The No-Portage Backcountry Cabin That Still Feels Wild

A good wilderness trip can change your mood in a single day, but planning one can feel like a puzzle: where do you go, what’s realistic with kids, and how remote is too remote? From the floor of the Hamilton Adventure Expo, I’m flying solo while Pamela rides out a storm at home, and I sit down with Robin Sutherland of Northern Skies Resort to talk through a northern Ontario getaway that blends real backcountry energy with practical comfort.

Robin walks me through Northern Skies Resort in Algoma Country, set on spring-fed Chub Lake and surrounded by crown land, rivers, and the kind of quiet that makes you breathe slower. We get into what guests actually do when they arrive: cabin life, lake days, paddling, fishing, and that easy “step outside and you’re in it” feeling that’s hard to find in busier cottage country.

Then we head deeper into the story: their hike-and-paddle backcountry cabin in an unserviced provincial park, accessed by a 7.5 km route with two lake crossings and staged canoes so you don’t have to portage. Robin explains how a wood stove, propane cooktop, and sauna create a rare mix of rugged and cozy, and why that matters for families, first-timers, and anyone who wants the backcountry without the full ordeal. We also talk about taking over a family-run resort during COVID, how Ontario tourism shifted, and what it means to be the fourth generation caring for a place built in the 1940s.

If you’re searching for a cottage resort in Northern Ontario, a backcountry cabin near Algoma, or fresh camping inspiration, this chat is for you. Subscribe, share the episode with a camping buddy, and leave a review telling us your ideal level of “comfort in the wild.”

https://www.northernskiesresort.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Northernskiesresort

https://www.instagram.com/northernskiesresort

Transcript

Live From The Adventure Expo

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Good day, A, and welcome to the Super Good Camping Cup Podcast, the live stream version coming straight to you from the Hamilton Adventure Expo, day two from 2026. My name is Tim and I'm flying solo today. Uh we've got a big storm coming, so Pamela's decided to stay home for this one, and I think it's a good call. We're here because we're on a mission to inspire other people to get outside and enjoy camping adventures such as we normally have as a family. Today's guest is Robin Sutherland from Northern Skies Resort. I got half of that. Oh man. Uh, how are you enjoying that, the Adventure Expo so far?

SPEAKER_00 0:41

It's it's been great. Yeah, it's been steady, it's been busy. We've had a lot of folks come by who are very interested in what we have to offer, and we've had some great conversations. I've been meeting a lot of the fellow vendors, folks who like yourself, I've like followed on Instagram and the social medias, and but to meet them in person is really cool and kind of make that face-to-face connection finally has really been nice. So yeah, I totally agree on that.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Yeah, it's like you kind of get that feeling that you know them because you interact on social media stuff, but to get that in it's for me, like that in-person hug, that's that's the win every time.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

It's the gold, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Cool, cool. Uh so what do you guys offer?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

So we are a cottage resort in um Algoma country.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Cool. So that's why you know Jay and Sherry.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Yes, yeah. Actually, Jay key sang at our wedding, like he's been a friend of ours for a long time. So sweet. Yeah, and we actually got married at the resort, so there's a lot of connections there. But um, yeah, so we're a cottage resort on Chub Lake, um, which is like it's a smaller, well, depends on your perspective, but it's smaller than Lake Superior, it's an inland lake. Um, it's like a spring-fed lake in northern Ontario.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Sorry, still registering smaller than Lake Superior. Yeah, everything's smaller than Lake Superior.

The Hike-And-Paddle Backcountry Cabin

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Exactly. Like I call it a small lake, but like really, it's actually pretty big. Like it totally depends on your perspective. But, anyways, you know, up in that area, um, it's all like crown land, it's all just like remote wilderness, and there's so many lakes, right? Like, there's so many beautiful spring-fed remote lakes, rivers. We're right by the Mississauga River, and so that's like the kind of setting that we're in. So we have eight cabins on our main resort property on Chubb Lake, and then we also have our hike and padlin backcountry cabin, which Jay and Sherry have gone to, and they've done like a one of their um YouTube videos about that experience, which was really beautifully done. Um, yeah, so that's on a secret lake that's in an unserviced provincial park, uh, just a bit up the road from us, and so we have an LUP that's like it's a land use permit.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Oh, okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Yeah, so we don't actually own the property because it's in a park, um, but we own the right to use the cabin and it's a commercial LUP, so it's part of our business, and we have to, in order to maintain it, uh, invite guests to stay there. Yeah, so that's a really special place. It's like super remote. Um, it's a seven and a half kilometer hike and paddle to get there. You cross two lakes, and we have two canoes on each lake, so you don't have to portage. You just bring like your clothes, your food, and then there's a really lovely cabin at the end of the trail.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Sweet. Yeah, I like the not portaging part.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yeah, a lot of people like that. I mean, I know it depends. Like, some folks are like they really love getting into the bush and they really want to just carry their canoe and they want to put the tent up, and like I've done that as well. Like, that's totally my thing, too. Um, since having kids, that has gotten more challenging. So, for us to be able to hike and paddle with them, like we took both of our kids out there when they were eight weeks old way into the bush, you know. There's no well, there is a bit of cell service out there, but like it's spotty, so you're like way out there, you know, with your little ones. You want a roof. Well, I want a roof over my head, you know. There's a wood stove, there's a propane cooktop, there's a sauna. Like you're comfortable. Yeah, yeah. So it's for for certain people at certain stages of life, or just that's what they're looking for, is like the backcountry experience, but with just a bit more comfort at the end of the trail.

Buying The Resort During COVID

SPEAKER_01 4:33

So as I get older, yeah, totally. Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's cool. How long have you guys been doing this?

SPEAKER_00 4:41

So my husband and I bought the uh business from my parents in 2021. Okay. Which was a you know great year to buy a tourism business.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Really, I I feel I feel a bit of maybe not.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yeah, I mean, it was it was wild times for sure. We were just having our second daughter. I she was born in um April 2021, and we bought we started running the resort in May. So that was totally wild. And it was in the middle of a pandemic, and we had a newborn in a two-year-old, so like it was crazy times. But um, you know, in terms of the business, it actually was not bad because a lot of folks started wanting to come up north more from like the GTA, Hamilton, when well, not really Windsor because they couldn't go through the states at the time, but like the golden horseshoe. And so before that, when my parents owned the resort, and they had owned it since 1990, they had a lot of return guests from the states, like Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, because we're close to the Sioux border there. Um, so it really shifted. So a lot of folks from like Canada started coming up, which has been lovely, and then they've become our return guests. So, you know, it was one of those silver linings of COVID.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Cool. Well, yeah, no, I mean that kind of makes sense. Hadn't thought about the see Windsor, well, why not? Oh, yeah, of course, because it is forever to get around to get up to you guys.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Yeah, I think it cuts it in like half almost if you go through the stakes for Windsor.

Living Outdoors While Running A Business

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah, I imagine so. Yeah, it's wild. Do you guys ever get an opportunity to get out on your own? Sort of like I don't know, do you can you hand it off to other folks for it to run for a week while you guys won't take a trip, or how does that work?

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Um, we not as much as we would like. I mean, the thing is that for us, like we live in the wilderness every single day. Like that's where we are. So we can go fishing anytime we want to, we can go out canoeing, and you know, we just literally like leave the door, go out onto the lake. So we do a lot of that, like we do a lot of just being outdoors on the lake in the bush on at where we live. Um, so that's definitely like part of our everyday life. But in terms of like taking off from the business and going elsewhere on our own, not as much as we would like. We do go to the backcountry cabin ourselves, like at least a few times a year. Um, we like to get in there like twice during the summer. We have to go in for the spring, we have to go in for the winter closeup. And then it's it's close to guests through the winter because it's just it's too treacherous of a journey to get in there. Um, but we go in, we have this like old trapper trail that we opened up that we can barely make it on our snowmobiles to like when we bring our sled because there's propane in there. We have to like bring out the empty cylinders, bring the new ones in. Yeah, yeah. We have to go in and cut the trees down for firewood, you know, all that kind of crap stuff. Um, so we do that in the winter. And so that's kind of it's still like it's for the business, but we do get to enjoy it. Still get to be out there. Yeah, exactly. We're always working, but what work can be fun. Yes, yes, okay.

Four Generations On The Same Land

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Excellent. Yeah wow, so your parents had 30 31 years of my math sticks before you guys took over that.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah, yeah, and the cool thing is like, so we're actually the fourth generation to own it because my grandparents built the resort in the 1940s.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Okay. Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yeah, so my kids would be the fifth generation of kids to be like raised on the property. Well, I guess fourth, because my grandparents, like they were adults when they built it, and then my grandmother would have been the first. My grandmother, my stepdad, me, and now my kids. Yeah. That's nice.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

That's that's a very cool, like the generational thing.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Yeah, yeah.

Where To Follow And Book

SPEAKER_01 8:46

All right, great. Well thanks for dropping by. Tell the people where they can get a hold of you guys, you know, what socials you're on, your uh uh web address.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yeah. Well, we're on uh Instagram at Northern Skies Resort. We're pretty active on there. It's all just me doing that stuff. Although I do work with Emily who explores. Right. She helps me uh with different media stuff sometimes, which is awesome. She's great. She's really great. Um, but yeah, so Instagram, Northern Skies Resort, we're on Facebook at like Facebook slash Northern Skies Resort. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Just search for us on Facebook. I know.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

And of course our website, Northern Skies Resort.com.com, okay, cool.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Robin, thanks for dropping by. I'm so glad Jay and Sherry said, Hey, we've got to talk to our friend.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Yeah, I was like, I'm glad they did too. Thanks so much. It's really nice to meet you.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Nice to meet you.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

All right.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

And that's it for us for now.