Eastern Sharbot Lake Paddle

Sharbot Lake is another smallish lake in central Ontario which I visited recently. While it's mostly cottage country, with some built on islands as well, it is nonetheless an interesting paddling venue. While I prefer cottages to be old fashioned and tucked away from the water, it is of some interest to see how building tastes have changes over the years. Some reflect our growing affluance and are virtually palaces. Elaborate docks and floating rafts are all part of the cottage experience...


Of course, no sane cottager would not have an Adirondack chair or two out somewhere on the property for the comfort of out-of-season paddlers...


Warm weather for late November made the paddle pleasant, as did the calm waters. This island cottage appears to have been an old home which has been 'upgraded' with turrets and a fancy boathouse. The 1% builds, the 99% (or a part of them) paddles!

Paddling Smaller Lakes

We all dream of paddling bigger and bigger waters, challenging ourselves with rougher seas, larger crossings, exotic locales and so forth. It's part of the thrill of seakayaking to discover that you have what it takes to take on more difficult paddles than you've done before. Yet, there are small lakes that, taken in detail, can offer up great satisfaction as well!

This past long weekend a few friends and I set up our camp on Lake Clear, Ontario and settled in for some paddling, some socializing and story-telling. The troubles of the world disappeared with each stroke of our paddles as we left the launch site. The warm, clear water and the quiet and rustic camp-site became our world for the next several days.

We explored the lake with its islands of crown land, We drifted past the quaint log cabins and the newer, monster homes. We slipped up narrow, rocky inlets and watched the turtles slide silently off their sun logs and into the water. We smiled to see the baby ducks still swimming together now their parents have left them to fend for themselves. Blue herons drifted over the water in front of our kayaks. We paddled to the far end of the lake to replenish our ice supply and then arrived back of the camp with bags of cold water and peels of laughter. We screamed at the sudden wind-storms that turned quiet ripples into white-capped waves, sending our kayaks surfing down their fronts. We felt the hairs on our necks rise when something came crashing down in the night. Was it a bear? Only in the morning did we discover it had been a tree.

At home today, I washed the camp-fire smoke off everything, my clothes, my tent, my dishes, even my water filter smelled of wood smoke. What a wonderful, sensuous memory of a long weekend hidden away from the world on Lake Clear with good friends.

Apple Blossom Paddling

I went paddling on a couple of Ontario lakes this past holiday weekend and discovered not only some paddling spots, but another whole new experience. It rained apple blossoms. A nice change from the other, more common sort of rain. Here one gets big white petals for drops and an enchanting scent which fills the air with delight. Fun!

Ontario Greenland Camp

Most folks into Greenland style paddling and rolling know about QajaqUSA's fall retreat called Delmarva and many have made the annual trek to meet up with friends and share their knowledge and skills. Well, now we have the makings of a similar event in Canada. Learn To Kayak, two people from the Toronto area with the help of friends and businesses put on the first annual Ontario Greenland Camp last weekend. Space was reserved for 50 kayakers and mentors at Camp Tamarak in the Muskokas and we got down to business.


Skill sessions were held in a number of areas including rolling, of course, forward strokes and harpoon throwing. In the photo above, a rolling demo was put on for us to enjoy. I missed the games event which was re-scheduled, but it included a race taken right out of Knud Rasmussen's movie, 'The Wedding of Palo'. I understand it was lots of fun although the weather conditions were somewhat better than that seen in the film!

All in all, a fun event! I hope to return next year... If you're a FaceBook member, lots of photos from the event can be had on the Learn to Kayak page.

Silent Lake, Ontario

Here's my routine these past few weeks: Pack the camper, drive to the chosen destination and set-up camp. Usually, if the area has enough interesting paddling spots and some hiking trails, I'll stay in a campground where I can have easy access to showers, toilets and so on. If not, then it's either, quicker and rougher stealth camping - or sometimes kayak camping in a tent. Here, at Silent Lake Provincial Park, it was the former. There are no paddle-in camp sites here, but it's a nice little lake with lots of hiking trails. I ended up spending four nights on this spot.


Access to the water was quick and easy, although it required a drive from the campsite. Once at the beach, it was an easy launch on a lake which at this time of year was almost mine alone to enjoy.


I managed to grab one lakeside geocache, but spent the rest of the time exploring all the little channels and bays on the pretty lake. There's a hiking trail which works its way around the lake as well as several loop trails to various ponds and bogs nearby. The Kawartha Highlands area is just a short drive away and it too offers lots of lakes to explore. I didn't get into that area this time, but with better weather and more time, it looks like an interesting area to explore.

Geocache at Crotch Lake

Almost a year ago Mairi Watson and I left a geocache at site #42 on Crotch Lake in Ontario. It was placed in a couple of ziplock bags and hidden under the ground juniper cover. We knew it wasn't the best arrangement, but it had been a spontaneous thing so we went with what we had. In the spring of 2010, we visited the cache and finally registered it on the official Geocaching site. Within a couple of weeks it was discovered. Naturally comments began coming in about the container... Finding myself in the area once again last week, I launched early in the morning to see what I could do to put things right.


Site #42 was all in order, much as we had left it, although someone had added a green plastic chair, and some firewood, all carefully stacked. The rain and high winds of the previous weekend had required people to add a multitude of rocks to hold down their tents as well as some overhead scaffolding for tarps. I headed off to look for the geocache. I was shocked to find it lying in full view! The juniper bushes were much thinner this year than last exposing the ziplock cache for all to see. In fact, it looked more like trash than a geocache...


So here is a photo of the new container with its original 'hot' contents together with some of the additional items which discoverers have added over the summer. The new container has been covered in 'camo' duct tape and hidden in the original spot, buried in the ground cover making it less visible, less 'trashy'. Who will be the first to find it now?

Grenadier Island Paddle

On Labour Day Weekend some friends and I paddled out to Grenadier Island, one of the 1000 Islands downstream from Kingston, Ontario in the St Lawrence river. It was a new area for me and I was looking forward to doing some exploring. I'd been upstream in the Ivy Lea area years ago, so I knew the paddling would be interesting both because of the currents and the incredible houses that have been built on some of the islands. Leaving from Mallorytown Landing, we paddled over to Grenadier and set up camp, our base for the weekend.


I woke up during the night as rain began dropping on my tent. Oh no, not a rainy weekend after weeks of glorious hot weather! It got worse. By morning, the rain turned to showers but two of us decided to make a re-supply run back to the cars to ferry over things which didn't make the cut on the trip out the day before. On the return crossing, the wind picked up. A lot! The crossing quickly turned into a sideways surf ride! By the afternoon the wind was clearly trying to blow the water out of the river, or so it seemed! Paddling was put on hold while we scratched around for other things to do.


With paddling on the river temporarily put on hold, we followed the island trails visiting some geocaches, some old houses, a golf course (!), a couple of ancient cars and an ice vender! Cold beer! Just the thing when you're stranded on the shore for a weekend without paddling!

Crotch Lake Guest Post

The last time I was "here" I wrote about a truly Canadian thing to do: make bannock. With that in mind I think it is fitting for me to, again, write about something else that is truly Canadian and what else is more Canadian then to go camping on the "MAY 24" weekend?

This past Victoria Day long weekend, Michael joined us for a weekend of paddling and camping on Crotch Lake. Crotch Lake is located West of Ottawa, it is a pretty big lake surrounded almost completely by Crown Land, most of is undeveloped, making it, in my opinion, a wonderful place to camp and paddle. The area is managed by the North Frontenac Parklands, there is a small fee charged to access the crown roads and camp on one of the 77 plus designated campsites. The benefit to the area being maintained is that the campsites are resolvable and there are privy's and fire pits on most sites.


Anyhow, back to the trip. This was our 3rd kayak camping trip together and as in the past a good time was had by all. It seems to me that each trip is better then the last. Our goal is always to find a nice place to paddle and a comfortable spot to camp. The idea is to paddle out to a back country site, with nothing in the way of facilities (I.e a simple box is the privy) and really rough it. But, to be honest, if you joined us, you would soon realize that we don't really rough it at all. First we set up a base camp, which is more like a little village (several colourful tents for sleeping and bug protection and a kitchen area). Meals are particularly important to us (well me anyhow)! Our menu this weekend consisted of things like French toast with fresh fruit and real maple syrup for breakfast, a lunch buffet of pita, hummus, cheeses, pate, olives accompanied by salad and fresh fruit. Dinner was marinated grilled flank steak with foil baked veggies and potatoes on Friday and a peanut chicken curry over basmati rice with a side salad on Saturday. Aside from all that eating we also occupied ourselves by napping in a hammock, reading a novel or writing in journals, searching for forgotten shoes (that is another story in itself) swimming or chatting around the camp fire while sipping on a glass (or two) of wine. On this trip we even found time to create and hide a Geocache of our very own. Of course we also paddled, I think we logged over 10 hours between Sat and Sun just exploring the water around us. The weather this weekend was particularly amazing! Sunny days and warm nights and for some inexplicable reason our little island campsite was almost bug free. What more can you ask for? I really think we are lucky group of people to have met each other and formed such a nice friendship where we all share an interest in getting away from it all to relax, paddle and laugh.

- Mairi Watson

A Wilderness Home

There's wilderness camping and then there's wilderness camping. On Crotch Lake, wilderness camping means staying at numbered sites around the lake. There's none of the 'pitch your tent anywhere you like' stuff. For that kind of wilderness, you have to get a bit more wild, so to speak.

So what's it like to camp at Crotch? Let's have a look at site 25, probably the most favoured location on the lake, but somewhat typical of the rest. This place has it all, or at least past visitors have seen that it comes equipped with lots of amenities.

Uniquely, it has a small sandy beach to land and launch for your boat. It isn't large, but compared to the usual rocky shore line, it's easier and less rough on the gelcoat than most other sites.


Walk up the short path to the site itself and you arrive at the vast 'kitchen and dining' area. This year some kind soul cut and stored lots of driftwood for the woodstove/campfire facility just adjacent. See the photo below…


There are a couple of nice bedrooms… err, tenting areas.


I pitched my tent in the upper one to take advantage of the lake breezes, but the lower one also has a good view, albeit, with slightly less breeze and probably more flying six-leggers.


The 'nature' facilities are situated a short walk away and conveniently private. While not as comfortably screened in as some sites, I found the ambiance pleasant enough, although lingering over a newspaper and coffee didn't seem like a good idea given the other residents busy flying about.

So there you have it. Wilderness and the comforts of home, all wrapped into a tidy campsite for the weekend paddler.

Paddling Out Of Crotch Lake

For those wishing to paddle out of Crotch Lake to new destinations, there are three options which I had a look at while there last week. The first I had a look at was the creek leading to Big Gull Lake. The photo above shows the nice portage trail from the Gull Lake end. Below is the little pond at the end of the portage.


I was tempted to continue from here, but the low water level in the pond gave me the distinct feeling it would have been a long, slow slog up-stream to Big Gull Lake. A bit more water and it's possible it might have been an interesting paddle.

The next option takes one up the Mississippi River which flows into the northern end of Crotch Lake. Not quite as big as the other better known Mississippi River, it nonetheless presents some challenges to the paddler, the first one seen in the photo, is a series of three rapids.


I was able to line up the lowest one, but the cascades of the middle set required a portage.


Fortunately a road parallels the river at this point and could be used easily to get above the drop. I could see another small set of rapids further upstream which looked easy to line past, but I didn't proceed that far up-stream for a better look. The river had lots of water and looked inviting to paddle.

The last option is the outlet into King Lake on the northwest side of the lake. Here is a dam composed of caged stone. At high water water will flow over this and I suspect some care must be required not to get caught. There is a road on the left bank which can be used to portage to the river below.


The chute to control the Crotch Lake water level is on the right bank against the rock cliffs as seen in the photo above.

Return To Crotch Lake

Finally getting back out on the water after a winter of non-paddling felt good. I went to Crotch Lake with some Ontario friends and we continued to explore the lake we had first visited last year. After arriving on a Friday afternoon, we set up camp on a small island site.


The following morning, we paddled into Fawn Lake. This area had been too shallow to paddle last fall as the water level had been drawn down for the winter, but was easily accessible this spring when the water levels were several meters higher. We discovered an area of rocky cliffs and narrow channels.


Very warm temperatures in the mid 30°C's put us back at the campsite later in the day. Some went swimming in the warm water, others, like me, dozed the time away. There were hordes of dragonflies hatching out of their nymph stage, flying away to eat many of the bugs we feared would eat us during the night. You gotta love dragons!


Sunday, we headed into another branch lake called Twin Island Lake, once again gaining access thanks to the high water levels. A couple of oddities we discovered were a flock of turkey vultures pretending to be cormorants, spreading their winds to dry and


an old tree stump bravely lifting two rocks in its arms suggesting that weight lifters may never die!

Bannock In The Wild

For the very first time in the history of this blog, I'm hosting a 'Guest Writer'! Mairi Watson, who lives just outside of Ottawa, was a fellow paddler on the geocaching and kayaking trip to Crotch Lake last weekend. She kindly sent me this piece about the bannock I made for the group on Saturday night. Here is her post:

Bannock is a truly Canadian food. It is traditionally cooked over an open fire either in a pan or twisted it on a stick. If you haven’t experienced making bannock you should give it a try or do what I did and get someone else make it for you.

During a recent kayak camping trip on Crotch Lake in Ontario where night time temperatures dipped to chilling lows of -8, a member of the group, our very own “ckayaker”, treated us to bannock which he expertly prepared on site. The cooking method he chose was to twist it on a stick and bake it over the campfire, so after the dough was prepared it required kneading and shaping. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words so I am very disappointed that I missed the photo opportunity that presented itself when our pastry chef was shaping the bannock into a long “rope” in preparation to twist it on the stick (try and visualize this and you will understand my regret at not getting a picture).

Cooking the bannock was the next step. This is done by holding the stick over an open fire, turning it occasionally, to evenly bake the bannock. I imagine in warmer temperatures this does not take very long, however, be warned that when temperatures are below zero this process proved to take a long time especially when continuously being asked, “Is it ready yet”?

In the end I must say it was worth the wait. There is something special about eating bannock that has been traditionally prepared fresh before your eyes.

Thanks for the experience!!

And thank-you Mairi for submitting this post!

Geocache Kayaking

A few weeks ago I read a trip report by a canoe paddler about his trip to Crotch Lake, Ontario. He mentioned there were 'geocaches' on the lake. This perked my interest and last weekend a group of us went kayak-camping on the lake to see if we could locate the caches. Here is a photo essay of our adventure.

First we did some team bonding to prepare ourselves for the grueling tasks ahead. Notice the clever way we took advantage of each other's boat wake to reduce our paddling fatigue in the chilly Fall weather...


Once we were warmed up and had established a base camp, we headed out for the first geocache. Shocked to discover the site was not located where the canoe paddler had said it was, we then followed the GPS track which eventually led us to this lonely beach where the land search began in ernest...


Our eyes were glued to the GPS screen as we made our way through the camp site's heavy brush, up cliff faces and through fire pits, as the ever elusive geocache slowly came within our grasp. Suddenly one of our party was yelling and screaming and jumping around in glee. The geocache prize was ours! We painstakingly open it to reveal it's mysterious contents. An incredible find, but wait! There was no writing implement to record our visit... Then, like a bolt from the blue, a pen was discovered some distance from the cache site itself! How wild can this adventure get?


Staggered by the thrill of it all, we took a moment to sit down and listen to our leader's calming words, "It's just a silly geocache, people. Get a grip on yourselves. We're here to paddle, after all..." We returned to our senses, grateful for these wise comments from our leader.

We placed the geocache back in it's hiding place and then quietly returned to our kayaks. He was right. This was a paddling trip. It was late Fall. We had to remain stable and cautious out here in the wilds of rural Ontario.


But, wait a second... Isn't there another geocache around here somewhere...? In the end, we found all three lakeside caches and set about hiding one of our own. It will be spring before anyone returns to Crotch Lake to dig them up again. meanwhile we're hooked on mixing kayaking and geocaching as a way to enjoy being out on the water.

Paddling Mysteries - Part 2

Obviously when one is kayak camping in a park setting, one expects now and then to discover stuff left behind by previous occupants. Still, this forgotten item makes one wonder. A pair of small child's shoes. Not just forgotten, but carefully placed beside the fire-pit. What could it all mean? There's perhaps a story here. A mystery story...

Were they placed there by a parent and then in the rush to leave, they were forgotten? Maybe, but how many pairs of shoes would a parent bring? More than one? Not likely, meaning the child was barefoot on departure. Did no one notice? Didn't the child say anything, especially back at the take-out, which wasn't that far away, but required a 500 meter hike to the car? Seems odd to me when a short paddle could have retrieved the shoes.

In any event, we 'fixed' the mystery by taking the shoes along with us. They'll be shipped with some similar items to an organization in Cuba that provides second-hand clothing to wealthy tourists or whoever else needs them.

Paddling Mysteries - Part 1

One of the things about going kayaking is the frequency that mysterious thing happen. Take last weekend, for example. In the photo about a bunch of us are at the put-in getting ready to launch. We've just lugged our boats and gear in a half kilometer from the parking. For some reason, one of our troop found it necessary to have a relaxing lay down in a nearby canoe while the rest of us loaded up our boats. Can you see the head and knees showing just above the gunnels? Well, to me, it's perfectly clear who is going to be the last person launched and ready to paddle off. Or is it?


Here's the scene a bit later. Note which boat is already in the water. Note who is in that boat. Take a close look and see if you can tell which person it is. How could this have possibly happened? Well, that's one of kayaking's little mysteries, isn't it?

I'll have another mystery for you on the next post. It's even more curious...

Labour Day Echos

Taking advantage of a run of beautiful end-of-summer weather, a few friends and I hiked and trolley'd into Joeperry Lake in Ontario's Bon Echo Provincial Park last weekend. It was a memorable weekend of calm, sunny weather, good food and laughter that went right down to the soles of our feet.

The picture above is of one of our sites we'd booked. We stopped briefly to check out it's virtues, but found it lacking somewhat. It did have a pair of child's shoes carefully and mysteriously placed by the fire, but that wasn't enough. It's 'sanitary facility', a thunder box, was ancient, well used and nearly to the point of over-flowing. We paddled on. We're glad we did.


I'll write more on another post about our final destination and some of our adventures, but skipping ahead to the last day of our visit, we paddled out on Lake Mazinaw to its famous cliffs. They extend for about 1.5 kilometers in a more or less straight line, often reaching heights of 100 meters over the water.


Scattered along the base are nearly 300 petroglyphs painted onto the rock in a reddish hue. The one in the above picture, I believe, has been used by the Canadian Canoe Museum as its logo. Why they were made, how, when and by whom exactly is a mystery. The high traffic on the lake, including the presence of rock climbers makes me wonder how much longer they will be visible. I felt most of them had faded since my last visit in the early 2000's...