The Happy Camper: Was This Butterfly at Lake Superior Mystical?

Kevin Callan

August 17, 2026

It was an interesting moment, to say the least.

There was Ted, a member of last year’s Naturally Superior’s voyageur canoe trip, offering an Indigenous smudge ceremony before we embarked on our six-day paddle along the Lake Superior coastline. Last year’s members, which made up most of the crew, flocked around him like a bunch of gulls at a chip truck. The newbies, however, stood back at first and wondered what to think about it all.

I could understand the new participants’ pondering over the smoking smudge practice. Lake Superior was unusually calm when we put out from Sinclair Cove, just upwind of the infamous Agawa Rock Pictographs. So, why the big fuss over some mystic formality? 

But when they saw that I was first to wave the burning sweet grass smoke over my eyes, my ears and my heart, to calm my spirit and be mindful of what’s to come while paddling the “Great Lake.” They jumped in line and joined in full heartily.

Within minutes this lake can shift from a gentle undulation to a jostling of bottomless swells and tumbling breakers. The old crew knew that, but the new ones didn’t. Not yet anyway.

We all smudged our bodies and souls before embarking on the largest inland lake in the world—a place where the Ojibwa believe is a major spiritual centre, an enchanted place regarded with deep veneration, where one must give homage in order to travel without peril.

Day one was an absolute bliss. Calm waters, open skies, a perfect sand beach for a campsite at Robertson Cove/Baldhead, a total of 15 kilometres paddled and a delicious meal made and served by the two Naturally Superior guides, Oliver and Oscar, who we quickly labelled the “007” team.

All the participants gathered around the campfire that evening and shared their reasons to be on the journey, from a love of the lake to quality time spent together and not having cell phone reception.

Everyone on the trip was coupled up, except for Jane. She was alone on the trip, and she shared a more deeply emotional motivation to be on Superior. Her husband Tim had recently passed away, and it was his wish to paddle Lake Superior before his death. Sadly, that didn’t happen, but Jane brought his spirit along with her. 

I had the privilege of sitting beside Jane on our journey. We squeezed our butts together on the back seat of the voyageur canoe for the first half and then went to the front seat for the second half. We laughed together, cried together and watched an orange-coloured butterfly land on her pack throughout the entire adventure. She called the butterfly “Tim,” and she believed it was her husband’s spirit joining us along the adventure…as did we all.

I could write endless tales of our journey along Superior; about the crew’s breezy day from Baldhead to Gargantua, our decision to not take a day off and continue from Gargantua to Warp Bay, the hike and swim at Gargantua Falls, investigating the reddish rock mass north of Rhyolite Cove where a bizarre geological structure marks the place where the two-and-a-half-billion-year-old granite rocks and the one-billion-year-old volcanic rocks meet, our relaxed beach time at Red Rock and our windbound moment at Brule Harbour where we we had to backtrack to Old Woman’s Bay to get semi-rescued.

All are adventurous moments that I envisioned to sit down and write about when I returned, anecdotes about having sand constantly in your sleeping bag, wind burning your skin more than the sun, waves rolling over your lap on every third paddle stroke, gawking at massive cliff faces, watching peregrine falcons and bald eagles soar above us and soaking in the expanse of it all. But watching an orange-coloured butterfly land on Jane’s pack as we drifted along on the largest inland lake in the world and watch her smile at it…now that is mystical…and that’s Superior. One of the most incredible places in the world!

Watch the rest of my video series of the Superior Voyageur Canoe Trip on my KCHappyCamper YouTube channel

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READ MORE: Adventure, Canoeing, The Happy Camper