{{Short description|Mountain in Ontario, Canada}} {{for|the mountain in Australia|Mount McKay (Australia)}} {{Infobox mountain | name = Mount McKay | image = Mount McKay Thunder Bay.jpg | image_caption = Mount McKay as seen from the Neste Boat Launch | image_size = 250 | elevation_m = 489 | elevation_ref = | prominence = | range = Nor'Wester Mountains | location = Fort William First Nation, Ontario, Canada | map = Canada Ontario | range_coordinates = | map_caption = Location in Ontario | label_position = bottom | map_size = 200 | coordinates = {{coord|48|20|41|N|89|17|12|W|type:mountain_region:CA-ON_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_ref=<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/FDNYZ |title= Mount McKay |date= |website= Canadian Geographical Names |publisher= Natural Resources Canada |access-date= 31 August 2016}}</ref> | topo = NTS {{Canada NTS Map Sheet|52|A|6}} | type = Sill | age = Precambrian | last_eruption = }}
'''Mount McKay''' (Ojibwe: ''Anemki Wajiw'')<ref>{{cite web |title=Anemki Wajiw (Mount McKay) Toll Gate Prices |url=https://fwfn.com/news/anemki-wajiw-mount-mckay-toll-gate-prices/ |website=Fort William First Nation |publisher=Fort William First Nation |access-date=17 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250817145327/https://fwfn.com/news/anemki-wajiw-mount-mckay-toll-gate-prices/ |archive-date=17 August 2025}}</ref> is a mafic sill located south of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, on the First Nation Reserve of the Fort William First Nation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mount McKay |url=https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/geology/mount-mckay |website=EBSCO |publisher=EBSCO Information Services |access-date=17 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250817150049/https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/geology/mount-mckay |archive-date=17 August 2025}}</ref>
It is the highest, most northern and best known of the Nor'Wester Mountains. It formed during a period of magmatic activity associated with the large Midcontinent Rift System about 1,100 million years ago.<ref name="Anemki Wajiw">{{Cite web |url=http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/VTrips/NLSupOnt.HTM |title=North Shore Lake Superior, Ontario |access-date=2007-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725011001/http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/VTrips/NLSupOnt.HTM |archive-date=2008-07-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Since 1933, there is a road allowing for acces to a plateau on the mountain. <ref name="Mountain Road">{{cite web |last1=Stephanie |first1=Wesley |title=Mountain Ledge Road — Celebrating 85 Years of Connecting Communities |url=https://www.thewalleye.ca/stories/mountain-ledge-road-celebrating-85-years-of-connecting-communities |website=The Walleye |access-date=17 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250817161310/https://www.thewalleye.ca/stories/mountain-ledge-road-celebrating-85-years-of-connecting-communities |archive-date=17 August 2025}}</ref>
==Name== thumb|Ojibwe Elder monument Mount McKay is known by the Fort William First Nation as ''Anemki Wajiw''<ref name="Anemki Wajiw"/> (also written as: Anemki-Wajiw, Animikii Wajiw, Animikii-Wajiw, Anemki-waucheu, or Anemki-Waucheuin) in Ojibwe or ''Thunder Mountain'' in English.
The English name "Mount McKay", evolved from "Mackay's Mountain" and later, "McKay's Mountain", after William Mackay, a Scottish free trader who resided in the Fort William area sometime between 1821 and 1857.<ref name="tbhs1921"/>
==Geology== Mount McKay is {{convert|299|m|ft|abbr=on}} above Lake Superior and {{convert|483|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level.<ref name="lakehead"/>{{rp|31,32}} It is a flat-topped hill flanked by steep cliffs on three sides.<ref name="lakehead">{{cite report|title=Watershed Characterization Report Lakehead Source Protection Area|publisher=Source Water Protection–Lakehead Region|date=March 2008|url=http://ozone.scholarsportal.info/bitstream/1873/14560/3/292820.pdf|accessdate=June 14, 2010}} {{dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>
Mount McKay is composed of shale and greywackes – the Rove Formation – which is covered by the hard, protective {{convert|60|m|ft|abbr=on}} thick diabase cap.<ref name="lakehead"/>{{rp|iii,2}} The Rove Formation is part of the Animikie Group.<ref name="lakehead"/>{{rp|32}} The Rove sedimentary layers in the Nor'Wester Mountains are overlain by a {{convert|60|m|ft|abbr=on}} cap of diabase;<ref name="lakehead"/>{{rp|32}} this Logan diabase is {{nowrap|1115 ± 1}} million years old.<ref>{{cite report|title=Ontario Exploration and Geoscience Symposium, "Cooperatively Enhancing Ontario’s Geoscience Database"|date=December 13–14, 2005|publisher=Ontario Prospectors Association|url=http://ontarioprospectors.com/events/05OEGSAbstracts.pdf|accessdate=June 12, 2010}}</ref> This diabase cap is the erosional remnant of a sill that once extended over the entire area.<ref name="lakehead"/>{{rp|32}} Most of it is covered by a thick layer of mineral soil.<ref name="lakehead"/>{{rp|32}}
The north face of Mount McKay shows evidence that below this cap is another {{convert|7.2|m|ft|abbr=on}} thick sill of very hard diabase.<ref name="lakehead"/>{{rp|32}} This sill is also an erosional remnant and is {{convert|96|m|ft|abbr=on}} below the first cap and {{convert|190|m|ft|abbr=on}} below the top of the hill – or {{convert|242|m|ft|abbr=on}} above sea level.<ref name="lakehead"/>{{rp|32}}
==Features==
A lookout exists on the lower eastern plateau at an elevation of {{convert|300|m|ft}}, providing a view of Thunder Bay and the city's harbour. A small memorial commemorates Aboriginal people that fought in wars. There is a path on the eastern face of the mountain that can be used for hiking. Plants on the mountain include red and sugar maple and poison ivy (''animikiibag''—"thunder-leaf" in the Ojibwe language). The top of the mountain has glacial erratics and jack pines. A small grove of yellow birch grows just south of the entrance gate.
A small, unmaintained trail can be used to reach the top from the lookout via the north face, with a heavy gauge steel cable that can be used for support. However, due to the grade and geology (mostly shale) of the face, this unsanctioned hike is considered dangerous, and is not recommended for novice hikers.
There is also somewhat of a trail on the west side of the mountain. Shale is predominant in this area, making the western climb considerably less dangerous than the north face.
There is a notice posted on a billboard at the lookout requesting that visitors "do not climb mountain." Animikii-wajiw is considered sacred ground by the members of the Fort William First Nation, on whose traditional territory the mountain stands.
==See also== * Volcanism of Eastern Canada
==References==
{{Reflist|refs= <ref name="tbhs1921"> {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/papers1921thunuoft#page/86/mode/2up/search/mountain | title = Twelfth Annual Report: Papers of 1921 | page = 86 | publisher = The Thunder Bay Historical Society | access-date = 2018-11-04}}</ref> }}
Category:Landforms of Thunder Bay Category:Mountains of Ontario Category:Sills (geology) Category:Igneous petrology of Ontario Category:Mountains of Canada under 1000 metres