Late March isn’t typical timing for a Canadian canoe expedition, but for Lure of the North co-founders Kielyn and Dave Marrone, it was a challenge worth embracing to make the most of the winter that wasn’t.
Lure of the North guides winter expeditions using traditional gear—think snowshoes, toboggans, and canvas tents heated by woodstove. From their off-grid base near the North Channel of Lake Huron, the Marrones have trekked and pulled sleds across much of Ontario, embracing the coldest season and encouraging others to do the same.
With the winter of 2024 bringing record mild temperatures, snowfall shortages, and unreliable ice conditions, the pair made an unconventional choice. At a time of year when they typically lead a two-week transit of the Temagami region by snowshoe and toboggan, Kielyn and Dave instead pivoted to a little-known form of backcountry travel: canoe sledding.
Reviving a forgotten style of travel at spring breakup
“Canoe hauling and transitional season travel has a rich history in Canada, from a time when the First Nations of this land lived and traveled on these waterways all year round,” Kielyn explains. “Trade needed to continue between communities even during seasonal transitions; they didn’t have the luxury of sitting and waiting for spring break-up.”
Rather than simply hauling their canoes directly across the ice, Indigenous peoples built wooden sleds to ease travel and protect the skin or birchbark hulls of their craft. “Sleds reduce the surface friction so the canoe isn’t torn apart,” notes Kielyn.
Kielyn and Dave quickly planned a new route—specifically chosen to ensure a variety of ice and open water conditions. Tracing the ancient mountains of Killarney Provincial Park, they navigated ice-locked inland lakes, flowing rivers, and snowy portage trails to the open waters and granite island campsites of the North Channel. No strangers to fashioning their own equipment, the Marrones adapted traditional canoe sled designs to meet their needs.
The wooden sleds had to be lightweight to pull with a two-person tumpline, yet sturdy enough to hold a canoe loaded with a fortnight of expedition supplies. They also had to take-down and reassemble easily on the trail. When the group wasn’t paddling or hauling their canoes on the sleds, they were bobsledding and scootering the boats across thin ice or using a custom-built pickaroon—a long-handled tool with a curved metal pick on the end—to carefully pull and plow through ice too brittle to bear their weight.
This image captures the crew on one of the toughest mornings, when fresh snow concealed deep slush that froze instantly on the sleds’ runners, turning them into concrete blocks.
“We had to keep stopping, unloading, and scraping down the sled runners,” remembers Kielyn.
In many ways, the challenges of an ice-out trip mirror the challenges of running a seasonal outdoor business. “You can’t predict what Mother Nature will throw at you,” says Kielyn. “I’d like to think last winter was an outlier, but any business needs to be adaptable and stay on its toes.”
While transitional season travel may seem dangerous, Kielyn says their use of drysuits and PFDs makes it comparable to any other spring paddling trip. She sums it up, “The combination of traditional skills and modern equipment offers the best of both worlds as far as safety and adventure.”
Ultimately, the icebreaker canoe trip was so successful, Lure of the North offered it again in 2025. “We came to realize this style of travel is incredible in its own right, and not just as a backup plan,” Kielyn says.
This article was first published in Issue 73 of Paddling Magazine. Breaking ice and reviving tradition. “Canoe sledding is a unique way to experience the backcountry at a time of year when you don’t normally get to enjoy it,” says Lure of the North’s Kielyn Marrone. | Feature photo: Kielyn Marrone
