Sea Kayak the Slate Islands

Kayak with the Caribou

The Slate Islands are home to Ontario's greatest concentration of woodland caribou at the southern fringe of their range. Beside guaranteed caribou sightings, this guided sea kayak trip features gourmet cuisine and a relaxed pace- perfect for an all inclusive, pampered, wilderness adventure. In order to maximize your experience we are limiting registration for this trip.

We access the 10km crossing over to the Slate islands via boat shuttle. This circular archipelago of more than 20 islands was formed billions of years ago when a meteorite struck the Earth. Although the islands' gold and copper deposits are worth fortunes, the 8 main islands were designated as a Provincial park in 1985. Today, they are a safe haven for boats during storms and acknowledged as stellar sea kayaking and woodland caribou watching destinations.
From your sea kayak, the ice and water washed Slate Islands shoreline presents a visual smorgasbord of geological features associated with meteor impact. For example, we’ll locate shattercones - cone like rock fractures created by the shock waves that reverberated following the asteroid’s million megaton TNT impact blast. We’ll be paddling throughout the inter Slate islands waterways and around the perimeters of the major islands with a side trip to the Leadman Islands.


Your trip begins on Sunday morning when we will gather at our Rock Island Lodge near Wawa, Ontario. From here, we'll shuttle to a Terrace Bay-area bed and breakfast where we will prepare for our five-day trip. We'll take a few hours in the afternoon to cover some basic instruction and safety skills on local Jackfish Lake. On Monday morning, we'll catch a charter out to the Slate Islands, paddle and explore the islands for 5 days and on the following Friday we catch our boat shuttle back to Terrace Bay where our vehicle shuttle will bring us back to Rock Island near Wawa.

This trip is designed for novice to intermediate paddlers. Your enjoyment will be enhanced if you are in good physical condition and comfortable with wilderness camping. Lake Superior is mostly calm in summer, but when it gets rough we enjoy the view from shore. Although each group will travel according to its own pace, we tend to spend most of the day on the water leaving lots of time for covering the distance and exploring. You will be responsible for carrying a portion of the group gear in your kayak, as well as your tent, sleeping bag and personal gear. Don't worry about cooking or clean-up - all food preparation is taken care of by our wilderness chefs!

Equipment and Services

We Provide: Professional instruction and guiding; dinner on Sunday evening and all meals to the following Friday afternoon; boat and vehicle shuttles; coast guard approved expedition kayak, all group safety, camping, cooking, eating and sanitation gear.

You Provide: All personal equipment , clothing and sleeping bag and mat (we have some available for rent as well). A detailed recommended list is provided on registration.


Formed by a violent meteorite crash and now covered with lush boreal vegetation and a remnant herd of woodland caribou; the Slate Islands are a quintessential Lake Superior Paddling experience. Accessing the island by tug, we run this trip only once per year. Join us this year

Check out more photos of this trip in our Photo Gallery.

Want more information? Contact us by email or call 1-800-203-9092.