By Colleen Otte
Toronto resident Judith Pudden captured this footage of the Lake Superior shoreline during a recent road trip to visit her sisters.
She shot it in the late afternoon while heading south along the Trans-Canada highway between Montreal River Harbor, just south of Lake Superior Provincial Park and Havilland, north of Sault Ste. Marie, Pudden said.
She certainly expected there to be more snow along the stretch, she said, as she’s driven the route to Thunder Bay closer to Christmas and had to detour around closed roads in the past.
“I’m from Toronto, Ontario, but have also lived in London, Ontario, and Chesley, Ontario, as a child,” Pudden wrote in an email. “The Great Lakes have always been central to my personal geography, since I have lived within a fairly short drive of one or the other of them for most of my life. I’ve swum in Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, and Lake Erie, as well as sailing all three of those. I’ve also sailed some of the canals that connect them.
“Because of the Great Lakes, my concept of a lake is of a much larger body of water than it would be for anyone who didn’t grow up around them. I’ve watched the water levels of the lakes go up and down over the years, and wondered what it meant for the environment when the water got really low.
“There is not a lot of winter tourism up along Lake Superior and the northern part of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, and many of the motels close for the season, along with the more tourist-oriented stores. Since my parents were driving, our stops tended to be for Tim Horton’s, lunch, gas, or the bathroom.
“If I was in charge, it would have taken much longer to get anywhere, since I’d want to constantly stop to take a picture of the scenery, or the tiny northern towns! It’s a bit like traveling into the past, with motels dating from the 1950s and 1960s, and no chain restaurants (except for the ubiquitous Tim Horton’s) for hours in any direction.”
Editor’s note: Got a favorite road trip in the Great Lakes region? Send us a description and some still or moving images and we’re happy to consider it for an Echo feature. Send it to GreatLakesEcho@gmail.com with road trip in the subject line.