Small skill is won by those who cling to ease,
The hardy sailor hails from stormy seas.
Years ago when I first toured the Agawa Bay pictographs, I encountered the legend of the Ojibway lake divinity, a horned panther that lives beneath the waters and is dangerous to humans. I seem to recall a story of a native family who had lost a small child to this monster. I thought at the time that the myth was somehow a folksy way of warning of the dangers of the big lake.
That time was my first trip north, a car camping expedition. I stopped at Agawa Bay and walked the shores. Memories of my boyhood, body-surfing on the big waves of the Sydney beaches were on my mind. I was tempted to take a plunge but the frigid waters intimidated me. I passed.
Some years later, my buddy and I decided to do the Pukaskwa coastal route in a tandem canoe. I spent a week of my summer vacation sewing together a spray deck. I think we spent about 9 days on the paddle. One day, we were held up by constant thunderstorms, and the final paddle across a choppy Michipicoten Harbour and into the river, where there was quite a standing were a bit scary to me, but not my buddy in the stern. But, apart from these moments, we experienced no problems.
Some years later, after turning to kayaking, I joined a small group from the then Barrie Canoe Club, and we did the same route. Other than being unexpectedly caught for a day at Otter Island, because our leader could not work her VHF to keep alert about the weather, we had no problems. It was on this trip that I first encountered a GLSKA woman soloing the same route.Inspired, I joined the club, and a few years later, with a GLSKA group I paddled the route again with no weather problems, other than that it was cold. I have paddled Rossport to Pukaskwa, including the Slates, and Pukaskwa to Agawa Bay with GLSKA groups. The only mishap was on the former trip when we were caught by a thunderstorm off Marathon and one of the paddlers swamped in a surf landing. But the worst damage here was embarrassment, as the paddler was of what I would call “expert” level.
And that is surely not me. I am of modest intermediate skill, and not a pace setter, either. Granted, I paddle a skin boat, and these are known to compensate for their slowness with extra seaworthiness. The Khatsalano is narrow and shallow, but its main problem on a long trip is that it is hard to carry enough supplies for a ten-day trip, so that I am forced to shiver in inadequate clothing and panhandle my fellow paddlers for food! But none of this has to do with the dangers of Lake Superior. I do have a wetsuit, and have always carried it on Superior trips, but I only wear it when I expect challenging conditions, or when a big crossing is required, as to the Slate Islands.
I have shared these personal experiences as a foil to two article in the fall issue of Qayaq which may discourage paddlers from tackling Lake Superior. Cold water, reflection waves, big waves, confused wave patterns: these are all constants on the big lake, as well as winds in every direction, dense fog and even glass-like conditions. Travel in a group, exercise normal caution, keep alert to the weather forecast, and have a wetsuit at hand, and you will be fine. And remember to carry adequate food and cold weather clothing. I doubt if anyone has ever experienced hyperthermia on those icy shores, but I sure have felt cold at times.
Gitchee Gumee is like a very beautiful but very cold-hearted person: so attractive, but you must be very careful entering into a relationship, even a short-term one.