2013 Kayak Trip

  In June 2013, my oldest daughter Ashley and I went on a Kayak Trip on the Rideau waterways.
We started at Rideau Acres Campground, just north of Kingston and travelled for 98km over 4 days, finishing in Smiths Falls.

  This was a trip that had interested me for a few years.  When the opportunity came to travel with Ashley I thought we should do it.   Earlier that year I bought a rec kayak to get comfortable with paddling and to build up some endurance.  For the trip we both rented touring kayaks, which was a wise choice.

  Here is our GPS track log: Kayak_Trip_log

  Here are some photos from the trip.

The car is all loaded up

Leaving Rideau Acres

All smiles on day one

At the end of day one, we stopped and set up camp and the locks at Upper Brewers.  Camping at the lockstation is really convienent as it is both a nice setting, and you have flush toilets and running water

Our camp

Our view from our camp area

A turtle laying some eggs

We met Alexis Right who was travelling from St. Catharines to Ottawa by kayak.

A sight seeing ship passing through the locks

Day two and we are on our way

Stopping to portage in Jones Falls and we see a water snake

Day two ended anded at Davis lock station.  It was cloudy all afternoon and started to rain as we arrived at the lock station.  It rained solid for about the next 30 hours.  Here is my cook area as I prepare dinner.

Ashley making her dinner

Some views around the Davis lock station

We left Davis and headed out in the rain.  Later the wind would pick up and at times we would be facing a head wind of up to 39 km/h.  It was really tough paddling but both Ashley and I did a great job.

We stopped along the shore for a rest once in a while.  We made sure to hold on to something to avoid being pushed downwind.

At the end of day 3 we set up camp (in the rain) at the Narrows lock station.  It continued to rain most of the night.  By morning the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.

Ashley packing up her gear

Looking forward to our last day on the water

On Big Rideau Lake.  We wanted to stop for a snack so we picked a spot on some undeveloped shoreline.

Approaching Rideau Ferry

Stopping at the boat launch in Rideau Ferry.  We set up the camp stove and cooked a hot meal

Approaching Smiths Falls

Here are some videos

Here is me paddling in some open water

Here is Ashley 

Enjoying some calm waters

We both had portage carts for the kayaks which really made portaging quite easy.

  We both had a great time and all the gear and rented kayaks performed well.  I'm looking forward to getting back out on the water.  I think I will make a day trip out of the Tay Canal heading out of Perth.

Glenn