Flatwater

Join me for an early season day trip on the flatwater section of the Lower Madawaska River. This trip will run from Cherry Point Picnic Area east of Calabogie all the way to Burnstown Beach. It's a nice, calm and accessible 13km stretch of flatwater. 

Easy and local flatwater paddle before tackling the harder stuff this year.  Good chance to test out new purchases and make sure that the drysuit still fits ok. 

This one-day 18km trip will take us down the Willow Creek into the heart of the Minesing Wetlands (designated internationally significant), through an often flooded silver maple forest, and onto the Nottawasaga River, ending up at Edenvale Conservation Area. Scenery is highly dependent on water levels, which can vary greatly depending on the time of travel and spring runoff. You may need to get out and pull your boat at some places in the heart of the wetland.

The outing will take place on Saturday May 2nd and time on the water will be approximately 10am to mid-afternoon, with a break for lunch.

Interested in introducing camping and flatwater canoeing to kids in your life?

It's my first time introducing my 8 year old son to camping and canoeing and I'm looking for people in a similar situation! 

I have space for 3-4 people on my trip as the maximum capacity at a Ontario Parks car camping site is 6 people.  I am a party of 2. 

You can rent the camping essentials + canoe at Algonquin Outfitters so not to worry if you don't have any equipment.

I am booking the sites at Rock Lake campground on Saturday Feb 28 and you are encouraged to book a site as well. Please reach out to Susanna (s_q_wong@yahoo.ca) for more details. 

Paddle at a very leisurely pace to the Humber marsh to look at birds and turtles, then paddle in Lake Ontario behind the breakwater toward the East before heading back to the put-in.  

2-3 hours pending how far we go

Leisurely paddle at Toronto's newest park and the new alternate discharge channel of the Don River.  

If the wind and waves are calm, the more adventurous paddlers can extend the paddle to Ward's Island (2-3 hours).  Note that this is about a 200 m open water crossing with large boats in the area.

For the less adventurous paddlers or if wind and wave conditions are poor, we'll stick to the new channel just South of Biidaasige Park and paddle up to the mouth of the Don River and back (1 hr).  

After paddling, we can go for lunch just down the street at Cherry Ave BBQ.

Advanced flatwater trip