Pukaskwa National Park

Not everyone would enjoy spending weeks travelling in a teardrop trailer. But despite the tedium of setting up and taking down camp, the exhausting daily drives, and the challenges of camping in a small trailer, I find this kind of travel worthwhile. It’s the same reason I enjoy backpacking or canoeing: I love exploring our diverse Canadian wilderness, and the simplicity of camping with only the basics makes me feel closer to nature — a sense of belonging rather than intrusion. 

With our Gnome Home, Michelle and I have already explored the Yukon and its Arctic tundra, and more recently, the Pacific rainforests of Haida Gwaii. Now, after two years, I have been itching to embark on another adventure: a 2500 km trip to Pukaskwa National Park on Lake Superior’s northern shore. Why Pukaskwa National Park? Twenty-two years ago, Michelle and I camped there with our three sons during a cross-Canada trip. We spent just one night, but the park’s stunning scenery left a lasting impression on me, and now that I’m retired, I want to visit this part of Canada again. 

Michelle and I planned a week-long trip, with stops at different campgrounds, to reach Pukaskwa National Park. I was especially excited about spending two nights along the way in Quetico Provincial Park, where we’d get to finally use our new inflatable kayak. My friend Dave loves Quetico; he says it’s his favourite place to canoe, and has invited me on trips, which unfortunately I have had to decline. He insisted I bring my fishing rod, telling me I can easily catch fish right from the shore of any lake in Quetico.

Since the Canadian government is promoting our national parks to encourage domestic travel because of the situation in the U.S., Michelle and I made our bookings in early June to avoid crowded campsites. We were also counting on the cooler weather to keep us away from the notorious insects that are common in the Canadian Shield, especially ticks, which can transmit a bacterium that causes Lyme disease. The problem with these dates, however, is that the Edmonton Oilers made the Stanley Cup finals and their games coincided with our trip. With some angst, I sold my tickets and planned to listen to the games on my phone. That’s if I can get a connection, which may not be possible at some campsites. If the Oilers did well, I’d be home in time to watch them win the Stanley Cup.

This is our trip. 

June 4th, Lucien Lake, Saskatchewan

Today we had a long drive ahead of us to Lucien Lake, which, according to Google Maps, should have taken us six and a half hours. But Google Maps didn’t know that I have an irrational fear of fishtailing when driving on gravel roads towing a trailer, and it guided us on a country-trek to Lucien Lake, making the drive take longer than expected. Thankfully, we made it to Lucien Lake before the registration booth closed and found our spot along the lake. Tonight I listened to the Oilers win the first game against the Florida Panthers! Winning the game made up for today’s stressful drive.

June 5th, Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba

We have settled into our routine, which is a welcome change from our hectic lives in Edmonton. The day started with Michelle getting up first, while I stayed warm inside the trailer, waiting for her to return with coffee. I’m appreciative that the morning is Michelle’s favourite time of day, because it certainly is not mine, at least not until I have had my morning coffee. After finishing our coffee, Michelle made breakfast: buttermilk pancakes, with maple syrup and sliced mango. With breakfast finished, we were ready to go, and within an hour we had the trailer packed and were driving towards Riding Mountain National Park. Michelle and I alternated driving, and once again Google Maps recommended a cross-country trek; thankfully this time the entire route was pavement. To our surprise, when we arrived here at Riding Mountain National Park, the campground was empty. It was quite unsettling camping here all alone surrounded by a thick forest of spruce trees, especially with these creepy caterpillars dangling from long silky threads attached to their branches. Tonight, I made spaghetti and meatballs with Italian bread and a salad, along with a nice cold beer, and like all meals prepared and eaten outdoors, it was delicious. With the dishes done, Michelle and I went for a walk and serendipitously discovered Clear Lake and the Wasagaming community. We didn’t have a clue it was a short distance from our campsite hidden behind the forest. Unlike the campsite, it was much more inviting, with its rustic cottages, and people eating at restaurants, shopping, and strolling on its sidewalks. It was such a charming community that Michelle and I discussed moving here and buying a lakeside cottage.

June 6th, Rushing River Provincial Park, Ontario

Today we finally reached Ontario, but not without a driving incident. After stopping for lunch, I neglected to close the rear hatch of our Gnome Home, which opens into the kitchen area. We realized this only when a truck pulled up beside our vehicle with the passenger frantically waving towards our trailer. Swearing profusely, I told Michelle, who was driving, to pull over onto the shoulder. Fortunately, there was no damage. I felt really stupid afterwards — it’s the second time I have made this mistake. The first time was our Yukon trip, and I thought I had learned my lesson. But apparently, I enjoy embarrassing myself with my trailer’s hatch wide open on a busy highway.

Before arriving here at the Rushing River campground, Michelle and I resupplied in Kenora, and I bought two fishing hooks to catch walleye. I’m very impressed with the Rushing River campground: it boasts a beautiful setting, private campsites and a new washroom facility with private showers and a laundromat. You can even go kayaking on the lake surrounding the campground. Unfortunately, we don’t have time for kayaking and I’ll just have to wait patiently until tomorrow when we get to Quetico Provincial Park. Best of all, to my surprise, I got a strong signal for the hockey game, but unfortunately the Oilers lost game two of the Stanley Cup final. 

June 7th, Quetico Provincial Park

With only a short drive to Quetico today, Michelle and I enjoyed a leisurely morning. Today, I took a turn making breakfast and made my world-famous omelettes. First, I sauteed red onions, mushrooms, peppers, then added the egg mixture, and just before folding it over, added seasoning, aged cheddar cheese and sliced cherry tomatoes. It has taken me ages to perfect the recipe and the technique, and has become Michelle’s favourite breakfast. While eating breakfast, with the early morning sun filtering through the trees, the forest was filled with singing birds. It was like a symphony, each bird with its own distinctive song. I heard robins, Red-eyed Vireos, White-throated Sparrows, and chickadees, plus other birds, but one song was unfamiliar. Michelle identified the bird as an American Redstart using the Merlin app on her phone. This morning, I wouldn’t trade having breakfast in a forest filled with songbirds for breakfast at a lavish restaurant.

The drive to Quetico Provincial Park went well today, but to our dismay, rain and mosquitoes greeted us upon our arrival. Fortunately, we came prepared with our bug tent, which also doubles as a rain shelter. Well, it turns out we had the tent, but when I unpacked our cargo carrier, I couldn’t find the poles. My heart instantly sank when I realized I had forgotten to pack them! We are now at the mercy of the little winged vampires that relentlessly attack Michelle, leaving her with itchy red welts. What frustrated her more was that the mosquitoes didn’t bother me. The rain is also frustrating, not because we have no shelter, but because if it continues, we can’t go kayaking tomorrow.

June 8th, Quetico Provincial Park

Normally, I enjoy listening to the rain when I’m under the covers in the trailer. Not last night. I’m so disappointed, as I know we won’t be able to go kayaking. To make matters worse, Michelle woke up with more welts and painful lumps behind her ears from mosquitoes that escaped our detection inside the trailer. We’re not happy, and decide to make it a priority to buy another mosquito tent in Thunder Bay the next day.

The day, however, wasn’t all bad. We spent the morning reading, playing Scrabble, and browsing the visitor centre’s library. When the rain briefly subsided in the afternoon, we squeezed in a short hike, and I went fishing, returning just before a thunderstorm. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch a fish and lost my two hooks for my efforts. The best part of the day, however, was being offline in Quetico’s remote wilderness, allowing me to disconnect from the constant barrage of depressing global news lately. 

June 9th, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

Today, I woke up looking forward to visiting our next destination, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. The rain had stopped overnight, making me feel optimistic about kayaking in the park. Michelle didn’t have a restful sleep because she was still suffering from itchy mosquito bites. Her eyelids had even swollen because of her allergic reaction to the bites. I felt terrible about her misery.

In Thunder Bay, before getting a mosquito tent, we bought groceries, and I stopped at Canadian Tire to buy more fishing hooks. I have no experience fishing the Great Lakes, so I asked the store clerk for recommendations, and he suggested two different hooks, ideal for casting from shore to catch Lake Trout. At a local outdoor store, Michelle and I bought a mosquito tent, but we also left with a Thermocell to deter mosquitoes, and two more cans of mosquito repellent. It was money well spent to enjoy the rest of the trip.

When we arrived at Sleeping Giant, my heart sank once more. The campsite itself was beautiful, located beside an inland lake, but a strong wind whipped up whitecaps on the water—the worst possible conditions for an inflatable kayak. What was also disappointing is that I had a poor connection, and I missed listening to parts of the Oilers game. I tried various locations in the campground to get a good connection and eventually settled on sitting in our mosquito tent close to the lake, huddled under a blanket. Even more disappointing, the Oilers got crushed, six to one. The good news: with the wind, the mosquito tent and Thermocell, mosquitoes were not a problem and Michelle’s enthusiasm for the trip returned.  

Interestingly, when I was getting ready for bed, Michelle further inspected a mark she had seen on my back the day before and, with her reading glasses on, said it looked like it had legs. She grabbed her camera and took a picture. I am horrified to see that it was a tick! I found the tweezers from the first-aid kit and ordered Michelle to remove it. Summoning every bit of courage, she removed the tick without leaving the pincers behind. I have the tick stored in a plastic sandwich bag and will monitor for symptoms of Lyme disease for the rest of the trip.

June 10th, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

This morning’s choppy water made kayaking near impossible, and once more I was disappointed, and so we altered our plans. Michelle suggested we visit the amethyst mine we passed yesterday while driving to Sleeping Giant. There we enjoyed a tour of the mining operation, picked through a rock field for amethysts to take home for our grandchildren and purchased some souvenirs at the gift shop. After lunch, we went hiking along Lake Superior. Now that’s a lake! It is more like an ocean and makes Alberta’s lakes look like puddles.

This evening while playing Scrabble, Michelle was attacked again—this time by a squirrel that had gotten inside our bug tent. For some inexplicable reason, the squirrel began climbing her leg as she was concentrating on beating me at Scrabble. Still suffering from post-traumatic stress from the mosquito attacks (and a mouse incident in our car a few weeks ago), Michelle let out a loud scream that frightened me half to death. I don’t know who was frightened more: Michelle, me, or the squirrel as it frantically tried to find an escape route from the bug tent.

June 11th, Pukaskwa National Park

Today, Michelle and I got an early start to secure a campsite at Pukaskwa National Park because the campsites at that location are first-come, first-served. The drive from Sleeping Giant Provincial Park to Pukaskwa National Park is a 300-kilometre journey that offers picturesque views of Lake Superior. Upon our arrival, we chose a powered site near Hattie Cove. We’re lucky we got there early because the campground was already half full, and more were arriving as we set up camp. As soon as we set up camp, I went to check out the water at Hattie Cove. To my delight, it was perfectly calm. What a relief! Michelle and I plan to go kayaking tomorrow morning.

June 12th, Pukaskwa National Park

After driving over 2400 km, Pukaskwa was everything I remembered twenty-five years ago. This morning after breakfast we inflated our kayak and carried it to Hattie Cove, a short distance from our campsite. Kayaking on Lake Superior is unlike kayaking on waters near Edmonton. The water is crystal clear, surrounded by volcanic rocks formed billions of years ago and later eroded smooth by glaciers, rather than green algae-filled water, surrounded by reeds and poplar trees. Michelle and I kayaked towards an island where we stopped for a snack before reluctantly returning to our campsite. That afternoon, we hiked along Lake Superior, and unlike twenty-five years ago, I had time to fully appreciate its sandy beaches, littered with driftwood from its powerful storms.

I’m ashamed to say it, but tonight I found myself wishing I had a trailer with a large TV and satellite dish where I would have been able to watch the Oilers’ thrilling overtime victory against the Panthers in style. Instead, I listened on my phone, parked beside the registration office, hijacking their Wi-Fi. Michelle was back at the trailer and became worried when I hadn’t returned by midnight. She couldn’t imagine the game making it to overtime because she listened to the first period with me and knew the game was basically out of reach. The registration kiosk was about two kilometres from our campsite, and she didn’t relish trying to walk there in the dark, but she headed out along the dark path anyway, to see what was up. On her way, she passed a campsite, with four people gathered outside around an enormous television watching the game! She saw that the game had gone to overtime and could relax until I arrived back. I was so jealous of the people who watched the game and wished that I had known before I left so I could have befriended them before the game.  

June 13th, Pukaskwa National Park

Today marked the last day of our trip before we return home, and with it, my last chance to catch a fish. After an early morning hike with Michelle, I headed to a promising spot I had seen along the trail, which required climbing down a three-metre rocky embankment. While the fishing spot showed promise from the trail, it proved even better up close—a deep drop-off near the shore offered a perfect spot for a fish. I couldn’t wait to get my hook in the water. However, after about twenty-five casts, nothing. I move to another location, nothing. I tried a different hook, but still no fish. Eventually, I returned to camp empty-handed. While catching an enormous Lake Trout would have been exciting, my lack of success kindled a desire to take up Dave’s offer to do a canoe trip in Quetico. Perhaps then I’ll catch a fish. 

Tomorrow, Michelle and I begin our drive home, which retraces most of our previous route, stopping at Rushing River, Riding Mountain National Park, and Lucien Lake before reaching Edmonton. We’re so lucky to have such amazing parks as these here in Canada. An American we met in Quetico said she hated camping until visiting Canada; now she canoes and camps here every summer to experience our wilderness. I worry about the future of Canadian parks, especially since our current governments are promoting tourism over conservation during these uncertain times with the United States. 

Although I am eager to head home, I also find myself tempted to turn east onto the Trans-Canada Highway towards the Maritimes. I hear Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland is astonishing. A two-month trip should suffice to explore that part of the country.