Bedford Mills - Upper Brewers Lock

A solo paddling trip through a portion of the Rideau Canal. I put in at the side of the road Near Bedford Mills and spent the day paddling over to the Rideau Canal and around the stations at Chaffeys Lock. The Lock stations are impressive and can be easily portaged around (my strategy) or at least once you should get the lock experience with all the other boaters.

A short paddle across Opinicon Lake to the Davis Lock where I had lunch. The locks have washrooms and picnic tables (and garbage cans!) and almost all the locks can accommodate overnight camping (for a nominal fee of around $5).

From Davis Lock, a paddle through Sand Lake over to a channel that leads to the Jones Falls Lock station a distance of 7.1 kilometers. With 3 or 4 separate locks and a pond in the middle, I exited right and did two short portages and a 50 meter paddle across the pond.A pretty site with the most tourists and boat traffic of the day.

It was still pretty early in the day (1:15) so I decided to head for the next lock station at Upper Brewers. A hard paddle into an increasing wind through Whitefish Lake, into Little Cranberry and Cranberry Lakes (swing bridge in between) found the channel marked by buoys (red and green) and headed to Upper Brewers Lock.

Arrived just before the lock station closed (at 6:00) but washrooms and water were out due to an electrical malfunction. Camped the night at the locks and carried on the next day (not shown).

The trip ended in Kingston around 1:00 the next day after facing more stiff winds and large waves on Styx and Colonel By Lake.

Not for the casual paddler, drop off and pickup were required and yacht traffic can be tricky. The locks were the highlight for me, the lakes were typical for the area and there are lots of cottages/homes on the water. The wildlife highlight was a grouping of 40-50 white swans.