Historic Portage Route

Hmmm... a two kilometre portage across the base of Long Point or a seventy kilometre paddle around the tip. Which would you choose? After waking up to throbbing wrists at 5:30 in the morning, the portage sounded a lot better. Besides, it was used for centuries by First Nations people and early European explorers, in order to evade the lengthy paddle and often treacherous waters around Long Point, making it historically significant. Jon, on the other hand, wasn’t convinced. “Come on, it’ll be fun!” “Aren’t you sore?” I asked in an attempt to save my wrists from paddling an extra 70 kilometers. He passed me the pill bottle while swallowing two pain killers himself. “The lake is too calm to pass up this opportunity. Let’s get going!” Whether it was because the medicine started to kick in or that the lake was as flat as glass, my initial reluctance subsided and we were soon paddling past the beautiful fine sand beaches of the UNESCO Long Point Biosphere Reserve.
It was indeed a long point. Each time we approached what we thought was the tip of Long Point, another appeared. It continued like this for awhile until at last we saw the Long Point Lighthouse. We were greeted by employees of the Long Point Bird Observatory where we were given the opportunity to visit nesting boxes of tree swallows. Sarah, one of the ornithology enthusiasts of the point, allowed us to hold the baby tree swallows. As I cupped them in both hands, a big grin appeared on my face. They were so cute. As Jon captured the moment on camera, he couldn’t help but add, “And you wanted to do the portage.”

Naked White-Caps

At one time, I regarded Lake Superior as the most dangerous of all the Great Lakes. Its ability to generate terrifying storms is legendary, especially when we remember the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald – the largest inland freighter of its time. On a map, Lake Erie appears much smaller than its sister lakes to the North, making it appear less temperamental. But according to mariners, it is the most dangerous. It’s relatively shallow depths, allow waves to develop faster, steeper and closer together making navigation difficult and sometimes, deadly. According to Wayne Grady, in his book, The Great Lakes – the natural history of a changing region, the area between Long Point, Ontario and Erie, Pennsylvania contains almost four times more shipwrecks than the Bermuda Triangle.
One mild-mannered afternoon, as we thought nothing could break the calm we were experiencing, we learned the true power of Lake Erie. Within a few minutes of checking our map and discovering that our next campsite was only eight kilometres away, the winds on Lake Erie suddenly shifted to the south causing the calm lake to develop white-caps within seconds. The waves quickly built in intensity forcing us to paddle further away from the clay-cliffs that lined the coastline. It took us almost an hour of paddling before we were within reach of a suitable landing spot. We were so far from shore that the people who were on the beach and playing in the surf appeared as small dots. As we approached the beach, I was too busy worrying about the next oncoming wave to notice something different about the beach dwellers. Jon, being the more observant, quickly realized that the beach we were about to land on was....A Nude Beach!

A Warm Welcome!

It felt like summer had finally arrived as we rounded the bend onto Lake Erie. Our warmest welcome however didn’t come from the weather; it came from the friendly people we met along our journey. Our first night was spent camped out at Bob and Tracey’s house. Around a large pizza box, we shared stories about canoeing and the next day they joined us, being the first ones to do so by canoe, all the way to Kingsville. It was a nice change to have company along for the ride. Only a day later, I sustained a back strain and Mike, the owner of Pelee Wings, a nature and paddlesports store near Point Pelee, was an incredible help in getting us back on the water. He allowed us to camp on his property for the recovery period, lent us his vehicle for numerous chiropractic appointments and taught us about the amazing history of the region. We also had a nice visit from Jon’s parents and brother who brought us our food drop and packed a wonderful picnic dinner that we shared on the beach. Once well enough, we accepted an invitation from Holiday Harbour, a campground at the base of Point Pelee, to stay for the night. We were greeted and made a wonderful dinner by Grant and his wife Diane, both seasonal campers and avid paddlers at Holiday Harbour. Laura, the manager of this beautiful property, took us around to meet people who were interested in our journey and the next morning we felt privileged to have a crowd wish us well as we paddled away. That same day, about 20 kilometers further down the coastline, we were surprised to see a sign on a dock that read, “Freshwater Dreams Welcome – come in for refreshments.” Who could pass up such a friendly invitation? We met the Gillard’s, a canoeing family, who shared paddling stories, snacks and gave us a book to read along our journey. A few days later, while looking for a place to camp, we stumbled upon a marina in Port Stanley. Dave, the owner and an experienced sailor, let us tie up our canoe to the dock for the night. Because the town has a no camping bylaw, Dave lent us his house boat to sleep in for the night which was a nice change from our tent.
The kindness that we have experienced while canoeing the coastline of Lake Erie will remain with us forever. We were hesitant about paddling in more developed and populated areas but have found comfort in knowing that there are helpful people who have made this journey possible and truly enjoyable.