Canada 150 Rideau Canal Kayak Camping

Rideau Canal-Davis to Kilmarnock

Davis locks to Newboro

I am finally heading out for my first kayak camp of the year; a four day jaunt on our most treasured paddling resource, the Rideau Canal Waterway. On this celebratory year of Canada's 150 year birthday, Parks Canada has given free passage through the locks to all Canadians so for paddlers to not partake of this opportunity would almost be sacrilegious.    My paddling has been severely disrupted this year due to selling our home and moving to a new city, with a six month interim stint in an apartment with no facility to keep my kayak, but now with all that behind me the St. Lawrence river and the 1000 Islands are my bailiwick.   It was my original intention to paddle from Kingston and end up in the vicinity of Big Rideau lake but heavy rainfall had once again resulted in the closure of several lock stations south of Davis.

Davis launch

My wife shuttles my companion and I to Davis where we launch a little before noon and set out for Chaffey's lock a mere 3.5 km where we will stop and have lunch.   At Davis the bypass, and Chaffey's the mill race, there is evidence of excess water brought about by the recent heavy rains.  This torrent of water causing some dangerous currents which can be a hazard in tight navigation.

Mill race

Lunch at Chaffeys

From Chaffey's we head to Newboro by way of Indian, Benson and Mosquito lakes which is the longer route but will avoid the power boat traffic following the designated channel, and we are in no rush as Newboro is where we will spend the night to take advantage of dining at Stirling Lodge.

Boathouse at Chaffeys

Mosquito L to Newboro L channel

Paddling NE up Newboro Lake, skies begin to darken and the ominous rumble of thunder fills the very humid air.   Can we beat it?  Unfortunately it catches up with us about 5 minutes from Newboro locks so we arrive at our camp in a very soggy condition and wait for some let up before setting up camp.  No sooner set up when the arrival of 3 Quebec boats and their rather obnoxious crews who informed us they planned to make lots of noise and too bad for anyone looking for a peaceful night.   So we uprooted our tents and moved to the far end of the lock but other boaters were not so lucky and had to put up with their rudeness and noise till the early hours as they ignored all requests to turn it down.  We had dinner and a leisurely breakfast at Stirling Lodge allowing the now sunny weather to dry up all our gear before setting off again.

Newboro Locks to Colonel By Island

After a tasty breakfast at Stirling Lodge we set off for Colonel By Island under sunny skies once again.     Exiting the cut we just follow the shore to starboard continuing to bear right for about 8 km to bring us to the Narrows locks to traverse the narrow isthmus separating upper and lower Big Rideau Lake. A gentle breeze brings some relief to the high humidity.

Newboro Lock

Leaving Newboro

Arriving at Newboro we lock through and turn into the floating dock behind the locks for take-out to have our lunch.

Narrows Lock

Lunch at Narrows

Lunch over it is off to Colonel By island which is around another 7 km NE on Big Rideau.   This time we roughly parallel the north shore before turning east toward the group of islands around Colonel By where we will camp for the night.     Arriving Colonel By around 15:30, we meet up with a friend who came out for an afternoon paddle and to spend some time with us on the island.  After setting up camp we take to the water for a refreshing swim.  Then dinner is sweet Thai noodles with fresh steamed veggies and a cherry pie for dessert.  Time still for my friend to practice a little yoga before being trounced by my beginners luck at horseshoes!  And then for a peaceful night under starry skies.

Col. By camp

Yoga practice

A comfortable night, breakfast of fresh fruit and egg McMuffins and it's time to pack the boats for today's paddle to Poonamalie locks in the Smiths Falls Cut, 25 km.

Breakfast

Packing up

Colonel By Island to Poonamalie

Leaving Colonel By we take the back channel, a peaceful paddle through a fish sanctuary at the north side of the island, thence exiting Long Island lake by an almost hidden channel that at times of low water can be impassable.

Fish sanctuary route

From here we proceed NE passing between Tar island and Houghton Bay on our way towards the narrows at Murphy's Point.

near Murphy's Point

For lunch we stop at Rideau Ferry where there is some docking, a gazebo and toilets.  The docks are high and getting out can be tricky due to the rough water conditions caused by frequent traffic in a fairly narrow channel compounded by any wind present.   From here I set course for a waypoint I have marking the entrance to a shallow cut through the marsh at the top of Big Rideau; a shortcut that deviates from the main channel which makes a wide sweep to the east.  This marsh is home to some interesting bird species, Least Bittern, Pied-billed grebe and Common moorhen to name a few.

Shortcut through marsh

Entering Smiths Falls cut

Paddling up the Smiths Falls cut we arrive at Poonamalie in sweltering heat and humidity and just ahead of what is shaping up to be another storm.   After setting up I jump in for a swim below the locks to get my temperature down. Then we are rushing around to try and get dinner prepared before the storm hits.  Tonight I'm doing spaghetti bolognese and we just manage to get it ready and gather everything up before racing over to the office building to get out of the rain.   The wind whips up so under the eave doesn't cut it and we retire to the washroom where we finish our dinner and wait out the storm.

Poonamalie to Kilmarnock

Morning and my tent has some wet spots on the floor from condensation and feels like a sauna.  But the rain is off and we breakfast on pancakes and bacon with fresh fruit while I try to air out the fly, then pack up and set out on the last leg of this trip to Kilmarnock.   A short distance downstream about 4 km is the first Smiths Falls lock, the detached.  This is a favourite with me when doing a transit as there is a restaurant not 40 m from where I camp and ample opportunity to resupply if necessary.

Smiths Falls

After that comes the combined which is one of the few automatic (push button) locks, once two locks changed to one when modernized.  Lastly Big Sly then about 6 km to Edmunds.   Edmunds has experienced a minor breakdown and is undergoing repair when we arrive and are told there will be a 30 minute delay. So we use this time to go ashore and have a snack.

Leaving Big Sly

As promised they are ready to lock 30 minutes later and we hustle into our boats and join the cruisers already in the lock.  In the last 6 kms to Kilmarnock we catch sight of a Caspian tern, the largest tern in eastern Canada and earlier in the marsh between Poonamalie and Smiths Falls we had the Black tern the smallest as well as Pied billed grebe.  Before leaving Edmunds a phone call to my better half ensures our pick-up from Kilmarnock where we end this little trip.

Kilmarnock take-out

Happy Kayaking

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