A pair of grandparents hopes to walk the entire shoreline of Lake Superior within five months.
Mike Link, 64, and his wife Kate Crowley, 60, plan to hike around the Great Lake on April 29. The American couple is walking to bring awareness of how fragile the fresh water lake can be and say they want to preserve it for their grandchildren.
"Lake Superior should always be a drinkable lake," Link said. "One of the things that is really important to me is the recognition of this massive lake. It is so large people forget how fragile it is."
The hike starts in Duluth, Minn., and heads east toward Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The route will then take the couple around the lake’s shoreline.
The couple expects that the 2,800-kilometre trek will take about five months. The pair says only a handful of people has ever hiked the entire lake.
The hikers plan to camp out, rely on the kindness of strangers and use a support vehicle called a SAG wagon to get by as they hike the Great Lake.
Link said there are differences between Ontario’s side of the lake and Minnesota’s shore. Traditionally, Ontario used the area for commercial use while Minnesota used its shore for more recreation. Link said Canada used the lake for shipping wood and other resources more than its U.S. counterpart.
Because the lake is in both the U.S. and Canada, the hikers could face challenges as they head toward the border in Sault Ste. Marie. Link said he is in contact with the Voyaguer Trail Association and Algoma University to help get them clearance to go over the international bridge in Sault Ste. Marie.
He added that they hope to take two months to walk the Canadian shore.
"We’re looking forward to that day when we start walking and stop worrying about all the logistics and all the other details," he said. "Just keep the lake on our left and keep on walking."
Crowley said that three years ago they were walking along the superior hiking trail talking about what Link would do when he retired. She thought on his last day of work he should just walk out the doors, down the path and head North.
"He said why don’t I just keep walking to Duluth," Crowley said. "At some point one of us said just keep walking around the lake."
Link worked for the Audubon Center of the North Woods as the director in Sandstone, Minn, for 39 years. It is an environmental education centre, which offers college courses in environment sciences.
The couple said the walk is a continuation of that work to focus on the environment.
Lake Superior makes up a tenth of all the fresh water in the world. Crowley said the research focuses on species on land and if streams have lowered or not.
Crowley added that they also want to better understand the general public’s knowledge of the lake.
"When the idea came to us it just became a life of its own," she said. "We both love the outdoors and we both love the idea of seeing new territory everyday. It’s an expedition. We’re not people who would go into the arctic but this is our expedition."
The couple expects to arrive back in Thunder Bay sometime in August to prepare for the final leg of their voyage.
