{"id":847,"date":"2015-05-14T08:53:34","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T13:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.naturallysuperior.com\/blog\/?p=847"},"modified":"2015-05-14T08:53:34","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T13:53:34","slug":"tales-of-an-empty-cabin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rockislandlodge.ca\/tales-of-an-empty-cabin\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales of an Empty Cabin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The bleached cabin walls are barely visible through a screen of tall cedars. We pull the canoes ashore and investigate. The tiny A-frame could very well be the haunt of fairies, with its miniature door and sofa-sized front porch. Exterior walls of split cedar shakes bristle with spikes, a common northern tactic to deal with marauding black bears. The entire structure, barely the size of a queen-sized bed, is perched atop chest-high posts. We wonder about the cabin\u2019s origin, hidden in the deepest wilderness of Lake Superior Provincial Park, in the headwaters of the Sand River.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_850\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-850\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.naturallysuperior.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cover.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-850\" src=\"http:\/\/www.naturallysuperior.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Cover.jpg\" alt=\"Cover\" width=\"400\" height=\"259\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-850\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>The mysterious snowshoe cabins of the Sand River.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lake Superior\u2019s Sand River is renowned for its easy rapids, scenic waterfalls, rugged portages, feisty brook trout and abundant wildlife, including moose, beaver and many varieties of songbirds. These features make it one of the best spring canoe trips on Lake Superior\u2019s north shore, suitable for all levels of canoe campers\u2014so long as they\u2019re fit enough to handle numerous portages. Aside from the Sand\u2019s natural wonders, this enchanting little cabin speaks to the imagination and captures the essence of the mysterious North.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_848\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-848\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.naturallysuperior.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/sand02.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-848\" src=\"http:\/\/www.naturallysuperior.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/sand02.jpg\" alt=\"sand02\" width=\"400\" height=\"265\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-848\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Lady Evelyn Falls on the Sand River.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As it happens, there are four \u201csnowshoe cabins\u201d scattered across the upper Sand River. Between 1949 and 1954, a group of outdoor enthusiasts constructed these tiny huts to be used as shelters along a network of winter trails, under the supervision of \u201cSnowshoe Man\u201d Les Perrine. The Sand River trails were meant to connect with previously established trails along the Montreal River, creating a 150-mile network \u201cmodeled somewhat after the Appalachin (sic) Trail,\u201d wrote Perrine in a 1966 letter to the Wawa office of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_849\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-849\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.naturallysuperior.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/sand03.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-849\" src=\"http:\/\/www.naturallysuperior.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/sand03.jpg\" alt=\"sand03\" width=\"400\" height=\"265\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-849\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>The rapids at High Cliff, Sand River.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The cabins were set on stilts to facilitate entry in the deep snows of winter. Their small size made the quick to heat with a woodstove in the deepest cold. Michigan-based outdoor adventurer Michael Neiger, who obtained copies of Perrine\u2019s correspondence and published them <a href=\"http:\/\/therucksack.tripod.com\/trips\/2006\/021806.htm\">online<\/a>, notes the average size of the snowshoe cabins was barely five by 10 feet. \u201cThe sleeper can start the morning fire while still in the sleeping bag,\u201d wrote Perrine. \u201cIn 15 minutes the cabin is warm even when 40 below zero outside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After inspecting the cabin and musing about its history, we return to our canoes. Besides keeping our eyes peeled for wildlife, we vow to scan the shoreline for more vestiges of the long-forgotten snowshoe trail. The cabin instantly disappears into the shoreline as we drift downstream, just as it should.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>See the snowshoe cabin for yourself. Sign up for Naturally Superior Adventures\u2019 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.naturallysuperior.com\/canoe-the-sand-river.html\">fully guided five-day canoe trip on the Sand River<\/a> in Lake Superior Provincial Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The bleached cabin walls are barely visible through a screen of tall cedars. We pull the canoes ashore and investigate. The tiny A-frame could very well be the haunt of fairies, with its miniature door and sofa-sized front porch. Exterior walls of split cedar shakes bristle with spikes, a common northern tactic to deal with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,47,35,38],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tales of an Empty Cabin - Rock Island Lodge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rockislandlodge.ca\/tales-of-an-empty-cabin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tales of an Empty Cabin - Rock Island Lodge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The bleached cabin walls are barely visible through a screen of tall cedars. We pull the canoes ashore and investigate. The tiny A-frame could very well be the haunt of fairies, with its miniature door and sofa-sized front porch. 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