Un coup de coeur pour le Lac Supérieur (loosely translated as I fell in love with Lake Superior)

If you yearn for wide-open spaces, crave contact with nature and appreciate history, the Canadian shores of Lake Superior are for you. I loved every minute we spent exploring the Lake Superior region and plan on returning to experience winter along its shores.

Our initial itinerary for the Quest 2018 Summer Road Trip was to circumvent Lake Superior but as soon as we arrived on Lake Superior’s shore, past Sault St-Marie, we changed our plans. Struck by the beauty of the region, we realized we needed more time to explore the Canadian shores of Lake Superior. I cancelled our reservations for the US portion of our trip and devised a new route which focused on the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA).

Located on the northern shores of Lake Superior, the NMCA encompasses a section of 10,880-sq-km and is home to more than 70 fish species, 50 shipwrecks and more than 90 km of hiking trails which means that the area can be explored on both land and water.

We hiked 15 km of the NMCA’s trails, including 8km on The Casque Isles Trail that hugs the coast.

Noteworthy are the spectacular Aguasabon Falls cascading 100 ft. into the Aguasabon Gorge—flowing along a 2.6 billion year old rock face.

But the best part of our NMCA exploration, and a highlight of our whole trip was the three hour zodiac tour of the Rossport archipelgo opposite the town of Rossport. We chartered a zodiac (what else) with Discovery Charters and Paul the owner/guide did an amazing job taking us around the Rossport Islands and explaining the area’s history and geography.

Of note, was the Battle Island lighthouse that we visited during the tour. According to my book, Superior Under the Shadows of the God, “Battle Island was so-named because of an incident that supposedly occurred in 1885 at the time of the Riel Rebellion. Local Ojibwe were accused of firing on troops marching across the ice on their way to quell the uprising. The soldiers, whose imaginations may have been running wild, claimed the shots came from one of the islands. By firing back, they “did battle with the Indians”. It is highly unlikely they were marching this far offshore, but when it came time to name the new lighthouse location, Battle Island was chosen.” And that is just one of the many interesting historical facts we learned during our trip.

To give you an idea of the ferociousness of Lake Superior, during a November 1977 storm, the waves were so high they smashed the glass right out of the lantern of the Battle Island lighthouse, that’s a hundred and twenty feet high!!

As we zipped back to shore on our zodiac, I counted myself lucky to have experienced this amazing part of our beautiful country.

What else can I say, you just gotta go!