Winter Paddling in Florida

Silver River 0004 Can't wait for spring? Then head to Florida for some very nice paddling! One centre of paddling is Ocala Florida. It takes about 21 hours to drive there nonstop from Ottawa. Or you can take a direct flight from Ottawa to Orlando, about an hour south of Ocala. In Ocala, you can paddle the Silver River in Silver Springs State Park and perhaps see a manatee. Or you can drive east to paddle the somewhat challenging Juniper Creek. Alternatively, you can go further west into the panhandle to paddle Holmes Creek or the Blackwater River. At all four destinations, you can rent a canoe.

FW Introduction Solo Canoe Certification Weekend- Aug 23-25 2019

A report by Nathalie M

During this weekend course, participants of all ages and backgrounds from aspiring summer camp counsellors to RACCC instructors-in-training gathered at Gracefield Camp in Quebec to obtain ORCKA or Paddle Canada flatwater intro solo canoe certifications. Seventeen participants, instructors and assistants were divided into three groups with excellent instructor to student ratios. The camping weekend allowed us to paddle in calmer waters each morning and evening. In between paddling sessions, we learned course theory and joined in extracurricular activities like archery, napping in hammocks, hiking, kayaking, swimming, stargazing and singing by the campfire. Everyone participated in a synchronized solo canoe dance and some even discovered how to roll swamped canoes in the warm, shallow waters of Lac Castor.

Thank you to the ever flexible and resourceful instructors Karen H., Jennifer H., Mark S., Suze C. and Dot B. who volunteer their time and go above and beyond to ensure all participants are well fed, sheltered and have the resources and support required to get the most out of every course.

Click on Read more for a 2nd report on the weekend plus some photos and a video.

Algonquin NW Tim and Nipissing Rivers Loop Trip Report 2019

Main Objectives: Trout fishing, experience Algonquin, and travel a new route. SEE ATTACHMENT.

Attachments:
Trip report	[Trip report]	3145 kB

Chiniguchi 2019

The Chiniguchi route is on crown land northeast of Sudbury. Going after the middle of August allowed us to avoid the kids' camps that use this route earlier in the summer. The weather was remarkably good with just a bit of rain and not too much wind while paddling. On the way out, we had multiple passes overhead by an Ontario Government aircraft which seemed to be practicing water bomber manouvers.

Click Read More to see photos of the trip.

French River 2019 Trip Report

French River 2019 116 Our 10 day trip started on Sat Jul 27 and we returned Mon Aug 5. It included Henry N (trip leader), Mike B, Xuan Q and Cory D. This was my (Cory) first time on the French River, with the other three having been to the area many times.

We had an amazing trip, with great weather and calm waters. Each day included some easy paddling, swimming, lots of relaxing and nightly campfires. I also enjoyed some fishing, photography, listening to podcasts, reading Dune by Frank Herbert, and watching the show Zone Blanche/Black Spot which I had downloaded from Netflix to my phone. I might not have had a toilet, running water or electricity, but there was no shortage of things to do!

For a funny story, read about the "barrel challenge" on day 9, which was a great way to end the trip.

La Verendrye Circuit 34 July 25-28 2019

Sonia, Maria, Catherine and I (Lynn) drove to LeDomaine after work on Thursday July 25, bought our $16.75 pp/night (!) permits for canoe-camping access plus mandatory rescue insurance, and tented overnight on the lawn in front of the office. Next morning we drove the 41 km north to the SEPAQ campsite called Portage, unloaded, and shuttled one car to the SEPAQ campsite called Grand Barrage. We also looked at the sideroad leading down to the east end of Lac au Barrage and confirmed it was too rutted for our cars. Finally we put-in and started paddling east across Lac du Portage.

Circuit #34 is squarish in shape, a 44 km 3-day loop, with about 1250 m total portages. It is roughly 1/3 large lake, 1/3 smaller lakes and 1/3 channels and meandering creeks with beaver dams. We stayed on a lovely, blueberry-covered island campsite 34-23 the first night. Too early for blueberries though. The second day included 3 stretches of shallow meandering creeks through beaver dammed marshes … delightful, with dragonflies, jewelwings, swamp roses, some white-winged crossbills, lots of work. The first creek out of Lac Moran is very shallow. We sloshed and lined the boats through the twisting channel. We carried some of the gear over the portage but almost regretted it at the end when we had to carry packs through quaking muck to the canoes at the creek’s outlet to Lac Quenelle. In mid-afternoon, we emerged from the marshy creeks into a stiff breeze on Lac Duman and stopped to rest at campsite 34-43. It was early but grey clouds were building, the heat was oppressive, we were tired and the campsite was pretty good except for mediocre swimming. We stayed for the night.

That left us with 17 km to paddle on our third day, including 4 km down the length of Lac Nizard. Fortunately, Sunday was fresh and sunny with a light breeze. The Ruisseau between Lac Duman and La Nizard was bigger and much easier than the previous creeks. We lunched at a lovely site 34-51, watched a bald eagle, and stopped for our final swim on the rocks at the east end of Grand Lake. We pulled into the Grand Barrage campsite shortly after 3pm and returned to Ottawa about 9pm.

We enjoyed Circuit #34 very much. The creeks are interesting but challenging at low water levels. The solitude feels remarkable. We saw only 4 people fishing in small boats on Lac Nizard and Lac Duman, and one other paddler, otherwise no one for three days. Only 2 squirrels.

With thanks to Catherine for photos. Click Read More to see the photos.

Algonquin - June 29 to July 4, 2019

I wanted to explore western Algonquin Park, and introduce Kylah, Dylan and Riley to more serious portaging. I had hoped this would also be an opportunity for experienced families or with older kids, but it turned out to just be our family. This was definitely one of our most difficult and ambitious trips. I’m very proud of how well the boys did on the portages, and kept good spirits through some of the worst bugs I’ve seen!

Saturday after picking up a second canoe we were on the road by 8:45am. We picked up lunch in Mattawa, then stopped at Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park for a picnic on Moore Lake. We stopped at the visitors centre on our way out, and the boys had fun guessing which fir belongs to which animals with one of the park staff.

We got on the water around 2:45pm, with some whitecaps on Kioshkokwi (Kiosk) Lake, but with the wind to our back it made for an easier paddle. We headed under the old train bridge, hoping to find a site on the island at the north end near the portage to Lauder Lake. After checking out sites we ended up taking the second site past the train bridge. The bugs were very bad and a storm was coming in, so we quickly setup shelters. As we were reheating a pre-made chili a strong storm came in with heavy rain, lightning and thunder.

Sunday breakfast was yummy pre-made breakfast burritos. We relaxed, read books, the boys played lots of cribbage (crib) and we played a good game of Uno. For dinner we made a dutch oven lasagna, which turned out great as my first time using a dutch oven. We enjoyed what would turn out to be our only campfire of the week, with s’mores for dessert.

Frontenac Provincial Park - June 22 to 23, 2019

Several families that planned to join us weren’t able to make it, so it was just our family for the weekend. Although it is fun to have others join us, it was a really nice family weekend trip.

On Saturday We had a nice picnic lunch at the park office, and a short hike along the Arab Lake Gorge Trail. With beautiful weather we launched onto Buck Lake and paddled 45 minutes to site 1. After setting up the site we relaxed, enjoyed a nice dinner and campfire with s’mores. Due to a miscommunication the boys didn’t bring anything to entertain themselves like books or games. At the campfire, the boys thanked me for teaching them how to be bored, and they were serious!

Sunday after breakfast we set out for a 9km hike on the Small Slide Lake Loop, which features some of the most rugged hiking in Frontenac. Just past the halfway point, we stopped at a nice spot on Slide Lake, where Cory, Riley and dog Dakota enjoyed some swimming. After 4.5 hours of tough hiking on a hot day, we were all happy to back for some lunch.

We packed up, paddled back with a short stop for some more swimming on Buck Lake.

Family Program Trip Reports 2019

Family Trip - Constance Creek - May 5, 2019
Family Paddle on Rideau Canal - May 26, 2019

Rideau River PP Family Trip - June 7-9, 2019

Lac La Pêche Fathers Day BBQ - June 16, 2019

Posting a Trip to the Club Calendar

The club encourages trip leaders to post all club trips on the calendar. Using the calendar is easy (see attachment). This makes them readily available to all members and gets them included in the weekly Canoebytes.
A handy feature of the calendar is that you can use it to have people register for the trip.