SUDBURY -- Six adventurous individuals are heading northwest of Sudbury to Mink Lake to try and conquer – and rediscover -- a long lost a 10-15 kilometre canoe route.
David Lee, known on social media as “Pursuit of Passion,” is a dialysis technician at Mackenzie Health in Richmond Hill. He'll lead a group of five women throughout the six-day trip.
Coming to Canada when he was two years old, Lee said adventuring through untouched land and water is the most Canadian thing he can do. The idea for the current adventure came about when Lee found a 1914 canoe route map that hasn’t been used in decades.
“I found this map accidentally, and I still don’t know where I found it,” said Lee.
'I love canoeing'
“What interested me the most was that it has portages from back before the First World War. Because I love canoeing and I love discovering lost canoe routes, this piqued my interest, and I wanted to see if these portages existed from over 100 years ago.”
The canoe route will be no easy paddle. They will have to make it through overgrown bushes, and all different depths of water.
Lee has lead three other groups on the adventure so far, and they have conquered around half of the route. Wednesday afternoon, he will take off on a six-day adventure with the fourth group and try to cover another 10 to 15 kilometres.
The five women paddling with Lee are complete strangers to each other, but Lee said lifelong friendships come out of these adventures.
Great adventure
“I’m newer to canoeing, but I also kayak, snow shoe, I bike, I hike, I do just about anything outdoors,” said Leanne Coderre. "I love the wilderness, so this just seemed like another great adventure."
Bozena Michalik, who also joined Lee for his 2018 trip, said she is a bit worried about the conditions they will face.
“We may be up to our chest in water later today, so I am afraid of being cold and wet all day, but (I'm) up for the adventure of working together to pull and push canoes,” Michalik said.
The group paddles from dusk to dawn, and only rests for a few hours each night. When not paddling, there's more hard work to be done, setting up camp and making food.
“It’s an experience that is so different and so rare," Lee said. "Only if you are there do you get to share that experience. It is a very difficult trip, it certainly takes a strong mindset and a positive will, and when we get through this, I always find people become lifelong friends.”
