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Konnie LeMay / Lake Superior Magazine
Wawa
The group paddled a voyageur canoe in Wawa, Ontario, with Naturally Superior Adventures.
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Konnie LeMay / Lake Superior Magazine
Sleeping Giant
The iconic Sleeping Giant, seen from Thunder Bay.
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Konnie LeMay / Lake Superior Magazine
Aguasabon Falls
Visiting Aguasabon Falls and Gorge in Terrace Bay, Ontario.
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Konnie LeMay / Lake Superior Magazine
Gooseberry Falls
Gooseberry Falls State Park is just up the shore from Two Harbors, Minnesota.
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Konnie LeMay / Lake Superior Magazine
Lutsen
Lutsen Mountains on Minnesota's North Shore installed its new gondola in 2015.
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Konnie LeMay / Lake Superior Magazine
Winnie-the-Pooh
White River, Ontario, hosts a Winnie-the-Pooh festival every year. The real-life bear that inspired author A.A. Milne at the London Zoo was from White River.
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Konnie LeMay / Lake Superior Magazine
Terrace Bay
The Terrace Bay Lighthouse.
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Konnie LeMay / Lake Superior Magazine
Soo Locks
The Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, at Lake Superior's eastern tip.
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Konnie LeMay / Lake Superior Magazine
The Tour Group
The cheerful tour group waves hello for the camera.
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Konnie LeMay / Lake Superior Magazine
Bus Tour
The tour's bus driver, Rick.
Avance!
Or at least that was the idea when David gave us hardy voyageurs the French command to move forward.
We had already been paddling around the edge of glass-calm Lake Superior on its farthest point east near Wawa, Ontario. David Wells, founder of Naturally Superior Adventures, had explained the geology of the billions-of-years-old volcanic rock and the colorful (colourful, actually, since we were in Ontario) past of the region.
Now, the only thing that stood in our way of returning to base for a fantastic meal of homemade vegetable soup and bread, fresh fish and luscious desserts was the push of the Michipicoten River through a narrow opening in the sand bar. We passed through here on our way to our lakeshore tour, but the current was with us. Here, it was being particularly stubborn about letting us return.
We put our backs into the paddling, I put in a few loud “Stroke! Stroke!” (heartfelt but probably not helpful), and … moved a little farther away from our destination. That didn’t seem right, or fair, frankly. But who said a river needs to be fair.
Despite our best voyageur efforts, the river won this night – and was that a rippling gurgle or a Michipicoten chuckle I heard as we decided to beach on the pebbly shore on the “wrong” side of the sandbar?
With the bow of the canoe firmly against land, and with my companion paddlers already slipping off their shoes and socks to disembark, I decided to bravely jump off the back, where I was sitting, to pull the large Montreal canoe parallel to the shoreline. OK, I was trying to ease off the back and when the water reached beyond my thigh – and with my jean leg thoroughly drenched – I realized the water here was deeper than it looked. So scrambling like a short pup going up a tall stair, I managed to pull myself back into the canoe and exit off the bow.
It all was a most memorable hoot. The meal was still hot and ready for us (and still fantastic) and David’s presentation a wonderful end to the day. It was a great “pipe break” for our crew.
Already we had had several full days on our Fall Color (Colour) Circle Tour of Lake Superior. The tour of Duluth by bus revealed new spots even for me – I have to find that Hobbit-roofed home on the East Side again! The day following took us up along Minnesota’s North Shore with a stop at Lutsen for a gondola ride to lunch at the top of the mountain. Coming down, with only Ella and me in the gondola, the wind made itself a little better known, but the trees already showed off beautiful fall foliage. We ended the day at Prince Arthur Hotel with a dish of cookies and coffee awaiting us.
The next day Lois Nuttall, longtime area guide (and a great photographer), joined us on the bus to give tales and information all along the Ontario shore from Thunder Bay to a shop stop at The Fish Shop to lunch at the Best-of-the-Lake-winning Drifters in Terrace Bay to a coffee break (with homemade bakery) at La Luna in Nipigon to dropping her off in Marathon. Whew!
And then to our voyageur adventure.
From a good nights rest at the Wawa Motor Inn, we did a power shop stop at Canadian Carver/Agawa Indian Crafts, lunch at the Ojibway (Ramada) Hotel in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, watched the Paul R. Tregurtha pass into the Soo Locks. I stopped for a quick hello to Bruce Lynn, executive director of the Great Lake Shipwreck Historical Society, which recently earned our 2016 Lake Superior Achievement Award, at the old Weather Bureau building near the locks. (Thank you, tour crew, for forgiving my few extra minutes!) Then we headed to Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry – on the other side of the might Mac bridge – and onto our current stop at Mackinac Island – a side tour to another Great Lake.
Last night I and a few others trekked out into the midnight dark to try to catch a few northern lights. Sadly, we probably should have gone out a wee bit earlier; we saw only the last two tails of the lights headed upward before they subsided. But the multitude of stars and a few that shot through the sky made the excursion worth the late night.
Not a bad first few days with about the best crew of “tour”ists from many parts of the country.
Wish you all were here. Tomorrow we Avance!