ) is a community in the Ontario city of Greater Sudbury. Situated on the Vermilion River (35 mins north of the downtown core), Capreol is the city's northernmost populated area. From 1918 to 2000, Capreol existed as an independent to ...

north of Sudbury. While a northern route exists (out of

Gowganda Gowganda is a Dispersed Rural Community and unincorporated place in geographic Nicol Township, Timiskaming District, in northeastern Ontario, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend ...

, the nearest community), there are numerous portages making it particularly onerous. This route has traditionally been used for a winter-time approach by ski/snowshoe. Historically, a fire tower atop the ridge was staffed by forest workers and they would have been ferried to the site by float plane. Ellis Fire Tower - Ishpatina Ridge

The name "Ishpatina" comes from an

Ojibwe language Ojibwe , also known as Ojibwa , Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algonquian lan ...

word ''ishpadinaa'', meaning "high place/ridge".

Spadina Avenue Spadina Avenue (, less commonly ) is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods. Spadina Avenue runs south ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and the city of

Ishpeming, Michigan Ishpeming ( ) is a city in Marquette County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,470 at the 2010 census, less than it was in the 1950s and 1960s when the iron ore mines employed more workers. A statue of a ...

derive their names from the same word. Although the Ishpatina Ridge is the highest point in Ontario, at least one other geographic feature, Maple Mountain (approximately 25 km to the east) has greater

prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

, higher than Ishpatina Ridge's rise over Scarecrow Lake. An abandoned

firetower A fire lookout tower, fire tower or lookout tower, provides housing and protection for a person known as a "fire lookout" whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness. It is a small building, usually on the summit of a mountain or ...

, often referred to as the Ellis Tower, is still standing on the highest section of the Ridge (left). The original tower was an 80 ft structure erected in 1930. The successor, currently standing, is 100 ft (30 m) high and was abandoned in the 1960s. The towerman would have resided in a cabin on the shore of Scarecrow Lake and would have hiked a 3.5 km trail daily taking approximately two hours to the summit and a little over one hour to descend again. Located between Tower Peak and the North Peak, the Ishpatina Canyon is one of the deepest in Ontario. The elevation of Tower Peak is 693 m (2274 feet), the bottom of the Canyon is at 533 m (1750 feet) and the North Peak at 686 m (2250 feet) above sea level. The canyon is nearly twice as deep as

Ouimet Canyon Ouimet Canyon is a large gorge in the municipality of Dorion, Thunder Bay District in northwestern Ontario, Canada, about northeast of the city of Thunder Bay. The gorge is deep, wide and long, protected as part of Ouimet Canyon Provincial P ...

, often considered Ontario's deepest. However, the more gradual descent into the canyon hides the fact. The ridge was featured on an interactive web series called The Peakbaggers.

References

External links

Trip reports with route descriptions to the 3 main peaks along the Ishpatina Ridge

Documents conflicting estimates of the elevation of Ishpatina Ridge

Links with descriptions to many Ishpatina Ridge travel reports and photos

Map Link
{Dead link, date=January 2020 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
Individual report on Ishpatina ridge with photos

The Ellis firetower on Ishpatina Ridge

Friends of Temagami
Mountains of Ontario Mountains of Canada under 1000 metres Articles containing video clips

See also

References

External links