Pukaskwa National Park, Lake Superior

I've always been fascinated by the Great Lakes, and Lake Superior in particular. After all, with a tenth of the world's fresh water, it's a fairly sized puddle.

There seemed justification enough to spend two nights in the adjacent Pukaskwa National Park. Besides, we hadn't parked more than one night at a single site since setting out, so by Day 13 we needed to linger a bit.

The best thing we can say about Wawa was that the two-hour distance from the national park allowed us to arrive with more than enough time for a decent hike around noon.

The first trail brought us along a small beach just a few minutes' walk from our campsite.

We soon began our first ascent through the woody hills along the lake and made an unexpected discovery.

Lake Superior regulates temperature to the extent that blueberry bushes yield fruit along its coast longer into September.

After being denied at the blueberry farm in Wawa, we were perhaps a bit more enthusiastic than usual about picking what was offered along the climb.

The berries were abundant and quite tasty, I'm happy to report. Feeling redeemed, we trudged onward and upward, enjoying the view of the greatest of lakes.

The hike brought us to an even larger sandy beach loaded with driftwood. Kenting, a stick aficionado, was in his element.

He selected one for a few chews before moving on.

The little fellow always leads the way on hikes, often wondering what is taking us so long.

After the first hike, we went down to the Hattie Cove that gives the camp its name. The visitors centre there has the only wifi access in the entire park, which is crucial since there is otherwise no cell phone service whatsoever. Kenting waited while we checked our emails.

The cove wasn't a bad place to do a bit of work, really.

We soon got a campfire going back at the camp. This could have been a scene from either night. We were blessed with great weather throughout.

Kenting slept in the next morning, clearly more relaxed than on a travel day.

But soon it was back to hiking for us all.

This is a look at Hattie Cove from above. The mouth to Lake Superior proper is to the right. We would canoe around the island in the middle of the cove later that day.

The end of the second hike brought us back to the first beach from day 1.

We then ventured out for a couple hours of canoeing. Kenting put on a brave face, but was a little out of his element here.

The rest of the afternoon called for some time at the beach. I indulged in a chance to go "shirts off."

The water here was the cleanest either of us have ever seen in a lake.

Apparently it is not uncommon for visibility up to 20m depths in the lake. Here I am up to my chest with water, and my foot still appears to be the paragon of all feet.

Yes, the water was cold, but it felt different--cleansing somehow. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but it's not. It was as if I had regained my innocence for a few moments after the plunge.

Even so, it was still cold as sin, so wedared not linger long. We warmed up in the sun and returned to the Kodiak for campfire round two.