Pukaskwa - Day 0

Boat taxi to North Swallow Harbour

August 5, 2017

We drove to Sault Ste. Marie yesterday, and then continued onwards today to Hattie Cove in Pukaskwa National Park. After a brief orientaion with the park staff, we trundled over to the visitor center. Deb managed to get in touch with Keith, our boat shuttle driver to arrange a puckup an hour earlier than originally planned, however we still had a couple of hours to kill so we explored up a local hill to visit Parks Canada red chairs and also a short way along the coast to visit a First Nations sweat lodge and tee pee display. Right on the dot at 16:00, Keith showed up in his big pontoon boat and we all piled aboard. The packs were stowed underneath the deck and we puttered out into the bay while Keith gave us a Transport Canada required safety briefing. Once we hit the big water of Lake Superior, Keith hit the throttle and twin 250 HP motors roared to life... propelling us along at an incredible rate of speed for any watercraft that I have ever been onboard. In about an hour and a half we had travelled to our drop off point, covering this distance effortlessly, which is now going to take us seven days during the return journey to hike back. Keith dropped us off on the beach at North Swallow Harbour. What a pretty spot this is! We quickly set up camp and took a short hike up a local lookout point, and a second short walk to explore some Pukaskwa pits behind the campsite. The Pukaskwa pits, as they are known, are rock formations in pit shapes that were created by early First Nations people along the shores of this land. No one knows exactly what these formations were used for, but it was quite neat seeing remnants of civilization from almost one thousand years ago. As we did not need to pack light for the first meal, we cooked real food over the fire. I even enjoyed a can of beer with my supper, the one and only beer for this trip. Later in the evening, Murray and I hiked down the shore for a bit to catch a fantastic sunset, but as the mosquitoes were beginning to get fierce, we all retired shortly thereafter to our tents.

The whole gang at the Red Chair lookout above Hattie Cove, prior to departure.

Our boat, arriving in Hattie Cove to pick us up.

Drop off on the beach at our first campsite.

Slightly mis-placed red chairs in the backcountry.

Hike to local summit above our campsite.

Checking out the Pukaskwa pits.

Enjoying the red chairs.

First sunset.

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