Easy paddle-in sites for first-time canoe trippers

Easy paddle-in sites for firsttime canoe trippers

By Allen Macartney

YOU’VE BEEN DREAMING about easing into canoe-camping but just don’t know where to go, listen up.

You want to start slowly. Find a site offering potential for hikes and swimming but still fairly isolated and quiet. Luckily, just beyond the Ottawa region many great canoe-in sites are made for a young family or teenagers looking for a first adventure sans adults (reservations are necessary for all these spots).

LAC LA PÊCHE (GATINEAU PARK)

This large, sprawling lake is about an hour’s drive from Ottawa depending where you start. Cross the Macdonald-Cartier bridge north on Highway 5 in Quebec to the Wakefield turnoff. Take Highway 366, passing the sign to Lac Philippe, and keep going to Chemin Eardley. Follow the sign on the left for Lac la Pêche. This road takes you directly to the lake’s parking lot.

The lake has about 12 separate canoe-in sites, all with camping spots for multiple

groups or families. Paddling in can take anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes. All sites have picnic tables, covered toilet boxes, and a metal pole for hanging food well away from raccoons and other forest critters. The swimming is fabulous. Explore the lake and you’ll find hiking trails (most unmarked), large rocks to swim from, and islands for picnics. Most sites offer lots of trees for hanging a tarpaulin in case of rainy weather.

FRONTENAC PRO VINCIAL PARK

This park is near Sydenham, a small town north of Kingston. Usually, I get there in about two hours via Highway 15. From the park office you can either hike or canoe to the sites. Canoeing to a site takes from one to three hours depending on its location. You can either paddle directly to your campsite, or take one or more portages to find “home.”

Classified as a “natural environment park,” you’ll find everything from great camping and swimming to excellent hiking and birdwatching. Like Lac la Pêche, two, three or four paddle-in sites are grouped together. Each has a raised tent mat that keeps your tent about 20 centimetres off the ground on a bed of sand. It’s comfortable and virtually guarantees a dry tent bottom even on the wettest day. Each tent cluster has at least one privy, and each campsite has a fire pit, a picnic table and some sort of a bench. These campsites are open year-round, perfect for fall or winter adventures.

If you want to portage to other lakes in the park, all trails are wide, clear and easy to find.

CANISBAY (ALGONQUIN PARK)

You’ll find Canisbay Campground at kilometre 23.1 on the Highway 60 corridor through Algonquin Park. Mostly, Canisbay is for car camping but also has 16 paddle-in sites at the top end of the lake. Just pre-register for one of them, and you’re set. Do this early because they’re grabbed up fast! Each site offers a fire pit and a privy box. Because it’s a short paddle to the main campground, hiking trails, a beach, flush toilets and showers are easy to get to.

You’ll also have easy paddle-out access to the full range of Algonquin Park activities, including nature programs, guided hikes, wolf howls and much more.

ROCK LAKE (ALGONQUIN PARK)

Rock Lake offers a slightly different adventure. You start at the main Rock Lake car camping area and paddle south down the lake to one of its pine-covered islands. These are beautiful sites, with three or four on each island. Laze in the shade, swim in clear water, paddle over to a vertical rock face, portage into nearby Penn Lake, or head out on a hike along a well-marked trail.

Test paddle one or all of these destinations. Start slowly, build confidence, and expand from there. These sites will whet your appetite for more canoe-camping solitude. Guaranteed! Φ