Waiting for summer on Lake Superior
Twelve degrees Celsius was the average daily temperature last week while we camped on the north shore of Lake Superior. It also rained four of the five days out. And the worse part, the store closest to us for a beer supply run was burnt to the ground.
No beer, poor weather. We survived. We even enjoyed ourselves. Our four-year-old daughter wore her winter hat the majority of the time, I erected three tarps over camp and built up the fire on a continual basis, and Alana had packed enough Bailey’s Irish Cream , which tastes fantastic poured over Smore’s, that a beer run wasn’t as disastrous as it may sound. Sitting around camp trying to keep warm was actually a good way to bond as a family. It was as if we were living the life of the Mason family in Bill Mason’s classic film Song of the Paddle.
Kyla buried me in the sand (it was a good way to stay warm, actually). We welcomed the camp chipmunk (and then chased it away after the critter tried to steal our Smore’s supply). We weathered Lake Superior’s countless wind bound days by tossing driftwood back into the lake and collecting coloured rocks that were being washed ashore. It was all good.
Our reason to go to Lake Superior was due to me still being on the mend from having vertigo, forcing us to cancel our 12 day canoe trip in Temagami and alter it to a week (portage free) on Lake Superior. It was a good call. Not only did I still suffer from vertigo and fall down from dizziness a number of times, we also had a better time freezing on the north shore of Superior then we would have freezing on a strenuous canoe trip in Temagami.
