The search for Skatepark Island

The first I’d heard of Skatepark Island came from kayak guides in Killbear. Then the kayak guides in Killarney were talking about it. They spoke of this semi-mythical island where the rock had been shaped just so, with transitions smoother than a skillfully crafted skatepark bowl. My interest was piqued and I made sure to get the coordinates of the island. This rumour had to be investigated.

Getting there

Thankfully, the guys at Georgian Bay Airways thought it was a good idea, too. And so did the guy at Killarney Mountain Lodge. The plan was to fly from Parry Sound to Killarney, hop in a 17-foot fishing boat with our bikes and rip out to the island in question. We’d spend a few days shooting and camping in the bush before heading back. It was a lot of planning based on some random kayaker’s interpretation of a skatepark, but a damn good excuse for an adventure.

The crew

The crew I’d rounded up contained some of the best skatepark mountain bikers in Ontario at the time. For Andrew Bigelow this trip would mark a number of firsts for him: first time he ate a pickle, first time he took a dump in the woods and the first time he pitched a tent. Kent Woods is a barspin master. If you want him to bar-spin something, he’s all over it. His skill with a Swiss Army can opener is appalling, though. He had to resort to vice grips whenever asked to open a can. To round out the crew, and the age gap, Owen Sound’s Mike Comello came along for support.

Geographically speaking

On the map, Skatepark Island is a small blip in amongst a thousand other blips surrounding Phillip Edward Island. The key to Skatepark Island’s rumoured smooth transitions is its geological history. With a major fault running the length of the region, pressures between the two plates a billion years ago forced the La Cloche Mountains of Killarney skywards, reaching the vertical equivalent of today’s Rockies. Lava punched through the surface and settled beneath it. A further deposit of calcium carbonate about 350-500 million years ago, from a giant sea that stretched from Mexico to the Arctic, has since hardened into limestone.

Aye aye, Captain

Once we touched down at Killarney Mountain Lodge, we loaded up a 17-foot fishing boat with bikes, four guys, 96 tallboy beers and enough supplies for a week in the bush. Surprisingly, during the rental procedures, no one asked if I knew how to pilot one of these things. Which I didn’t. And as the marina…