Lake Superior Water Trail

In the fall of 1989, after completing our canoe trip around Lake Superior, we were involved in the first steps to establish a basin-wide Lake Superior Water Trail. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan now have designated water trails along the coast. In 2013, Trans Canada Trail Ontario was looking for a strategy to accomplish a fully connected trail around the North Shore of Lake Superior for Canada’s Sesquicentennial(150th) in 2017.  We worked with Dr. Sheila Gruner of Algoma University’s Community Economic and Social Development program and GIS specialist and mapmaker David Baldwin of Spatialworks to develop this Plan. Together we mapped the 1,000-km Trans Canada Lake Superior Water Trail between Fisherman’s Park on Thunder Bay and Gros Cap Harbour on Whitefish Bay.  The Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy [LSWC] became the registrant and overseer of this section of the trail to coordinate and implement the plan to provide universal access site plans and infrastructure such as docks and toilets etc. to the main access points.  A coordinated story linking the communities by their land and water trails provides economic, social, cultural and environmental benefit for the long-term.  The Conservancy is also working towards completion of an international connected route around Superior by 2017 for the benefit of the entire lake and its people.  This water trail will be an “Appalachian Trail” of water trails, a trail that connects together the many unique and distinct trails and communities and people and ecosystems around the greatest freshwater lake on Earth— for the long-term benefit of a healthy Lake Superior for all.

Click this link to download the PDF of the strategic plan for the Lake Superior Water Trail.

People kayaking and canoeing along a river

Superior: Journeys On An Insland Sea Book Cover

Superior: Journeys On An Inland Sea

Superior: Journeys On An Inland Sea is the inspiring story of Gary and Joanie McGuffin’s 2,000 – mile circumnavigation of Lake Superior, the largest expanse of fresh water in the world.

Through a richly personal narrative and 140 spectacular colour photographs, taken during their self-propelled journeys – by canoe and kayak, hiking, skiing and snowshoeing – the McGuffins relate their fascinating tale of adventure and reveal the astonishing beauty of the Lake Superior wilderness in all four seasons.

The McGuffins have a unique sense of the natural world. They lead us to an understanding of this Great Lake not only as a powerful part of the Earth’s freshwater system, but also as a fragile place of mystery and spirit.

It is Joanie and Gary’s hope that this book will inspire us to embark on our own journeys into wild places and that through appreciating the wonders of nature first-hand, we will become a less consumptive species and respect the Earth as the home we share with all other living things.

To Purchase “Superior: Journeys On An Inland Sea” book please download Chrismar “Chrismar Books Order Form

Fax the book order form to (905) 852-9474

Mail the book order to Box 1277, Uxbridge, Ontario Canada L9P 1N5.

Phone your order in to (905) 852-6151

Lake Superior Water Trail Map

Lake Superior Water Trail Map

The Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy

The McGuffins are founders of the international non-profit, the Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy. LSWC is an organization dedicated to ensuring the long-term sustainable health of the entire Lake Superior watershed for the future of the total ecosystem and the people who live within it. In 1992, the idea of a Trans Canada recreational trail (TCT) connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic oceans was initiated. During Canada’s Sesquicentennial (150th) in 2017, connection will be celebrated along this 24,000 km (15,000 mile) trail.  A 1000-km (600-mile) section of this trail follows the Ontario North Shore of Lake Superior. The Conservancy is the registrant and overseer of the trail between Prince Township’s Gros Cap Harbour on Whitefish Bay, and the City of Thunder Bay’s Fisherman’s Park. This section of trail not only makes a national connection, but an international one as well. TCT Lake Superior Water Trail is being connected to the other water trails around Lake Superior to create an “Appalachian Trail of Water Trails”. This ancient heritage route connects the people and the communities to their landscape, their stories, their histories, and their superlative natural assets on the land and on the water.

To learn more about the Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy and the Water Trail visit: LSWC Lake Superior Water Trail

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