Long Sault Parkway-day paddle
Today's paddle is one that I have been doing in one form or another for about as long as I have been kayaking and has been anything from a full circum-navigation of the parkway archipelago in my younger days, to the more often paddled route I show today. To do the full circuit adds about another 7 km to this paddle and if you get a stiff SW wind as has often been the case it can be an exhausting slog as you make the return trip to Ingleside. Some decent waves can occur on this stretch of river. The parkway begins just east of Ingleside and connects by causeway a string of 11 islands before re-connecting with the mainland at Long Sault effectively containing those waters encompassed by it but for 3 points of entrance/exit. The eastern most of these entry points is 1 km east of where we launch at Ingleside and is between the mainland and West Woodlands island, the central one is between Dickinson and Heriot islands and the western one between Long Sault and Mille Roches island. Mille Roches is in turn connected by another causeway to Moulinette island which requires the paddler bent on complete circum-navigation to travel east of Moulinette before turning west towards the Long Sault gateway.
We launch from a gravel beach area just off the bike path at Ingleside, free to park. Weather is perfect today, almost no wind but the little there is from the SW so we will take the outside passage outbound to catch what breeze there is and return on the inside of the islands. Water is high so not much beach to be seen, water levels here can vary greatly over the season but today will be no problem. Those who decide to launch from one of the islands will need to pay a day use fee within the park. Travelling NE we follows the islands to Rapids Point where we will stop for lunch before turning around. As one travels along you might notice roads that appear to begin or end in the water, this is remnants of a once existing road that succumbed to the flooding brought about by the creation of the Seaway completed in 1959. Other evidence of this can be seen traversing the inner water when crossing the now submerged railbed for the CNR Grand Trunk railway which crossed to what is now Centre Woodlands island.
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| (Image 1) Inglside launch |
We launch from a gravel beach area just off the bike path at Ingleside, free to park. Weather is perfect today, almost no wind but the little there is from the SW so we will take the outside passage outbound to catch what breeze there is and return on the inside of the islands. Water is high so not much beach to be seen, water levels here can vary greatly over the season but today will be no problem. Those who decide to launch from one of the islands will need to pay a day use fee within the park. Travelling NE we follows the islands to Rapids Point where we will stop for lunch before turning around. As one travels along you might notice roads that appear to begin or end in the water, this is remnants of a once existing road that succumbed to the flooding brought about by the creation of the Seaway completed in 1959. Other evidence of this can be seen traversing the inner water when crossing the now submerged railbed for the CNR Grand Trunk railway which crossed to what is now Centre Woodlands island.
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| GlobalNews.ca |
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| (image 2) Rapids Point |
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| (image 3) Lunch |
Where we have lunch and a swim at Rapids Point is where the old highway runs out into the water and from here you can see the beach on Mille Roches and Moulinette island which is all private property and not part of the park. Lunch over we head back and the current is very noticeable holding our speed to around 3 km/hr. Reaching the centre gateway we turn right and get immediate relief from the current as we resume a normal 5-6 km/hr.
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| (image 4) Centre gateway |
Happy paddling!
KayakJock
