PATH OF THE PADDLE TRAIL AMBASSADORS
PEOPLE OF THE PATH
Meet some of the incredible people we have come across along the trail.
American Scout Trip
At the end of the Turtle River, there was a long stretch with few campsites and we had arrived at the site late one night and rested there the following day. We bet about what time the boy scouts we had seen would pass the next day, and sure enough (not at 4pm or 5pm as we had guessed, but at 7pm) they arrived in search of a site. We camped together and enjoyed their offering of ‘smores!
Quetico Campers
We ran into two groups by Silver Falls. One heading home from some strong winds all week, and the other was just setting out, in the hopes of catching some monster fish.
Dave and Amy Freeman
Dave and Amy are an incredible couple spending a year in the wilderness to raise awareness about the fight against a proposed sulphide-ore copper mine to be developed directly beside the boundary waters. We were inspired by their many adventures and immense care for the natural world.
Matt and Dawn
We crossed paths with Matt and Dawn on the long portage. They had two dogs who were not too impressed about posing for a photo but loved the trail more than those of us with packs on our backs. While Matt and Dawn had travelled this path before, they had never seen the pond flow fully over the portage to become one body of water.
Camp Voyageur
Six girls from Camp Voyageur in Ely were on day nine of their trip when we ran into them on the Grand Portage at about the halfway mark. They were all smiles and offered hugs on what was a lonnnngg day all around. We hope you girls enjoyed the second half as much as we did!!!
Fishermen
They were everywhere.
Dave and Ken
These two invited us in for hot coco as we paddled by (we must have looked fairly exhausted), and we traded stories of adventures. Thanks so much for a pick me up on a grey morning as we made our way ever so slowly by your site. We hope you enjoyed "being bums" as you said and spending the day on shore while the rest of us were out in the down pours.
Janice (Quetico Park Ranger)
We met Janice At the Cache Bay ranger station when entering Quetico. She's the longest serving park ranger, as we met her in the midst of her 32nd year. She had incredibly valuable insight and advice to share with us about the park, and her love for Quetico was easy to see. Her stories, kindness, and hospitality as we reached Cache Bay on a cold, windy day, brightened our moods.
Outward Bound
This epic Outward Bound trip were on day 18 of 50. They told us we had one hell of a portage ahead. It wasn't that bad. They still have the Grand Portage ahead. We send happy thoughts your way.
Reunion Trip
Four friends out for a reunion paddle. We were jealous that they didn't have to repeat the portage like us. They were on day two of an undecided amount of days and going to an as of yet undecided destination.
There were of course countless others who made our experience what it was. We have only named a few groups we met along the trail, but we saw and talked to many more. We were also graciously met in each town we passed through by such wonderful people. Here is a little compilation of a few others we crossed paths with: a family out for a day paddle where everyone held their bent shaft paddles backwards, Americans spending an afternoon sitting in chairs on a beach who gave us directions to some secret campsites, an old couple out for a leisurely paddle on Rose Lake, family members of people we know who recognized our boat as we passed, a camp of young boys on Watap Lake who were so very slow as they passed our site in the evening (asking out loud how the other boats were so far ahead… and being told the other boats were actually paddling), many girls camps on South and North Lakes, solo paddlers on Gunflint Lake, fishermen on every single lake that had motor boat access, a Boy Scout camp drenched in sweat portaging up a waterfall in the Boundary Waters, a camp where everyone seemed to be dressed in blue and every piece of gear seemed to be blue on Clove Lake, speed boats on Northern Lights Lake zipping past us to make us feel slow, people portaging and camping throughout Quetico, folks portaging out of Nym Lake to start some family canoe trips, a group of six Canadians dropping things on portages and passing us then being passed by us all day, Camp Ahmek on day 12 of 36 getting a food resupply and mail, motor boats waking us out going into Kenora, and kinder motor boats stopping to chat with us on our way out of Kenora. Thank you to everyone we met!
