Located only 50 kilometers east of Thunder Bay, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park is best known as one of Ontario’s top summer destinations. Evade the crowds and experience a snow junkie’s paradise by traveling there in winter. A rented cabin provides a snug base camp.

The park maintains five rustic family cabins on the shore of Marie Louise Lake. Each barrier-free cabin has electric baseboard heat, three bedrooms that can sleep six (in bunkbeds), a fully-equipped kitchen, a dining lounge, a fireplace, a propane barbeque and a spacious sunroom.

Numerous windows ensure a steady stream of precious winter sunlight.

A friend of mine just booked her third reservation.

“I absolutely love it there,” she said. “It’s nice to be in the woods with modern conveniences. The cabins are a perfect getaway in our own backyard. I would recommend them to anyone looking for a little escape from the city.”

If you dig the idea of a Sleeping Giant cabin escape but aren’t a big fan of bunkbeds, rent one of the three eco-luxurious cabins at Beyond the Giant on the outskirts of the park.

When you travel throughout the park, you walk on ancient ground rich with history. The sedimentary rocks of the Canadian Precambrian Shield are 1.3 billion years old. Glacial ice has engulfed the area and retreated many times in the past two million years, the last time roughly 10,000 years ago. Human activity in the area dates back thousands of years.

Sleeping Giant Provincial Park encompasses most of Sibley Peninsula, which is home to Thunder Bay’s famous geographical landmark (and the park’s namesake): the iconic Sleeping Giant. Regulated as a provincial park in 1944, it was originally called Sibley Provincial Park and later renamed. It is part of the Great Lakes Heritage Coast and adjacent to the new Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area.

Barrier-free design, including an access ramp, ensure that everyone can enjoy the cabins.

Bring all your snow gear and an energizing menu because you will have your choice of winter activities. Cross-country skiers can enjoy the 50 kilometers of trails that are maintained and groomed by the Thunder Bay Nordic Trails Association. (The park plays host each year to the famous Sibley Ski Loppett.) Many miles of marked and backcountry snowshoe trails start just steps from the cabin.

Kids and adults alike can enjoy searching for and identifying animal tracks in the fresh snow. Besides small animals, the park is home to larger creatures like grey wolf, lynx, bear, moose and plenty of white-tailed deer. The park is also the perfect place to experiment with winter photography. Try taking a picture of a snowflake or catching the right light to snap an image of “winter diamonds’’ sparkling on a snow carpet.

Remember to step outside once in a while throughout the wintry evenings (perhaps wrapped in a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate in hand). If you’re lucky, you may catch the ultimate winter show: the dancing dazzle of the northern lights.