The Best So Far

"This is, by far, my favourite paddle," said DW, as we made our way from Grand Lake, in Algonquin Park, through Carcajou Bay, toward the waterfalls by the same name.

"That's what you said last week." The previous weekend, DW and I were paddling the Tay River. We had put our kayaks into the river at Last Duel Park—the supposed site of the last gun duel in Canada (the loser of that challenge lies in the small cemetery, nearby)—and paddled to the Upper Beveridges Lockstation. It was a beautiful day and conditions were perfect for that 20-kilometre trek.

You can see that voyage on The Brown Knowser YouTube channel.

"You also said that about our paddle the week before that," I continued.

"I know," said DW, "Every week gets better and better."

I have to admit that our kayak trip on June 28 was my favourite, to date. It was the first time that we had taken our kayaks onto a lake, first time paddling in wind, first time portaging, first time paddling right up to waterfalls, and first time taking our kayaks through moving water—on our way back, we chose to skip the portage point and rode the class-one rapids.

The next day, DW and I took another paddle through the park, crossing Grand Lake to a small stream that led to a small dam. From there, there was a short, 25-metre portage and then continued into Stratton Lake. There were no outstanding characteristics of this lake, but we paddled the length of it to an inlet where we did a 75-metre portage to our third lake, St. Andrew's.

St. Andrew's Lake was much smaller that the previous two lakes, and we reached the other end of it in no time. Here, there was a challenging 550-metre portage, but we decided to leave our kayaks behind and took the trail with only our lunch.

Photo: DW

The trail took us past High Falls, which were tucked into the woods, just before the end of the portage trail, at Highfalls Lake. We decided to stop here and eat. A family of four, meanwhile, were schlepping two canoes, a buttload of gear, and two kids down to the lake below the falls.

There's no way, with my bad feet, that I could traverse this path with any gear, let alone my kayak.

Photo: DW

On the way back to camp, DW said to me, "This is the best paddle, so far."

"You mean this whole weekend," I said. For me, the day before was the best one but today's ride was just 'good.' I enjoyed the Tay River paddle more than the three lakes.

"No, I mean now. This is the best. Every paddle gets better and better."

I guess we'll differ on the best paddle, so far.