One of the uncanniest sensations that canoeing creates in the mind of the paddler is the sense of being so close and yet feeling so far away. Something happens when you feel your weight transferred from the land to the water that tells your whole body and mind that you’ve entered a new realm at that in-between or liminal layer that’s neither air, water nor land. The rules are different here.

The song your paddle sings, whether it’s the rhythmic splash of the bow’s forward stroke, or the ripples and eddies of the stern paddle’s underwater return, helps guide the inveterate paddler to a mysterious realization. Even though you’ve left your dwelling and driven a ways to the put in, somehow, on the water, you’ve arrived – you are home.

Wolf Island Provincial Park is another unsupervised provincial park on the list of hidden gems along the Trent-Severn Waterway. The park covers 220 hectares between Burleigh Falls and Buckhorn Ontario.