Acadia Parent would—and she’s going to put in some work along the way. On June 30th, Scott and Acadia parent set out from Drummond Island, Michigan in an attempt to paddle to Penetanguishene, Ontario. That’s actually just under 500 kilometres—but you get the point.
Inspired by the Metis Migration route of 1828, the duo will follow the North Channel for the most part and traverse the south shore of Manitoulin to hit all three bodies of Lake Huron—the North Channel, Lake Huron Proper, and Georgian Bay.
Along the way, Acadia will be taking water samples along the route for the purposes of microplastic research. With a combination of taking surface water samples as well as collecting deep water samples at various locations, the team aims to help scientists understand this somewhat mysterious human-induced pollution.
With the help and support of the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation, Acadia has learned how to identify and take samples of Microplastics, and plans to use her findings to support her 2020 science fair project while donating our data collected to the LHC.
The team departed Tobermory on June 30th for Drummond island, along with the family. After one rest day, they will be on their way, exploring the island and set sail as early as the winds align. According to Scott, the team will be posting often on their social media feed as often as possible, with the end goal of creating a short film.
From Scott: “We plan on posting as often as we can, though we anticipate long strides of wilderness exposure, with low cell. We will be documenting our journey for the purposes of producing a mini-doc of our shared experience.”
Follow along on their adventure on Instagram at @scottparentphoto. —ML
