FALL2016
MLBLUE
51
words :: Dan Rubinstein
Ontarians seldom have to travel far to find a gorgeous lake, but injecting
some extra mileage into your journey can amplify the adventure—
especially if you’re catching a floatplane to a lodge on the edge of the
world’s largest game preserve. After a foggy three-hour drive up the coast
of Lake Superior from Sault Ste. Marie to the departure dock at Hawk
Air, the lure of Errington’sWilderness Island Resort becomes crystal clear.
“Yeah, sure, we got a lot of lakes back home,” a passenger from Indiana
drawls, “but we got a lot of people back there too.” And so 20minutes
later, when the de Havilland Otter lands softly onWabatongushi Lake
andmy twin daughters and I disembark, our deep dive into northern
Ontario nature takes on an immediate intensity I have heretofore never
experienced in four decades of crisscrossing this province’s wild places.
As the plane fades away over a sea of trees, the drone of its engine is
replaced by the sound of waves slapping against the rocky shoreline and
reeds rustling in the breeze. No cars, no cellphones. Just the caws and
chirps of crows and chipmunks, and the giddy prospect of unstructured
days exploring the two-million-acre Chapleau Crown Game Preserve, which
straddles the height of land between Hudson Bay and Lake Superior and
teems with bears, eagles, moose andmore. The girls and I drop our bags
in a woodsy waterside suite and hop into kayaks for a paddle in the late-
afternoon sun.
When Al Errington’s parents bought the island property 40 years ago, it
was a collection of dilapidated fishing shacks. TeenagedAl helped build
new log cabins and the rustic-luxe main lodge, which features a dining
room, lounge and large veranda. Now he runs the resort with his wife
Doris and their own young-adult children, who return when university lets
out for the summer. The majority of guests—about two-thirds of whom
are regulars—still arrive with fishing rods in hand. But over the years, as
digital cameras took root, people have come to take pictures of wildlife
and sunsets, to canoe and stargaze, to get off the grid and slow down.
One man is so enamoured with the place he got its logo tattooed onto
his leg.
ISLAND IMMERSION
ATHOME INTHEALGOMAWILDERNESS
Wabatongushi Lake. COURTESYOTMPC
WEEK
ENDER
