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We speak to folks who live and work around our lake to hear their stories and their sentiments about this water that defines us. |
How long have you lived by Lake Superior? |
How would you answer this simple question: Why do you Love Lake Superior?
T.S. Eliot called the Missouri River “a strong brown god.” Lake Superior is a wild blue god.
David Wells
Owner-operator of Naturally Superior Adventures Paddling Center and
Rock Island Lodge Bed & Breakfast, Wawa
How long have you lived by Lake Superior?16 years.
Is there a reason that you choose to live here rather than elsewhere?
From Toronto originally, could not believe such a big freshwater sea existed in Ontario. Now I am inspired by the lake and Canadian Shield bedrock.
How did your occupation depend on the Lake?
Yes, as owner/operator of Naturally Superior Adventures Paddling Centre and Rock Island Lodge Bed and Breakfast (www.naturallysuperior.com; www.rockislandlodge.ca; webcam at www.wawawebcam.ca). We have a regular staff of about 12 plus all sorts of additional guiding staff. We were acknowledged by National Geographic Magazine as among the top 200 operations in the world, and also by Sea Kayaker Magazine as readers’ choice for sea kayak tours and instruction in Canada.
Can you remember an experience that defines your interaction with the Lake and why you feel as you do about it (something particularly inspiring, breathtaking or even a wee bit scary)?
It was my first sea kayak trip ever paddling from Hattie Cove in Pukaskwa Park to Michipicoten Bay in Wawa. I was sitting along a very remote shore realizing that I could have been the first person in the history of the world to have sat at that place.
How would you answer this simple question: Why do you Love Lake Superior?
The raw beauty and power.
Tim Heney
Chief Executive Director of the Port of Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay
How long have you lived by Lake Superior?55 years.
Is there a reason that you choose to live here rather than elsewhere?
I enjoy the opportunities for outdoor recreation including sailing, downhill skiing and motorcycling. I currently live on a peninsula with the lake on three sides and enjoy the views and the wildlife - truly world class and all within 15 minutes from work.
How did your occupation depend on the Lake?
I have worked for the port authority for 18 years, the last four as Chief Executive Officer. Our primary objective is to increase marine cargo at the Port of Thunder Bay.
Can you remember an experience that defines your interaction with the Lake and why you feel as you do about it (something particularly inspiring, breathtaking or even a wee bit scary)?
I have sailed on the lake most of my life. Conditions are very changeable and much like the ocean, a great deal of respect must be maintained. The coastline outside Thunder Bay provides some of the best wilderness sailing areas in north America.
How would you answer this simple question: Why do you Love Lake Superior?
Lake Superior has an inspirational majesty about it that changes with the seasons. The city of Thunder Bay is small in size and provides the luxury of living on the lake with a very short commute to work.
Marty Mascarin
Communications Officer at Fort William Historical Park, Thunder Bay
How long have you lived by Lake Superior?All my life (number of years I care not to admit LOL)
Is there a reason that you choose to live here rather than elsewhere?
It is home. I visit Toronto, Ontario regularly, one of the largest cities in Canada, and could have possibly pursued a career there many years ago, but Thunder Bay by Lake Superior is the place for me to be.
How did your occupation depend on the Lake?
My occupation doesn’t quite “depend” on the Lake, per se. However, as I work in tourism, Lake Superior complements my occupation, as many people, especially those stateside, enjoy the Lake Superior Circle Tour, thus attracting many visitors to our region in Northwestern Ontario, with the attendant positive economic spin-offs for the tourism industry.
Can you remember an experience that defines your interaction with the Lake and why you feel as you do about it (something particularly inspiring, breathtaking or even a wee bit scary)?
Whenever I make the drive from Thunder Bay to Grand Marais or Duluth, the vistas offered by Lake Superior never ceases to amaze. The of view of Superior is at once wondrous and impressive but its mammoth size also conveys a sense of foreboding, underlining its potential dangers.
How would you answer this simple question: Why do you Love Lake Superior?
Lake Superior’s mammoth size is at once awe-inspiring and humbling, as it dwarf Man’s presence, despite the potentially harmful things we do to it. It takes on the vestiges of an inland sea, with boundless vistas that surpass our grasp and comprehension. It is a unique but crucial element of our environment for us to both enjoy and respect.
Is there anything that you’d like to add?
Despite words being central to my occupation, they seem inadequate in describing the impressions inspired by Lake Superior. It’s a constant reminder of how we must always respect the environment.
Gary & Joanie McGuffin
Authors/Adventurers, Goulais River
How long have you lived by the Lake?
Since 1992 and they have circumnavigated it by canoe. Their book Superior: Journeys on an Inland Sea tells some of their lake tales.
How would you answer this simple question: Why do you Love Lake Superior?
We love Lake Superior because it is so vast and so relatively pristine. Its presence … offers hope to the whole planet whose natural systems are under such duress from human pressures and abuse. On a planet three-quarters covered in water, over 97 percent of which is salt and less than 0.01 percent surface fresh water … it is amazing that Superior holds 10 percent of that surface fresh water!
Their ‘lake effect’ story
On a cross-Canada paddling trip, when we paddled up the St. Marys and locked through the Sault Canal and rose 20 feet to the height of Lake Superior, it was a big day. We had paddled in some pretty treacherous conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but arriving on the big waters of Superior with all the stories we had read and heard was no less daunting. We dipped our hands into the water beside the canoe often to remind ourselves that tipping over was not an option. … The first impression was riveting. Everything about it was new. The deep turquoise to blue water and the clarity and patterns of the cream and red Jacobsville sandstone around the end of the Goulais peninsula. The feeling of depth beneath us and great sky overhead. That feeling of being one with the substance that sustains our lives moment by moment was so visceral. And the sheer smallness of our two canoes floating on this vast freshwater sea that made it difficult to fathom that this was a lake with another shoreline over the horizon. Paddling on Superior for the first time was like listening intently to beautiful music played by many instruments. You are trying to listen concentrating on the whole thing but at the same time you are trying to hear all the instruments. Superior is so big … a huge orchestra.
Ned Basher
Owner of the Rossport Inn, Rossport
How long have you lived by Lake Superior?40 years.
Is there a reason that you choose to live here rather than elsewhere?
Yes…Lake Superior is a unique maritime environment and living on its shore is incredibly stimulating.
How did your occupation depend on the Lake?
Yes…we own the Rossport Inn in Rossport, Ontario.
Can you remember an experience that defines your interaction with the Lake and why you feel as you do about it (something particularly inspiring, breathtaking or even a wee bit scary)?
During a Trans Superior sailboat race in 1971 in the middle of Lake Superior at 1 a.m. in the morning, the sky was crystal clear. We were totally out of sight of land. You felt like you could touch the stars. The northern lights were shades of red and green; there could not have been a more beautiful place to be … an existential moment in time.
How would you answer this simple question: Why do you Love Lake Superior?
Boreal forests, unspoiled wilderness, crystal clear water, far from the madding crowd.
Is there anything that you’d like to add?
I have lived in Duluth, Minnesota, Bayfield, Wisconsin, and Rossport in the past 40 years. I have made the Circle Tour several times. I have sailed in three Trans Superior sailboat races. Lake Superior has a firm grip on me, and I feel very fortunate to be here.
Now you’ve read how others feel about Lake Superior, we invite you to look at the next section (just hit Next) then give us your own feelings via our Reader Survey. We’ll post the replies of those who respond.
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