Solo: My time in Superior

My first solo trip felt like I’d been doing it all my life. In a way I guess I had, only I’d always done it with friends and family every time, never alone.

All the steps are the same no matter who you’re with; you head out, arrive at your campsite, pitch your tent and hang your tarp and then collect firewood. Once all the housekeeping jobs are done then you have time to explore or read or swim, and after you make a fire to eat dinner. Everything is set in a routine which made going out on my own that much easier. There was nothing to think about. 

I was in Lake Superior Provincial Park for five days, hiking, camping, and exploring the areas around it in the van. My first day I did two day hikes, both with stunning views and awesome climbs. The first trail I did was the Orphan Lake trail, an 8 km loop that was recommended to me by a gentleman I met in Killarney. The second hike I did was the Pinguisibi trail that follows a river upstream for three kilometres. The trail passes by four small waterfalls and multiple sets of rapids. 

I ate every dinner on the beach at the campground and went swimming in freezing Lake Superior with the waves. Every day I was there I wondered why I had never visited in all my time living in Ontario. 

My first night there I planned an overnight trip along the Coastal Trail for my last day before heading further North.

The forecast promised rain both days I was going to be out, and for every day after that. No matter when I went I would have bad weather so the day I left was as good as any. What I thought might have made the trip awful instead brought a surprising beauty. While hiking the trail I noticed that the moss was blanketed in water droplets, the leaves around me made soft plunking noises as the rain hit them, mini waterfalls ran down each hill I climbed, and everything smelt like spring. I walked along a rock face that slanted inwards to the ground, making a small overhang from the top where small streams of water were pouring down, similar to what you’d see on display at a spa or resort. All along the rock face there was water drizzling over the moss to create a peaceful little waterfall to accompany me down the trail. 

The hike to my campsite took just under two hours. For my first solo trip, and considering I was in a park that was all new to me, I decided to undertake a smaller trip than one I might have tried in Algonquin. I started the trail from Sinclair Cove, a pretty little access point on the shores of Lake Superior. The trail took me along the beach and up into the hills on the other side of the cove. The first section was narrow and full of rocks that I had to scramble over, hauling myself and my pack up boulders and slippery hills. The rain made every stone a little more treacherous and the roots a little harder to grip, but the effort was all worthwhile. 

The top of the first hill looked out over Sinclair Cove and out to the endless water of Lake Superior. I was in the Provincial Park for a little under a week and every day I was amazed that I was in Ontario and not somewhere in California. The waves and coastline made me think of San Diego beaches and Lajolla Cove, and yet as I looked to my left or right I would see forest dotted with orange, yellow and green and would be reminded that I was still in Ontario, only hours from my hometown.

The trail traced the shore line, along the rocky beaches and up into the hills above until I was brought to my campsite, “Sinclair North”. For anyone who has hiked the Coastal Trail you may know of the spot, and for those who haven’t, you absolutely need to go.

At first I thought my campsite was perched on top of the rock hill I had just climbed, but then I saw a little arrow pointing me down to the other side and out onto a stunning little pebble beach in it’s own little cove. The site for my tent looked out over the beach to the water, to the rock faces along each shore, and finally to a small island sitting further out in the lake. There was a fire pit directly in front of my tent and another one made from the rocks on the beach. 

I spent the first hour or two in the water and exploring around the area. My site was on a divide between two coves, mine faced the south towards Agawa Bay where I had been camping for my first three nights in the park. Further inland were more hills and forest, but out to the west, the point stretched out for another 600 metres through patches of forest and finally to a large cliff that overhung the lake. Each inlet I passed on the hike out was uniquely different from the last which made my experience there that much more beautiful.

The rocks look very similar to Georgian Bay and the Canadian Shield, but the beaches were different than any I’d seen. One of my friends’ dad told me to visit Pebble Beach in Marathon, which is a small town along the north shore of Lake Superior, and what I am expecting to find there is similar to what I camped on along the coastal trail. Instead of sand, the entire beach was filled of stones. Each was as smooth as glass and ranged in colour from pink to white to black to green, some the size of a tire and some the size of a pea. I couldn’t walk along the shore without shoes on for fear of rolling my ankle or slipping on them in the water. Both of which happened a number of times.

The beauty of a solo trip, and something I have learned while travelling alone, is that I had no timeline. There was no one else for me to answer to, to accommodate my time for, or to make plans with. I could decide what I did in each moment and no one was influenced by any of it. On a regular trip with friends or family you always have a plan in mind with a destination and a time for dinner. All of those rules go out the window when you’re alone. I sat and air dried on the beach after my swim because there was no one there to watch, I explored for an hour and found some firewood, then finished my book and took a nap until I was hungry. When I wanted to eat I started a fire and then went to my tent just in time for the light to disappear and the rain to return.

One thing I am grateful for is that I am able to be comfortable on my own. Of course I enjoy company and love being around friends, but I also cherish the moments when I can sit in my thoughts or make my own plans. The whole week while in Lake Superior, I made plans for myself and found joy from experiencing it on my own. It’s the one time when you can fully appreciate what your interests are because you don’t feed off of anyone else’s opinions or emotions. When I was on my first hike in the park, I reached a bend where I was brought out to the beach and could see and hear the waves crashing in front of me and I was so overwhelmed with excitement that I had to stop and take it all in for a moment. 

It’s that feeling you get when you are happy or full of love and your chest fills up until you think you may overflow from it. That’s the feeling I’ve gotten all week, just from adventures on my own. I’m not sure if it’s the place or the fact that I am now doing what I had started planning over a year ago, but either way that feeling is something I know I am going to continue to search for.