Sharing is caring!

Quetico Provincial Park and regenerated south Lake Kawnipi

Lake Kawnipi in Quetico Provincial Park is one of my favorite places in the world to adventure travel, and has an honored spot on my bucket list killers. Kawnipi is a giant lake with many bays and places to explore. It is probably over ten miles long. There are two distinct parts to the lake. This is because a forest fire ravaged the southern portion in 1995.

The northern portion retains its forested beauty, but the southern half looks less pristine. This does not mean the southern half is not worth visiting. I still find it beautiful despite the still burned out aura. There is something very eerie about this area with trees only half grown and a few  full grown trees awkwardly sticking out above the others as if suffering from survivor’s guilt. It almost gives this section a Tim Burton movie feel to it.

Burned out forest with a few survivor trees sticking awkwardly out

The day my Dad and I paddled on this section was completely overcast, so the cloudy sky gave it even more of haunted look. I think it was a little foggy as well.

Usually this stretch of lake is really windy with large stretches of open water prone to fierce wind and large waves. On this day it was completely peaceful and the lake was like glass. This is very rare in Quetico.

You do not see many days this calm in Quetico, Canada

We saw a group of three canoes with three people in each boat as we entered the southern portion of the lake after the last portage at Kennebis Falls. These would be the last people we would talk to for four days. We did see a few canoes out on Kawnipi, but they were a mile or two away.

The loudest object we saw on this day besides ourselves was a chattering river otter. We came upon mom and pa river otter at the edge of an island. We soon discovered they had a little junior river otter with them. They sent the pup ahead and then the two of them tried to divert our attention from their offspring. Each otter rose from the lake like a periscope and chattered at us trying to subvert our attention from the baby.

As we reach the full forested section of Kawnipi we are greeted by otters. The head of one of the parents can be seen in the distance

With no wind we made it in incredible time to the lush pine trees in the northern section. My dad remarked how glad he was to see the trees again. Trees are beautiful, but there is something about the stunted section of lake on the southern portion that yearns to me.

Perhaps it is the thought of the regeneration of the forest after catastrophe. It is soothing to know the Earth heals just like the human soul does with time after trauma and tragedy. The lake becomes a metaphor for the human condition. No matter how bad life can be at certain times, there is hope and regrowth.

The rebirth of a forest is also enlightening in of itself. We can do all sorts of messed up things to this Earth of ours, and if we leave it alone like Quetico, we can drink the water right from the lake, fish for trophy fish, and enjoy watching a family of river otter in their natural environment.

Sunshine and the way Quetico and the forest is supposed to look

I might also enjoy this section despite its meager scenic appeal because it is a great memory of time spent with my Dad. We had a tough trip up to this point, but his day was magical as we flew up the lake leaving the hordes of mosquitoes behind in the Falls Chain.

This picture you can see trees across the bay, but the burned out southern portion looms in the far distance

This post was supposed to be a submission to my photo of the day category. In order to inspire travel, I have been including a picture a couple of times a week to augment my regular posts. I was just going to write a paragraph about the top photo, but I just kept going. Quetico does that to me.

TT

The goal of Traveling Ted is to inspire people to outdoor adventure travel and then provide tips on where and how to go. If you liked this post then enter your email in the box to get email notifications for each new entry. Daily travel photos are excluded from your email in order to not flood you with posts. There is no spam and email information will not be shared. Other e-follow options include Facebook (click on the like box to the right) or twitter (click on the pretty bird on the rainbow above).

On the right sidebar is a donate button. If you would like to donate in order to support the site, it would be appreciated. All donations would cover travel expenses and improvements to make the site better.