photos from top
1) The International Bridge frames the setting sun. 2) Beating rush hour in the Soo.
3) The Canadian locks—a National Historic Site—allow for small craft thoroughfare.
The glimmering reflections from the windows of riverside estates reappear as campfires, and the hum of traffic fills my ears as the singing of voyageurs. The tugs and barges moored at the Purvis Marine Pier morph into the glacial boulders strewn beneath the cliffs of Old Woman Bay, Lake Superior, and swallows swoop down from barge cavities like peregrine falcons from the cliffs.
Lake freighters become Montreal canoes bound for Lachine. Tugboats morph into glacial boulders.
The setting sun is framed by the International Bridge and reflects from the amber-tinted windows of city hall. Beyond Purvis Pier, three kilometres from my launching point, I begin my 20-minute ferry glide against a moderate current to Whitefish Island and the base of the St. Mary’s rapids.
Like the Ojibwa, I too am drawn to Bawating—the “place of falling waters” that marks Lake Superior’s eastern terminus. Before hydro development, the Falls of the St. Mary’s were several kilometres long and spanned the entire one-kilometre width of the river. Centrally located and with an abundance of whitefish, Bawating provided a summer rendezvous site for some 10,000 nomadic Ojibwa. Whitefish Island, a large island on the Canadian side of the rapids, contains archaeological evidence of 4,000 years of seasonal use. Yet in only 200 years of European inhabitation, the fishery was decimated. The wild attributes of the St.
continued p41
ADVENTUREkayakmag.com 25 Information:
Guide to Sea Kayaking Lakes Superior and Michigan by Sarah Ohmann and Bill Newman (Globe-Pequot Press, 1999). An excellent resource containing a section describ- ing a day trip on the St. Mary’s.
Canadian National Topographic Service map 41 K/9 (1:50,000)
Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site 705-941-6262
www.parkscanada.gc.ca
Outfitters:
Caribou Expeditions Sault Ste. Marie, ON 800-970-6662
www.caribou-expeditions.com
Horizons Adventures Sudbury, ON 800-404-4142
www.horizonsadventures.ca
Naturally Superior Adventures Wawa, ON
800-203-9092
www.naturallysuperior.com
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