Chaffey's Lock, Davis Lock & Sand Lake
Victoria Day Weekend and the Rideau Canal opens for another season of wonderful paddling opportunities for kayakers and canoeists alike. So clutching our new season lockage permits, actually pasted onto the upper decks of our yaks, we are off for a day trip starting and ending at Chaffey's Lock to get first use of our passes which we will be using later this year to make yet another transit of this waterway. Although this time we don't plan to go all the way to Ottawa, instead likely terminating in Kemptville as the section from Kemptville to Ottawa tends to be the milieu of the speedboats, seadoos etc so not the most pleasant paddling and having done complete transits previously, can give it a miss this time. Note; again this year Parks Canada is offering paddlers 1/2 price on season lockage passes so a great opportunity for those of you wanting to do the Kingston-Ottawa transit!
My paddling companion and I will put-in at Opinicon's ramp south of the lock station, unloading by the water then parking up behind the lockmasters office. We could have put-in above the lock and locked down but as we are starting fairly late today it is more expedient to launch here.
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| Opinicon ramp |
While George gets his gear ready I take a paddle over to the entrance to the lock to check water conditions in the channel. As I suspected the Mill race which empties into the approach channel is producing a turbulent and strong current so a kayak or canoe would need keep way over to the right to try and avoid the worst of it but still might have difficulty getting upbound to the lock.
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| Mill race at Chaffey's Lock |
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| Chaffey's Lock south approach |
It is afternoon and the weather is lovely, a far cry from the pouring rain when I got up this morning, but still the possibility of a shower or thunderstorm later this afternoon. So we are off across Lale Opinicon in the direction of Davis lock and then into Sand Lake.
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| Lake Opinicon |
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| George |
As we approach Davis we pass some small islands stopping to take this image of this picturesque outcrop at the end of Merriman island before heading into the lock.
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| Merriman island |
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| Davis lock |
Davis is a quiet and pretty location and is usually one of my camps when doing the Kingston-Ottawa transit as there is good separation between the camping area and the power boat mooring which makes for a peaceful night. Locking through is quick as just us two in the lock. Exiting the lock we swing left to check out the flow from the dam; impressive but not as likely to interfere with navigation to the lock as the situation at Chaffey's.
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| Davis dam output |
From here we will just spend some time cruising around Sand Lake before returning to Davis where we plan to eat our lunch. Staying to the right we will look for Hanlon Bay and the narrow channel at it's south end which separates Birch Island from the mainland. Then circle around Birch island before heading out into Sand lake then swing back towards Davis for lunch.
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| Sand Lake |
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| Great-blue Heron |
Arriving Davis all is quiet so three quick blasts of the whistle brings the guys and gals from their office and we are locked up quickly. We opt for the floating docks on the port side and haul the kayaks onto the deck.
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| Davis lock blue-line |
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| Parking at Davis |
First thing is get the jacket off; you dress for the water but when the temperatures get up there it gets pretty darn warm so a relief to get some air. Sit at a picnic table for our rather late lunch. There is a black cloud moving in so we can expect the shower that was forecast, just hoping it is not a thunderstorm.
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| Lunch stop |
Lunch over we are back in the boats scooting for Chaffeys but there is no escaping the 'shower', the kind that bounces off the water but it only lasts about ten minutes and no thunderstorm so all in all another great day on the water!
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| photo credit George |
Happy Paddling!
KayakJock
