Paddling Pukaskwa National Park, Lake Superior

This wild and remote stretch of Lake Superior coastline had been on our paddling destination bucket list for some time. We had considered exploring this section of the lake in the past but weren’t quite able to work out the logistics. We wouldn’t have adequate time to properly paddle the whole coast (180+kms) from its northern border (Hattie Cove) to southern (Pukaskwa River) leaving the park turning east along crown land (Superior Highlands) to the mouth of the Michipicoten River (Wawa Ontario). There simply wasn’t enough time to do it all in one trip and the issue of effectively shuttling our vehicle 196kms from Hattie to Wawa. We also weren’t satisfied with the idea of just paddling out of Hattie Cove for 3 days and then turning back. Many paddlers have raced through the full route but we wanted to hug the land exploring as much of the coast as possible. We came to the conclusion that the route would be split in half. With that being said the trip sat idle for the past couple years. Over the winter I stumbled upon Taylor Angers of True North Charters (out of Marathon Ont). We chatted online, and he answered all the questions I could toss at him. We worked on a rough plan, and sat on it over the next couple winter months. In the Spring we touched base once again and decided that he would provide us a water taxi from Marathon Ontario to the Park’s Southern border allowing us to utilize our full seven days vacation. The route from Windsor Ontario to Marathon Ontario is easily a 10hr plus drive cutting through Michigan at Detroit, and crossing back at Sault St. Marie Ontario. The road trip is quite beautiful, but personally it was a little overwhelming. I had just completed the same route two days earlier with my wife and kids (trailer in tow) as we camped at Neys Provincial Park, Pukaskwa NP and Pancake Bay PP along Superior’s North Shore. As tiring as the thought of hitting the road again so soon weighed on me, we set off and I was quickly filled with the energy of the open road and the upcoming adventure. We left at noon with blue skies and little to no traffic. The ride was relaxing and uneventful until arriving in Wawa. We ran into David Wells (owner of Naturally Superior Adventures) while filling up at a gas station, which we thought might be a sign of good luck. He had personally shuttled our car two years earlier when paddling the coast of Lake Superior Provincial Park. The light started to fade as we headed towards White River, and that’s when the sky started to flash with impressive streaks of lightening. We both looked at each other and laughed as the rain began to come down hard. Our laughter quickly turned to swearing, and 3 hours of white knuckle driving. Torrential downpours, semi-trucks, thick fog, ponding water, hills/curves, and kilometres of (moose) night danger signs made for an interesting end to our night. Taylor told us we could sleep at the campground in Marathon, but at this point we decided we’d just grab a motel in town. We pulled into Marathon around midnight. All the motels along the highway were full, likely due to the intense storm, so we thought we were lucky to find a room at the Zero-100 Motor Inn. Now that’s a funny story for another time. We ended up with maybe two hours of sleep before setting off to meet Taylor at 8am to load the boats. Taylor was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, professional and genuinely excited for us to head off on our adventure. With the boats and gear loaded we set off to meet with Park staff for a mandatory trip meeting. ***SEE COMMENTS BELOW FOR THE REST OF THE TRIP REPORT.