Rock Lake

N 46°26.850' W 083°45.670’

46.44750 -83.76116

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A cold beautiful lake just a short drive up highway 638 from Bruce Mines...Unique large flake sand grains and a sense of isolation make this place so nice. No cellular service added to my sense of isolation, I’m sure. The sands are the flaked quartz tailings from the old mine giving this beach its unique texture and feeling under my feet. They were dumped into the lake and later formed what became the Old Mill Public Beach. The lake is also part of the Thessalon river system, a historical logging route that was used in the 1930s. Clearly marked by the Ministry of Natural Resources sign as No Overnight Camping, don’t let this discourage you from visiting. While there are some cottages along the shore, I literally had the beach all to myself for the vast majority of my visit. I waved to one lady, and there was still enough brush round that I may as well have still been alone. Tons to see and poke around and surprisingly clean. There is a footprint left from the old copper stamp mill if you want to do a little uphill hike. It wasn’t much to see, but the short climb was a nice way to stretch out my muscles. Rock Lake is a great place to swim or fish in. Rock Lake stays cool longer because of its twenty-seven-meter depth, in spite of being only ten square kilometres. The same reason its such a refreshing dip on a hot day is also why the best fishing is always a few weeks later than surrounding lakes. I’m not sure about chemical residue from the mine, so I personally wouldn’t eat anything I caught that was too large. That’s just me. Fishing web pages rave about how the lake is supposed to be notoriously good for walleye and pike because it is so deep.