I am very fortunate in that I have friends who like to explore new places with me. What is even more unique is that we have all worked together as teachers at a Midland high school. We have been canoe tripping and backpacking as a group for nearly thirty years. Almost twenty years ago, on a canoe trip down the White River, we adopted the name “Summer School Brotherhood”. The remaining five active members hiked the Pukaskwa Coastal Trail in July of 2023.
Pukaskwa is a Canadian national park located on the north shore of Lake Superior, just east of Marathon. There is a very small campground on the west side and interior campsites along the White River and the Lake Superior coast. The Pukaskwa Coastal Trail is a 60 km linear trail that climbs hills, crosses cobble beaches, fords streams, and meanders in and out of forests. Most backpackers use a boat shuttle service to start or finish their hike at the eastern end of the trail. We decided to yo-yo the trail, in and back in eight days.
We left Midland on July 8, 2022 at 6 am and drove north for12 hours, grabbed a campsite in the Hattie Cove Campground for the first night, and enjoyed the setting sun on Horseshoe Bay. You cannot make reservations for the campground, but it is advised to make reservations early in the season for the back-country. Early the next morning, July 9, 2022 we confirmed our back-country reservations and headed out from Hattie Cove. Two hours out and we crossed the White River bridge, suspended 23 metres above the river. The last time we were here, we portaged our canoes past an older version of the bridge and on down the river. The trail increases in difficulty past the bridge, climbing over many rock outcrops, eventually reaching the Willow River campsite. It was a six hour day.
Mark K
Mark K is our senior Brotherhood member. I met Mark K first through our wives 30 years ago. Lora, his late wife, taught with my wife Kelly in Penetanguishene. The next year I transferred high schools and Mark K and I became colleagues. We led Outers Club canoe trips and backpacking trips for our school, and have had many great adventures together over the years. Mark K is the positive philosopher in our group who continues to show us that “Life really is good.”