The Longest Short Day Ever
Written by Matthew Bombardier
This has been the longest, short day ever. A mere 25 kilometers they said, and perhaps maybe it was, but it didn’t feel like 25 km, that’s for sure. We were always at the mercy of the water; the wind never at our backs. The Anishinaabe people call this area, around Sault Ste. Marie, “BAAWAATING” which means “The place of the rapids”, and now I know why. Though the rapids may no longer be visible due to modern day hydro-electric dams and canals, the power of said rapids from ancestral times is ever present. Never before have we paddled harder against a current than we did today in the Saint Mary River. A half hour would go by and it would seem as though we had only moved a few feet.
Before going through the miserable current, we had a rather enjoyable experience. We had a chance to go through the Soo locks; well actually it was out of necessity, but it was super cool. We paddled toward the lock and waited at the blue zone before entering. We had to wait for a tour boat from Michigan; “10 minutes” the lock-master told us on the radio. There was a long while before that boat even made an appearance; but eventually it crept up beside us. I found it interesting how the name of the tour boat was “NOKOMIS” which is the Anishinaabe word for grandmother.
The locks were surprisingly fast to fill. We were all expecting a half-hour wait, but we were up and out in 15 minutes. And then the struggle began. We went on for hours before having the saddest lunch ever. Old croissants with wilted, soggy salad. It was a good thing that we had delicious chicken to make up for the rest of the meal. Once we made it around the point we had our first real break, around 3 p.m. As we pulled away from our break, we noticed a home on the shore flying a Metis flag, and so naturally we popped in for a quick visit. The rest of the paddle was smoother than before, a nice refreshing visit might have been the remedy we needed to carry on. We arrived at camp, near Gros-Cap, just as it started to rain softly.
