You can find a lot of great hiking on the Superior hiking trail also. If your going for short trips I like around Tettagoche, Silver Bay, Finland area. Some up and down, terrific views, and really nice trails. But there is people and you are frequently within ear shot of motors and such so there's that draw back.
I agree with the others, if you want to go canoe tripping, you just need to spend some time in a canoe. It's like riding a bike; tippy at first then it gets better as you learn your feel for it. I often take kids for their first trips. One thing I like to do is send them out without gear and make them tip. Seems to help them get over that initial fear of tipping. After they do, as long as the canoe is loaded right, they rarely have tipping issues.
Only person I could get past tipping was one adult I brought on a short trip. He was 400 pounds or so and had mediacal issues where he didn't have much feeling in his legs and feet. His partner was a 100 kid that had never been in a canoe before. We ended up putting the guy in the middle of the canoe with the kid and no gear. The two of them spent a lot of time in the Vermillion river swimming for shore. Cold water but they seemed to make the best of it. The kid even asked to go on the next trip, but with a different partner.