Submitted by Dr. Paul Tamburro

Despite the misting rain and cold, my son Jack, his friend Harvey and I dragged our tails out of the warm cottage and headed to Kawishpakawg, better known as Highrock in our aluminum boat. When we arrived at the island there was a party of four canoes, all young girls about ten or eleven years old with two councilors, on a trip out of Northwaters making camp near the trailhead. I watched as the kids help adjust the tarp, gather wood, all the usual stuff. They were having a ball despite the lousy weather, hungry from their exertions waiting for the quesadillas warming on the fire.

The quesadillas sure smelled good, making us hungry too, but we headed up the trail after chatting with the trip leaders. It is a nice little hike and I highly recommend it. There are Anishnabe prayer flags along the way and on the summit there are a couple of family memorials to loved ones who enjoyed the spot. From the lookout there is a spectacular view of the hub of Lake Temagami. You can clearly see Camp Wabikon from here, which is another reason I noticed the campers. My daughter was at Wabikon at the time and out on a trip herself at that very moment. Not with the group we ran into, but she was somewhere else in the Southwest Arm of Lake Temagami with her own party.

My daughter sure loves camp. She loves the socializing, the crafts, the sailing and she loves the canoe tripping which in turn makes me happy. I am a little jealous also; I didn’t go to camp when I was her age. My family thought it was crazy to pay good money to go to camp, eat peanut butter on white bread for lunch and sleep in a tent when you could be at a nice cottage and get three square meals a day. Luckily I figured out for myself the joys of canoe tripping and camping.

There are many renowned camps on Lake Temagami including the oldest children’s camp in Canada. In addition campers from other parts of Ontario and the United States come to trip in Temagami. If you spend any time on or around Lake Temagami in the summer months you cannot help but notice the camper’s presence. There are almost always gaggles of kids at the Mine Landing clustered in little groups, their canoes sitting by the boat ramp as they prepare to head out. Or barges loading supplies to take to the base camps on the islands. Invariably on boat rides we will pass groups of canoes and we will always try to keep our distance not to swamp them waving as we go by. These same camps made their mark in the backcountry maintaining portages and keeping historic routes open before wilderness canoeing became a popular recreational activity.