Otty Lake Trip Report
August 13 2023
With thanks to cheerful Adam for helping new members sign out gear and load up our cars at the boathouse, we arrived punctually at the boat put-in to the warm welcome and smiles of our expert guides Bill and Leslie, who even managed to secure a couple of parking spots in advance for us!
Barron River July 2023
Saturday July 29, 2023, eight club members travelling in four canoes spent a lovely day paddling the Barron River. All but one met at the boathouse just before 8:00am. We quickly loaded two cars with three canoes and all the necessary essentials. After a pleasant, uneventful drive we arrived at the Squirrel Rapids parking lot around 10:30 where we met up with Karen, the eighth member of the group. Soon all four canoes were in the water and we readied ourselves for the day’s adventure.
The SKY over 31 Mile Lake-Aug 2023
We went canoe camping on an island during the prime time for shooting star observation. Aug 12 was very cloudy, but I woke up in the middle of the night, to answer nature's call, and surprise! surprise! I saw a sky full of stars! I woke up Katie and for the next hour we were rewarded by many shooting star sightings. The first one I saw was the most spectacular: it was long and wide. It is unusual because most of them are very thin. The Milky Way was very visible and there was no moon. The next night, the sky was starry right from the beginning of the evening, so the four of us stayed up until 11 PM and screamed with joy every time we saw a shooting star. The third night the sky looked a bit hazy, the night was warmer (cool nights are clearer it seems) and it took us one hour before our first sighting. Afterwards we saw only a few.
French River Aug 2023
Five club members, Delia E., Gail B., Maria L., Megan S. and Xuan Q., joined the 2023 club French River trip.
In the first 3 to 4 nights of the trip, we had excellent moonlight. We saw a very large moon, in different colours, and almost did not need a headlamp at night.
Unfortunately we were not able to take a good photo of it since it would require special equipment and techniques for long exposure time. But the moon and campfire were just like what is in the photo below taken by Mike B. in Killarney on an earlier club trip.
Tay Canal to Beveridges Locks
5th August, 2023
The Last Dual Park in the historic town of Perth was the launch site for a 20 km paddle on the Tay Canal with the turnaround point being Beveridges Locks. A perfect sunny summer day, temperatures in the mid 20’s and a light 8 km/h wind from the East. A brief pre-trip meeting was held at the boat launch covering details of the trip and the availability of the first aid kit, followed by a quick round of introductions.
Canadian Canoe Museum on the move
Click here for an interesting article on Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario.
Beware the Pirate of Lac La Peche
We were forewarned! Even the loons called out with their cautionary tales about a Pirate on Lac LaPeche, ready to sink any boat that dared enter his waters.
Our quest was innocent enough. Take a gang of nine merry and novice paddlers out for a hopefully, uneventful canoe outing.
Interesting Media Article
Tanya Hammond wrote an article for The Review Mirror (Westport) (https://review-mirror.com/) about paddling in the Morton area. The information in the article was provided by club member Karen and also includes information about the club.Thank you Karen for an excellent outreach initiative.
Thank you Max F for suggesting that Morton was a good place to visit.
 Morton from a paddlers view_Redacted.pdf | [ ] | 990 kB |
Morton Bay Trip
July 5 2023
Due to a storm forecast, our trip was delayed a day. Many of our group could not come for a variety of reasons. We met at the Parks Canada Morton Bay launch at the end of Stewart Street in Morton at 9:15 am. We were a small group – three canoeists from the RACCC. The water was very calm. The temperature was expected to be very hot all day.
Morton Bay has two large rock formations called Rock Dunder and Dunder’s Mate. Rock Dunder was a Scout camp but is now owned and operated by the Rideau Waterway Land Trust. The public may access the site by purchasing a day pass ($6) or a season pass. Most people arrive by car or on foot. We wanted to arrive by water, using a landing on Morton Bay that is part of the hiking trail. A 5 km loop trail leads to the Rock Dunder summit and back. Though we had purchased our passes, we decided to skip the hike in favour of canoeing on such a hot day. Some of us had done the hike previously and very much enjoyed the view from the top! On a cooler day, the hike is recommended.
Burritts Rapids Trip Report
June 17 2023
Our group of eight had planned to go to Plaisance but the smoke from Quebec wildfires made us alter our plan. In the end, six of us headed to Burritts Rapids locks. We paddled 5 km towards Nicholson locks with a good tailwind. Everyone liked seeing the herons and other wildlife. At the lock station we enjoyed our snacks. We had participants from Germany, Vietnam and Slovenia so our conversation had an international
Barron Canyon Trip
June 3, 2023
Three canoes and three couples set off on a day trip of Barron Canyon under clear skies and warm temperatures during the first weekend of June. The group started out at 10:00 AM from Squirrel Rapids with a lovely tail wind to help push us towards our goal. The 420 m portage was expertly overcome without any mishaps, and we arrived at the Canyon at noon. The group paddled a bit beyond the Canyon, but not as far as Brigham Chute, and then doubled back, now with a head wind, to the first campsite on a point.
We stopped for a well-deserved lunch. A few monarch butterflies were seen, but we did not run into a moose or a bear. After a leisurely lunch and a pause to allow a large group of canoes to pass, avoiding a crowd at the portage, the group began paddling again with a strong head wind, returning to Squirrel Rapids around 4:00 PM.
The group then set out to enjoy the 1.5 km Barron Canyon Trail and view, while our noble leader kept an eye on our canoes. We climbed through the forest without having to battle any bugs.
Bennett Lake and Fagan Lake Trip Report May 2023
On May 30th some club members headed to Bennett Lake, near Perth, to explore the area. It was a 1-hour drive from Kanata and we were expecting a hot day with low winds. We paid a $10 fee to launch from Ennis Cottages trailer parking lot. We brought along swimsuits in case we got hot. We paddled south from the launch, heading around the lake in a clockwise direction. We also paddled south along Fall River and into Fagan Lake before returning to Bennett Lake and paddling the western shoreline back to the launch. There were cottages on the lake in some places. Many were not occupied yet. The south end of Bennett Lake, Fall River and Fagan Lake were the most scenic and had only a few cottages. Bennett Lake north of Ennis Cottages towards Fallbrook had marsh areas and would not be as good for swimming. We did not see any motor boats and only saw one other canoe. We noticed a few blackflies when we stopped to eat lunch but they did not bother us with bug spray on.
Executive Meeting Minutes June 1st 2023
Log in to see minutes from the meeting of the executive June 1, 2023. Minutes of other meetings can be found here.