The Happy Camper: Come Paddle with Me
Who wants to paddle a Voyageur canoe along the coastline of Lake Superior with me? Sounds like an awesome trip, right?
Perfect for celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary!
Naturally Superior has organized a series of Voyageur canoe trips along the Superior coast. Legendary filmmaker, Becky Mason, is hosting the Pukaskwa trip—the wildest freshwater coastline in the world.
Michael Burtch, a retired Director-Curator of the Art Gallery of Algoma in Sault Ste. Marie, is hosting the rugged coastline, stark islands and hardscrabble villages of Lake Superior’s north shore. The route inspired some of the Group of Seven’s most famous landscape paintings.
Singer/songwriter Rodney Brown will be tracing the rugged coastlines of Pie, Thompson and Victoria islands—a place where it’s easy to imagine the Voyageur’s paddles flashing as big canoes race to be the first to arrive at the infamous rendezvous at Fort William.
My route is set in Lake Superior Provincial Park. This 80-kilometre journey from Sinclair Cove to Michipicoten radiates a special energy from its ancient rock paintings, enchanting rock monoliths and mysterious moss-covered boulder beaches. Here, the French-Canadian Voyageurs were quick to adopt the Aboriginal tradition of making tobacco offerings at sacred places like the Agawa Rock pictographs and Nanabush Chair. We’ll do the same, asking the spirits of Lake Superior for safe passage along the exposed sections of shore between spectacular sand beach campsites.
Lake Superior Provincial Park encapsulates the best of the north shore: a diverse geology ranging from lunar landscapes of volcanic rhyolite to stalwart granite cliffs; sheltered coves; outstanding hiking; and wilderness camping.
If you crave solitude but don’t have the time to paddle the Pukaskwa coast, this is your next best bet.
Check out the Naturally Superior project. I hope to share the lake with you this summer: https://www.naturallysuperior.com/lake-superior-voyageur-canoe-brigades/
