Thousand Islands Kayak Camping, Kingston to Brockville

Kingston to Milton Island

Note: click on images to see full size.

June 21 and a friend Pat and I are being driven to Kingston to begin a 3 night, 4 day kayak camping trip to Brockville.  The day is lovely but with a brisk NE wind which should not be a problem as we will be to leeward of the north shore as we travel east, a moderate distance of 9 km to our first night's camping on Milton Island.  Our put-in is one I have used several times before for Rideau Canal transits to Ottawa and has docking belonging to Kingston Rowing Club, this time we are going in the opposite direction, so new to me.  My friend stayed over at our house so everything is transported with one vehicle which my wife then returns to Brockville.

Ready to roll

Crossing the Cataraqui River the wind is quite noticeable, the channel under the causeway is on the far side and will take us close to Old Fort Henry built to protect Kingston and the entrance to the Rideau Canal from those troublesome Americans; in the current political climate maybe 'WE' should be considering a wall....    My own GGgrandfather was once stationed here back in 1830-31 prior to the opening of the canal in 1832.  The fort that exists today in no way resembles the primitive structure of that time.

Old Fort Henry

City of Kingston

In the image above you can see a Martello tower one of several fortifications built to protect both the fort and the approaches to the canal contrasting with the modern city of Kingston behind.  As we reach the end of the river and turn east leaving Lake Ontario to our west we pass Cedar Island with its Martello tower; this island is also part of 1000 Island National Park and has a few walk in campsites.

Cedar Island

It is only 9 km to today's destination Milton island which has 3 walk-in non-reserveable campsites but being a Thursday and early in the season should not be a problem getting a site.  Along the way I stop to photograph an attractive sculpture at the edge of someone's garden.

Milton can be seen ahead and by 1:15 p.m. we are landed and unloading our gear.  We opt for site 1 as being closest to our landing so easier to haul gear back and forth.

Milton Island

Landing

Site 1

Docking at Milton Island

We have a pleasant night camping at Milton and with the new addition to my camp gear; Cot One by Helinox, I had the most comfortable night in a tent in years! Dinner was spaghetti bolognese with a caesar salad; breakfast Pat's homemade egg McMuffins.

Milton Island to Camelot Island

June 22nd and we are heading off to spend our next night on Camelot Island with some wind from the east but as we travel up the Bateau Channel we should be protected by Howe Island on our starboard side.

towards Bateau Channel

We are on our way by 10:00 with a full days paddling ahead of us but weather is perfect as we head for Grass Creek Park beach which will be our lunch stop today and provides easy landing and it has garbage containers where we can discard some waste.  Park islands are carry in, carry out!

Mute swan family

Not long into the Bateau channel our path is crossed by the first of two Howe island ferries, the other being at the east end just west of Gananoque.  Along the way we pass a pair of Mute swans and their small flotilla of cygnets and around noon we are beaching at Grass Creek for lunch.

beach at Grass Creek park

Here we take a shady picnic table by the edge of the beach and at some distance from the families with young children enjoying the weather.  Lunch over we are on our way again staying closer to Howe Island as we travel east towards the Admiralty islands off Gananoque.  Some Howe island residents have anchored a rather unique line of about 6 water craft,  along which I pose for a photo op.

photo credit Pat

It is now Friday afternoon and the peace and quiet is slipping away as we move into the Admiralty islands the milieu of tour boats and sea-dos so one needs to be a bit more vigilant in these waters.

Kingston tour boat

Admiralty Islands

From Huckleberry island we cross a stretch of open water to just north of Barge island passing one of the many Ospreys seen and thence NE to Camelot for camp number two.  This is my favourite island to camp and site 1 which I reserved back in January is in my opinion the nicest in the Park.

Osprey

photo credit "Pat"

It is 4:30 when we arrive having covered over twenty-five kilometres this day. After getting set up I get a quick dip in the river to clean up while Pat preps dinner, Thai noodles and fresh vegetable stir fry with pie for dessert.  My birthday so we are having a fire tonight to celebrate and we stay up till all our purchased wood is consumed.  Another perfect day but checking the marine forecast on the VHF tomorrow is not looking too great 60% precip, but hey it's Camelot: "The rain may never fall till after sundown. By eight, the morning fog must disappear" in short it's Camelot....

Camelot ramp

Camp 2

Before we left our Camelot camp we had a cute little furry visitor in the form of a Mink who made a couple of forays around the camp before scuttling off.  Pat was able to capture the image below.

Mink

Camelot Island to Grenadier East

Saturday dawns overcast and rain cannot be far off so hurry to break camp and have breakfast, scrambled huevos ranchero in pita wrap, then get the boats down and loaded ready for our longest day.  Our route today will NE first roughly following the Fleet islands and as the wind is almost from the east and the rain has started we try to keep to leeward of the islands where possible.

Prince Regent Island

Then as we get closer to the Ivy Lea bridge I opt for the left side of Hay island where I know of some sheltered and on a nice day very pretty channels we can use.

Hay island channel

We are now getting into an area of fast and unpredictable currents around the islands of the Ivy Lea bridge and I plan to use one, Georgina island, for a lunch stop as there is a toilet and perhaps a shelter we can use and is a Park island.

photo credit Pat

Rain is heavy now and i'm pretty wet as is my seat as we clamber out and haul the yaks up at Georgina.  There is a shelter so that is where we have lunch and I'm not too warm as I didn't bring my long sleeve and waterproof paddling jacket, which was rather dumb!  We don't linger as we will be warmer in the boat and we still have a good distance to travel.  Clearing the bridge islands we head to the end of Club island then a beeline for the channel between Tar and Grenadier opting for the inside passage of Grenadier and calm waters.  Rain lessens and then is off and on but looking brighter as we pass up Grenadier's left side.  More Mute swans in the marshy areas which I manage to get a decent shot of.

Mute swan

Rounding the top of Grenadier through the marsh we finally reach today's camp and the rain is off for the moment.

Grenadier dock

Grenadier sites

There is a gazebo type shelter close to dock so we unload all the gear in there, the campsites (3) are further back, we reserved no 1 and no 2 is occupied by a young couple from Montreal who don't object to us monopolising the shelter; no 3 is non-reserve-able.  Pat does a curry dish with Havarti cheese and Naan bread and breakfast I'll do bacon and pancakes.   A visit to the toilet gets attended by a pair of eastern phoebes who obviously have a nest with young as they get very agitated, even sitting on the door and tweeting; to hurry up??

Pat was able to capture an image of one below.

Eastern phoebe

Looking north from Grenadier east

Rain continues with some during the night but by morning it has stopped and the VHF predicts mostly cloudy with chance of showers, so not too bad.

Grenadier East to Brockville

Breakfast over and packed we head out on our last day which while kinda grey is at least warm and dry for the present.    We will stay mid-stream for awhile as I plan to show Pat Singer Castle on Dark Isle about 3 km NE of camp just inside US waters.  As long as we don't land we don't need passports.  This castle was built for F.G. Bourne 5th president of the Singer (sewing) Manufacturing Co. around 1905 and can be toured today from Alexandria Bay (US) or Rockport Canada.  Modelled on an English castle unlike Boldt castle which modelled a Bavarian. An impressive structure!

 

Dark Isle

Singer Castle

Now we start angling in towards the Canadian shore as we paddle toward  Princess island a spot I have identified from sat imagery as a possible lunch stop.   At just over 9 km we arrive at Princess island at the mouth of Jones Creek, after a bit of a look around we discover the ideal spot, a sheltered shallow where I can safely leave my yak partially in the water with a rocky shore to perch on for lunch.

Princess Island
photo credit Pat

Princess island parking

Lunch stop

I now have a good estimation of our arrival at Brockville so I phone the wife to give her a heads up before setting off on our final leg of the trip. With the river being much narrower now we are almost sharing the shipping lane with the passing lakers, the one below bulk carrier destined for Hamilton.

Algoma Strongfield

About 8 km downstream from here is the start of the Brockville islands where currents again get funny as they wrap around islands and shoals.  These islands are maintained by the city of Brockville and do offer camping.  Not too far from Brockville I spot our 2nd Bald eagle of the day, the first a fly over.

Bald eagle

By 3:45 we have reached our destination, St. Lawrence Park Brockville and all that remains is to unload and phone the wife to come down and pick us up.  The park also provides private docking for property owners on the Brockville islands but for kayakers the beach is ideal.

St. Lawrence Park

We're done!

So no rain today and the sun actually got out a few times, another great trip of just over 85 km now we look forward to a shower and then dinner at Captain George's Brockville's best fish & chip restaurant!

Happy paddling!

KayakJock