In 2022, Constance Simes circumnavigated Lake Superior solo, a roughly 1,200-mile (1930 km) journey around the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area in 57 days. She wants you to know that with enough patience and practice, a big paddle trip might be in your future too.
Lake Superior circumnavigator shares that your dream kayak trip might be closer than you realize
Whether you prefer long days in a canoe, quality time with the double-bladed paddle, or ripping down whitewater deep in a canyon, many paddlers spend the winter dreaming about their next long paddle. Odds are, you’ve spent more time dreaming up trips than you have actually out paddling. While many dream about quitting the real world and paddling for a few months, few actually do.
With finding time off work, organizing logistics, funding a long trip, and hundreds of small but seemingly insurmountable barriers to your next big paddle trip, a long-haul paddle often seems more a dream than a reality.
Simes, who paddled around Lake Superior from June 22 to August 17, 2022, thinks that long trip might be more feasible than a lot of people realize. While a circumnavigation or thru-paddle might be a long-term goal, Simes emphasized that just because a goal is challenging doesn’t mean it’s out of reach.
“It is possible,” shared Simes. “I know that it’s hard to take time off but if you do it accordingly with proper preparation and understanding of your skills and the lake, I think most people can honestly do it.”
Simes added that while this isn’t to say that anyone should just hop in a boat with no paddling experience, the biggest part of planning and executing your dream long paddle trip is being honest with yourself about your goals.
“No one’s path is always straightforward. Things might come up and take you away from it a little bit, and you’ll find a way to make it work still,” shared Simes.
Simes added that one of the reasons she’s sharing her circumnavigation story is to bring some awareness to how invisible chronic illness can affect big goals like circumnavigations and long paddle trips.
“Invisible chronic illness, that has definitely made my paddling career veer in different ways than I thought it would,” explained Simes. Prior to her Lake Superior circumnavigation, Simes worked several years as a sea kayak guide on Lake Superior and in New Zealand, and took her L4 ACA Skills Assessment in preparation for the trip.
Highlights and lowlights of a kayaking 1200 miles around Lake Superior
Simes’s solo circumnavigation wasn’t without its challenges, but they weren’t the challenges you might expect from a long paddle trip. While there were certainly days with wind, waves, and inclement weather, Simes didn’t feel lonely most of the trip, and shared that one of the hardest parts of the paddle was reacclimatizing to the world outside of the wilderness.
“I didn’t get lonely. Halfway through when I was waiting for my resupply package up in Marathon, the most northeast spot, I was just having the most amazing time trying these silly bushcraft things,” shared Simes. “I didn’t see anyone for three days. I loved it.”
Where on the Canadian North Shore Simes didn’t see anything manmade for days at a time, heading back south down the Minnesota shoreline she saw increasing houses as she neared her finish, and start point, at Little Sand Bay in Wisconsin.
“I struggled a little on the North Shore,” Simes shared, referring to the portion of Lake Superior coming into Minnesota from Canada where, fairly suddenly, you go from Canadian wilderness to increasingly developed shorelines and vacation homes. “Going from those remote islands down to Minnesota, and there’s nothing wrong with the Minnesota North Shore, but it just is very shocking… I was really far from shore because I just wanted to be away from it.”
Simes also shared that unexpectedly, one of the hardest parts of her trip came after the trip had ended.
“Maybe it’s the solo aspect but I definitely had some post expedition blues after which I didn’t know was a thing until I started listening to other people’s expedition stories,” said Simes. “Why I am feeling this way, why can’t I sleep in my little cabin with no running water, but I have to sleep in my tent? It was a couple weeks of sleeping in my hammock, sleeping in my tent.”
Overall, Simes paddled nearly 1200 miles around Lake Superior in 57 days.
“I don’t think you ever really know you’re ready,” said Simes, adding that you have to ask yourself what the worst that you could get into would be, and if you can handle that. “I didn’t know I could handle days alone, but you adapt.”
Simes will be speaking at the 2025 Canoecopia event in Madison, Wisconsin at 4:30 pm on Friday, March 7 to share about her journey on Lake Superior.
