Blog Post

Living in Northern Ontario was a conscious decision, but operating a resort came as a bit of a surprise.  It all started with two people in a canoe, quite literally.

We love the outdoors, we love to camp and we love to canoe.  So naturally, as our kids grew up and we had more time to do these things, we did.  We decided to spend a summer of weekends and holidays camping on Wild Goose Lake to canoe, get away from the city and have a place to take friends and family.

Our biggest plan was an 8 day canoe trip from Wild Goose Lake to the shores of Lake Nipigon.  It is a trip that can be done in 4 days, but is so much more of a vacation spread out over 8! It was also a trip that made us fall in love with everything that was here.  We canoed through streams, lake and rivers; chased eagles down the river as they flew from tree to tree; paddled past moose grazing in the calm bays; were surrounded by curious otters and watched as pelicans taught us a thing or two about fishing.\

We camped on a wide open point where the sunset warmed us after dinner and the sunrise gently woke us in the morning. Our next campsite treated us to the sound of moose wading and feeding off the beach less than 50 feet from our tent as we fell asleep.  We spent another night beside rapids and a small set of falls, surrounded by mist and a constant but peaceful noise that never let us forget the river beside us.

We also got rained on, a lot, waged a battle with blackflies and came home with blisters on our hands and wind burnt faces. But we were hooked and the lake started to feel like home.

Then came fall and we were not canoeing but exploring.  We drove trails, hiked everywhere and welcomed the beginning of fall with grouse hunting.  The days were cooler, the nights came earlier and soon camping season was at an end. Back to regular life…for a while.

By the next Spring, we were the proud new owners of Wild Goose Lake Resort.

Fast forward a couple of years and we just finished hunting season 2018. Our cottages were full right until we closed up most of them for winter, and the work got harder.

Almost like a surprise the sun will come out and we decide that the work can wait for a little while.  We get dressed in layers, sometimes a whole lot of layers, tie up our boots, and life is good.