Path of the Paddle - The Grande Portage

PATH OF THE PADDLE TRAIL AMBASSADORS

27,400 Steps With a Canoe GRAND PORTAGE - Day Ten

July 9, 2016

Well damn. What a day. After 11 hours of trudging through mud and rain and creeks and bogs it is time to collapse... But let's start from the beginning. 

We started the 13.7km trek on the shore of Superior at the Grand Portage National Monument.

We walked along the palisade wall made of spiked logs (designed this way to prevent rot not in fact to ward off enemies) for our first steps of the long day ahead. These walls housed one of the busiest and most important stops along the fur trade. The voyagers would bring furs from the interior and meet the men who came in large canoes from Montreal to exchange goods at the rendezvous once a year. It was, at the height of the fur trade, the most bustling place west of the Appalachians. 

As we set out, I was already apprehensive of the kilometres ahead but Erik reassured me that it was no big deal. Never again will he be so wrong. Our naive optimism gradually spiralled as we were slowed by muddy bogs and bug infested trail to cover a measly 1.3km in the first hour.

While this route was used abundantly throughout the fur trade, it was walked long before by the Ojibwe in the area. The portage was created to avoid the treacherous stretch of rapids and falls on the lower Pigeon River. They called the portage "Kitchi Onigaming" meaning "The Great Carrying Place." While it seems like an awfully long route to carry anything, it is the most direct route to the interior and remained in use until 1802. 

We were lucky enough (ahem, insert sarcastic tone!) to be doing the trail after three bigs storms had blown through in recent days. Some of the hills we had to climb up became creeks and we waded through shin deep mud, every step squelching as our feet sank deeper, to discover dozens of trees fallen across our path. We maneuvered over logs and through branches taking breaks where dry land permitted. 

The voyageurs would carry two packs at a time, each weighing 90 pounds. Though, in the first documented European travel along the trail, explorer La Verendrye wrote that all his men "mutinied and loudly demanded that I turn back." A day like this called for all the chocolate and candy we had on hand.

Throughout the trail we crossed two creeks where we could refill water and then we had to ration for the final hours of the day. 

A storm blew in midday and left us soggy and cold for lunch. Then we ran into a group of 6 girls from camp voyageur. Seeing us alone on the trail they offered hugs and insight on what lay ahead.  

Near the end of the day we could not believe we were not there yet. We dropped our heavy gear and trudged to the end, to make sure an end did in fact exist. Relieved to see water at last we doubled back to bring our bags and boat to Fort Charlotte and then collapse. 

We have now walked in the footsteps of the voyageurs and those are footsteps I am happy to walk just once.