Aint this awesome camping weather! Tuesday July 10, day 1, four of us started from Kingston Mills brandishing our transit pass’s as we headed up the canal towards Upper Brewers locks to spend our first night under the stars. Not as early as we had hoped being first delayed by the bridge being up for boat traffic (of all the nerve!) keeping us from the parking area, then Mike and I having decided to launch in the basin, were told we would have to wait for another boat’s arrival before being locked through. Peg and Yvan opted to launch on the Col. By lake side bypassing the lock.
We stopped at Green Island which appears to be a bird sanctuary judging by the number of Caspian terns and Cormorants roosting there, for lunch and a swim. A little further up river is a picnic site that would have been better, table, grassy and shady but it was still an unknown then and it was the old bird in the hand….. etc.
Green Island
A little refreshed we continued on, passing from River Styx into the narrow channel of the Cataraqui River and our first (for some) lock at Lower Brewers and a quick pit stop before continuing and ending our day at Upper Brewers.
On arrival we met up with Roy who was paddling to Perth in an inflatable dingy and who had preceeded us from Kingston Mills where he had spent the night. A word of warning; Kingston Mills is the worse place to camp due to the busy rail line almost on top of you, probably why it is on the other side of the River Styx: It’s Hell!
Upper Brewers has a nice easy landing with grassy banks and a low canoe/kayak dock and a very nice private area to camp.
Upper Brewers camp
Day 2 and we head off around 9 a.m heading for Davis locks where we will have our second night’s camping. A short distance upstream the channel opens into Cranberry Lake a very picturesque area of the waterway then it is past the bay leading to Seeley’s Bay foregoing the possibility of ice cream deciding instead to wait till lunch at Jones Falls.
After some narrow winding channels we reach Whitefish Lake and pass the channel to Morton Bay and Rock Dunder. We head in for lunch and take out at the grassy area beside the Kenney Hotel just below the locks at Jones Falls. Peg availed herself of some tasty take-out food and Yvan met up with some friends who cottage in the vicinity.
Jones Falls
After lunch we began our lock through which took approx an hour for the four locks and the 60’ lift. Then it is just about 4km to go around Birch Is. And part of Sand Lake and we reach Davis locking through before taking out on the west side to set up camp. A short time later we are joined by Roy who will also camp here. We have late afternoon shade and will have early morning sun to dry up any dew overnight.
View south from Davis Locks
Day 3, after a pleasant restful night we are off to Chaffey’s lock a mere 3km upstream enroute to the Narrows where we will end our trip.
Chaffey’s was busy and we have to fit in with 5 cruisers which take up all available wall space so we hang on to their fenders and get a chance to chat with their friendly American crews.
Chaffey's Locks
Boathouse at Chaffey's
After Chaffey’s we bear right thru Indian Lake, an alternate route is to go left thru Benson and Mosquito lakes (longer but very pretty) thence across the narrow isthmus into Lake Newboro and north to Newboro where we plan to stop for lunch.
Lake Newboro
We lunch under a shady tree at the entrance to the locks then lock through what will be our last lock of the trip; this is one of the three automatic locks on the waterway and marks the head of the waterway so from now on it is all downhill and the navigation bouyage will be reversed.
Lunch spot at Newboro locks
From here on we just keep bearing right along the eastern shore of Upper Rideau Lake until we reach the Narrows locks where my vehicle is parked.
On arrival at Narrows we land at the beach to the left of the locks where I load up my yak. The others carry their boats across the road to leave them closer to the locks and within sight of the lock staff as they have to leave them while I ferry them back to Kingston Mills for their cars. After dropping them off at Kingston Mills I headed to 401 and home feeling very satisfied with what once again was a great kayak camping experience. And now that we have transit pass’s we’ll just have to do some more!
Narrows take-out
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