Wawa is famous for a goose. A huge steel statue of a Canada goose stands at the junction on the highway, put up in the 1960s, and the name itself comes from the Ojibwe word for the wild goose, which migrates over the lake in flocks each spring and autumn. The town, home to around twenty-six hundred people, grew up as a gold rush camp in the nineteenth century and later lived off the iron ore mines to the north, which have since closed.
It sits on Highway 17, the Trans-Canada, close to the northeastern shore of Lake Superior, where the road runs through low hills and spruce forest and sometimes glimpses the lake in a long grey-blue sweep. Superior is the biggest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, and its water is cold enough that it stays chilly to the touch even in August. The ride north from the Sault is long and mostly empty. The road is well surfaced but exposed, with long straights, rolling hills, frost heaves and occasional roadworks, and the wind off the lake can be strong and cold.
Wawa is a good place to stop because the services are real. There is fuel, there are motels, and there are diners where a plate of eggs and bacon or a fish dinner will set you up for the road. Michipicoten Bay and the river mouth are close by, and the Lake Superior Provincial Park, just to the south, is full of rock, beach and rivers that rest on the old Canadian Shield, among the oldest rock on earth.
Moose and bears are as common as cars at dusk, so be cautious. Summer from June to September is the riding season, and the shoulder months can bring snow. Bring a warm layer even on a sunny day, because the lake has its own weather.