| Paddling
the Lake Superior Region ...By
Kim (Muller) Fry Some of you know that Sam and I were married in March of this year. We have also made a big change in our lifestyles. We’re now on the road, living full time in an RV, traveling where the wind takes us. So far our travels have taken us north to MN and into Canada to see the Lake Superior area. We’ve having a great time paddling fantastic places in our canoes and kayaks.
Sleeping Giant Provincial Park This ended up being our favorite spot on the trip so far. When viewed from a distance, the park’s cliffs resemble a reclining human figure. Ojibway legend identifies the giant as Nanabijou, who turned to stone when the secret location of a rich silver mine, now known as Silver Islet, was disclosed to white men. We kayaked mirror-likeLake Louise Marie and saw half a dozen eagles, many ducks and heard wolves howling in the distance. This park is filled with wildlife. We saw more here than anywhere else we’ve been so far. We saw several bears, dozens of deer, porcupine, gophers, beaver, porcupine, the usual chipmunks and red squirrels and even the fearless deer mice that invaded our trailer nearly every night we stayed here. Our next paddling adventure was one on the Lake Superior leaving from the village of Silver Islet at the edge of the park. This famous mine produced $3,250.00 worth of silver ore before it closed in 1884. Today, much of what was built during the mining hey-day survives as a summer get-away. Sam and I were reminded several times on this trip just how dangerous it can be to paddle in Lake Superior. Two people had died within days of our arrival because precautions weren’t taken. The temperature in the lake is an average of 40 degrees, even in the middle of summer. Wind and waves can kick up unexpectedly, even on a bright summer day. We purchased Hydro-skins (thin wet suits) as a result. After carefully watching the weather, we left Silver Islet on a sunny morning for the islands in the area. The water is a beautiful color of turquoise blue and green. The clear water allowed us to see nearly 30 feet below us. My pictures don’t do justice to the color and clarity of the water. We paddled to several small islands near the shore, and landed on one island to eat lunch. The next couple of days were spent backpacking down to the end of the peninsula. The trail was an old logging road so it was an easy hike. We wet up camp along the shore of the lake, left our packs and headed out further down the trail to visit the bird observatory at the end of the point. Not knowing what to expect, we were pleasantly surprised when we discovered that the observatory was a major migration area where banding was done twice a year. We talked with the couple who lived there for 6 months of the year banding birds and greeting hikers like ourselves and explaining what they do. They told us that if we were willing to commit 3 weeks in either the spring or the summer we could stay there to learn and help band the birds. On this hike we saw lots of bear scat. Deer visited our camp all night and while we were eating breakfast the next morning a porcupine walked by us. Nipigon and Rossport While visiting Nipigon, the oldest town on the north shore of the lake, we were greeting by the mayor when we were slowly driving down the street. The mayor was a 50 something man, wearing a ponytail and earrings. He asked if we were by any chance looking for the boat ramp, seeing all of the boats on top of our truck, and told us that we had to paddle the Nipigon River and see the pictographs on the cliff near the bay. So despite a windy day, we paddled down the river to see them. We were a little disappointed when we saw them. We had seen nicer ones in the BWCA. These looked like they had been damaged by either the weather or by people. The Rossport Islands are among the largest archipelago on Lake Superior. The unique features of this island archipelago have recently been recognized by Parks Canada under a proposed National Marine Conservation Area. The narrow channels and protected harbors of the Rossport Islands are ideal for sea kayakers. There are camp sights on most of the islands for overnight trips. We spent a nearly a full day enjoying the scenery and discovering remnants of past inhabitants.
Pukaskwa (puk a saw) National Park Ontario’s largest park is on a stretch of the lake’s coast that is considered the wildest and most undeveloped. This park offers vistas of Lake Superior, with a rugged landscape carved out of the Canadian Shield and northern forests. The area offers many opportunities for paddling – either white-water rivers, small lakes or sea kayaking. Since I have an aversion to white water, the rivers were out of the question. We spent half a day exploring small coves and bays on the lake via canoe. With the clarity of the water, I discovered that my fear of heights transferred to heights above water also when I looked down into the clear water drop-offs. In these protected coves, we were offered protection from the wind and waves. We also spent 2 days backpacking on the Coastal Trail. Part of the trail crosses the White River on a narrow suspension bridge. Somehow the low hand railings and thin wire mesh below failed to pacify my fear of heights. We camped that evening on a sandy cove beach and discovered fresh bear tracks the next morning. Lake Superior Provincial Park South of Pukaskwa was an area where we discovered some great paddling.
We stopped to get some information at an outfitter at the mouth
of the Michipicoten River. Naturally Superior Adventures is a place
we highly recommend if you’re ever in the area. They offer
all kinds of services from kayak and canoe rentals, to lessons,
fully outfitted and guided trips, a lodge, yurt rentals, shuttles
and a small store. We scheduled a shuttle to the put in on the Michipicoten
River for the next day. The Michipicoten has some mild rapids and
some spectacular scenery. Signs warned of big water level fluctuations
because of a dam above the put in. The water can rise as much as
10 feet in as little as a half hour. Lake Superior Provincial Park offers many points of interest. The water is Lake Superior here was the most beautiful turquoise blue along the shore. It was as pretty as any water I had even seen in the Caribbean. Most of the days we spent in the park were very windy so we did not do much paddling. One evening from our campsite on Rabbit Blanket Lake, we paddled our canoes to the far end with hopes of seeing a moose. I watched a family of 4 beaver chewing away at some birch branches for many minutes before they discovered me observing them. They all swam towards me and 20 feet from canoe stopped and smacked their tails on the water and dived. A little further down the shore we discovered a large bull moose eating at the edge of the woods. We were able to get some fuzzy pictures before he turned back into the woods. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
We didn’t paddle again till we got back into the U.S. and stayed at Tahquamenon Falls State Park near Whitefish Point. We paddled the slow moving river out to the lake and along the very shallow shore of the lake for awhile. The lake stayed a shallow few inches to a few feet deep for at least 200 yards out into the lake. We had a tip from a friend of Sam’s to paddle the Two Hearted River just west of the state park. Using the GPS we found our way on back roads that we believe we just snowmobile trails at some points and made it to the mouth of the river. Good thing we have a four wheel drive truck! It was there we discovered an outfitter that ran shuttles to a put in on the river. The next day we put in on a narrow river that reminded us of either Red or Black Creek in MS. We really enjoyed the whole day on this paddle. The scenery was beautiful, the river perfect. The white sand beach at the mouth of the river and the turquoise blue water made us both feel like we were in Florida. Our next stop was Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. This is an incredibly beautiful area that we found was also incredibly popular with the locals. Even though the primitive gravel roads were all you could take to the campgrounds, they were all packed the first night we arrived. We found the only way you can get a campsite is to drive around as people are leaving the next morning. The beautiful water, the scenic vistas, great kayak potential, great back packing and hiking opportunities make this a must see if you are in the area. Because of high winds we were never able to get out on the lake without taking a tour boat but we did enjoy our time there. Make sure you hike the Chapel Beach Trail or even the whole coastal route if you visit this park. At the time of this writing (Aug. 20) we are in lower Michigan. We’ve paddled a few rivers on our way down this section of the state. We’re on our way back into Canada briefly to make our way into New York State. We’re headed for Acadia in the fall. If you’re interested in reading more in depth of our travels, visit our blogsite at http://adventures-kim-sam.blogspot.com/. At the moment we are working to get it updated after getting far behind while we were in Canada. We’ll be back around to Louisiana around Christmas. Hope to see many of you then.
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