Canoe camping on your honeymoon
For our honeymoon in 1972 (!), we went on a 10-day canoe camping trip on the Boland River and a chain of lakes in northern Ontario east of Sault Sainte Marie. My parents had offered to send us to a Caribbean Island for our honeymoon but we decided to use the money to buy a canoe instead. We ended up with a fiberglass canoe which weighed about 70 lbs, not an insignificant load when portaging, we found. The trip consisted of a mix of lakes and a winding river requiring pulling the boat over log jams and occasional short portages. As seen on the map below, the trip had a mix of lake and river travel with 5 or 6 significant portages. While this is not a wilderness area, we saw very few other canoeists and the weather was generally rainy and overcast with few days of sunshine. We had both done quite a bit of camping and backpacking but this was our first wilderness canoe camping experience. We had to pack all the food and gear that we needed for all 10 days into the canoe since there was nowhere along the route to replenish. supplies. For food, we relied mostly on freeze dried meals with the hope of supplementing with fresh fish occasionally. These images were scanned from old Kodachrome slides that had been sitting in the closet for many years.
Working on a suntan in northern Ontario
The mosquitoes were out in force
Portages
There were quite a few portages and our inexperience with canoe camping showed up in spades here. At first we tried to portage the canoe with each taking one end over our heads. But we soon learned that with the rocky and uneven terrain, it was difficult to coordinate the movement of the two ends of the canoe.
Eventually we settled for my carrying the canoe while Lil carried the paddles, fishing gear and other gear on the first leg of the portage. Then we had to go back and carry our backpacks. It was not a model of efficiency.
The constant rain made us cover all the packs
Resting up at the end of a portage
Pay it forward
The highlight of the trip came when we were on Rawhide lake and saw an island with a nice log cabin with a family sitting on the porch. Since we had seen very few other canoeists, the sight of an inhabited cabin was quite a surprise. When they saw us, they waved and invited us to come in for some freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies. It did not take much persuasion for us to accept. Inside we met the Jones family from Kentucky who had come up by float plane to the family cabin as they did every summer. We probably looked like drowned rats with the constant rain.
While chatting with them, they must have taken pity on us and invited us to stay for dinner. On the menu was steak and home-baked fresh bread. As we had been surviving chiefly on freeze-dried food with an occasional fresh fish, we were overjoyed to accept their kind hospitality.
Of course, we all realized that there was no way that we could possibly repay their incredibly generous hospitality. When you meet someone on a trip like this, it is unlikely that you would ever see them again. About 20 years ago there was a movie which was an adaptation of a book called “Pay it forward”. The idea was that when someone does something for you, instead of paying that person back directly, you pass it on to someone else, who would in turn pass it on to someone else, etc. This philosophy is especially pertinent in a situation like this; we were simply not able to pay them back. So we have tried to pay it forward to others, especially when camping when provisions are scarce.
Lil with the Jones family in front of their cabin
Helping us to cast off.
Please note: All text and photos are copyrighted to Tom Yin. You are welcome to share the URL, however re-production of text or photos is not permitted. If you would like to feature this story, contact me and I would be happy to provide you with details, photos, text etc. Thanks!
