Why We Love the Big Lake: How the 'Lake Effect' Influences Our Lives

On the following pages, we speak to folks who live and work around our lake to hear their stories and their sentiments about this water that defines us. From different shores and varied experiences, their feelings are similar about our Great Lake. These are full versions of their stories that appear in the August/September issue of Lake Superior Magazine. You can submit your own version of the “Lake Effect” story. by completing our survey. We will post as many submissions as we can.

Ontario

We speak to folks who live and work around our lake to hear their stories and their sentiments about this water that defines us.

Charles Wilkins, 
Author, Thunder Bay

How long have you lived by Lake Superior?

In a literal sense since 1991. But I suspect that a tiny inner part of me camped out here for good in the days when I used to hitchhike through on the Trans-Canada during the early 1970s.

Is there a reason that you choose to live here rather than elsewhere?

I’ve stayed here because in the years following my move to Thunder Bay, the surroundings, with their wildness and openness and primitive spirit, gave me not just new things to write about but a new model for my imagination - a new way of looking at the world, free of the  old restrictions and expectations.

How did your occupation depend on the Lake?

The lake was a big part of the sense of freedom I felt when I arrived here. I’ve written about Superior in a thousand ways… always something new to say.

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)?

When I was out on the MV Paterson on Lake Superior in perhaps 1999, I’d sit up in the wheelhouse in the middle of the night and listen to the second mate tell stories about the hundreds of ships that had gone down over the decades and were just a few fathoms below us in the shipping lanes, some with their crews still aboard. Night after night, I was reminded not just of how perilous and unpredictable the lake can be but of the fragility of life generally and how closely and intimately we’re connected to spirits that we assume are far away and long past.

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)?