My Top 10 Kayaking Adventures

On our final paddle for this season, DW asked me to name my top-three paddles, ever. In the seven seasons that we've had kayaks, we have been out in them about 70 times: plus, we've been in other kayaks when we couldn't bring ours with us.

On my YouTube channel, I have 60 videos of our kayaking adventures, though a couple of them are marked as private and not for public consumption. Not that there's anything that needs to be kept from the public, but they're short excerpts from outings that didn't amount to much, and I don't think they're interesting enough to share.

There have also been times when we went for a paddle and I didn't bring a video camera to record the outing. When DW and I bought our first Delta kayaks, we took them to the Rideau River to test them out and become familiar with them. We would put our kayaks in at the Chapman Mills Conservation Area, at the Jock River Landing, or at Black Rapids Lockstation, where we would paddle between Mooney's Bay and the Long Island Lockstation.

We weren't really doing a kayaking adventure so much as we were becoming proficient with our boats, so I didn't feel the need to capture these outings on video.

When DW asked me about my top-three paddles, I came up with them without hesitation. And a few seconds later, I remembered another paddle that would bump one of those three that came to mind. But I've since had a few days to give the question some thought, and I've come up with 10 adventures that stand out from the rest, and I'd like to share those with you.

If you're not interested in kayaking, you may want to come back, tomorrow, where I'll have a different topic for my Photo Friday post.

Here are the 10 most memorable kayaking adventures of our past seven seasons: by clicking a heading, you can jump to the related video; clicking a link in the body takes you to a related blog post.

10: St. Lawrence River—Ivy Lea to Hill Island

At the time, this was the scariest paddle I had ever done. DW and I were still pretty new to kayaking and didn't have a lot of experience, and yet we chose a river with varying currents and lots of traffic. We only had our kayaks for a few months and this was a big challenge at the time.

We passed over a submerged waterfall, where a drop in the floor of the river caused the current to flow backwards, and we encountered several other changing currents. At one point, my kayak became held by some turbulent water and I had to paddle hard to break free. And on our return to our put-in point, we had to paddle hard to fight the current.

It was a tough paddle for inexperienced kayakers, but because we met the challenge and had a lot of fun, it's one of my more-memorable paddles.

9: Algonquin Provincial Park—Rock Lake

Algonquin Provincial Park is absolutely gorgeous, and when I think of the times we've visited it with our kayaks, it was hard to come down to just one adventure. Our trips to Achray, on Grand Lake, and our interior camping on Stratton Lake were great, but our visit to Rock Lake has to be the best of them.

We had a lovely paddle, on our first day, along the Madawaska River and into Whitefish Lake, and a great paddle on Rock Lake, the next day, where we met a solo paddler in another Delta kayak, who was celebrating her birthday, and we encountered a moose that was feeding on the lake's edge.

That moose encounter was what made this trip so memorable and one of my favourite adventures.

8. Algonquin Provincial Park—Barron Canyon

We've been to the Barron Canyon twice: the first time, DW and I explored it on our own on a day when the sky threatened rain (and delivered a bit); the second time, with our Paddlefolk. But my favourite time was the first, because we were discovering the beauty of this river paddle for the first time, and the first time is often the best in any circumstance. One our second visit, it was hard to recreate the awe that we felt, though it was still a great paddle.

You never forget your first time.

7. Agawa Bay, Lake Superior

Of my favourite paddles, this is one of the most recent. I loved everything about this paddle: the early morning calmness of Lake Superior, with the light from the sun peeking over the treeline and through light clouds, the quiet of a small inlet on Agawa River, and the overall serenity of the paddle filled me with such joy. I loved it.

6. Bonnechere Falls and the Ottawa River

Even though I toppled over my kayak and fell into the Bonnechere River, early in our paddle, I still rank this as one of my favourite paddles. It was a short paddle to the falls from our put-in spot and the falls are beautiful. And after our visit (and after my unplanned dip), we decided to paddle out to the Ottawa River and cross to the Québec side, which was peaceful and beautiful.

It's my favourite autumn paddle so far.

5. Tobermory

Of my favourite paddles, this one really is the most recent. When DW and I were preparing to head on our Lake Superior adventure, we decided at the last minute that we wouldn't do our excursion into the north end of the lake, near Rossport and the islands that line this region. We didn't have plans to replace this part of our trip until we were in Agawa Bay, and we decided that we would cross Manitoulin Island and take the ferry to the Bruce Peninsula.

We remembered how we had wanted to paddle around Tobermory and see the shipwrecks in the Fathom Five National Marine Park, so that's what we did, and we had a great day to do it. It was a clear day and the wrecks were easily visible, and the water was fun to paddle.

It was a bucket-list paddle that will stick with me forever.

4. Saguenay Fjord

DW and I were hoping to see whales from our kayaks, but didn't. But we couldn't deny the beauty of the fjord, with the towering cliffs that plunged into the Saguenay River. I really hope that DW and I return someday.

3. Algarve Coastline

This adventure isn't listed in my kayaking playlist on my YouTube channel because it was part of a broader travel vacation, when DW and I visited Portugal, in 2022. We got to see a lot of this beautiful country, including the Algarve region, on Portugal's southern coast.

When we visited the historic town of Lagos, we couldn't pass up an opportunity to do some kayaking along the scenic coastline. We signed up with a tour group and used a tandem kayak, which was not my preferred type of boat—I would have preferred to have a kayak to myself—though it allowed me to capture some video footage while DW paddled, and vice-versa.

The boats, themselves, had nowhere that would allow me to use a suction cup with my camera.

The coastal landscape is nothing short of breathtaking, and I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to see it from the water's surface. This was the kayaking adventure that bumped the Saguenay paddle from my top three.

2. Jacques Cartier River

This trip almost didn't happen. DW and I were supposed to join some friends for a four-day cycling trip around Lac Saint-Jean, in the Saguenay region, but two people suffered injuries in the weeks leading up to our trip, and we had to cancel this part of our visit to the Saguenay.

As DW and I looked for an alternative adventure, we discovered the Jacques Cartier National Park, and it's white-water sections of river, and we were hooked. But it wasn't until we actually found ourselves in this part of the Laurentians that we fell in love. The towering mountains on either side of the river made for one of the most breathtaking paddles we've ever done.

In fact, I would say that in some regards, the Jacques Cartier River beats my first-place kayaking adventure.

1. Georgian Bay and Killarney Provincial Park

This was our first time being out on big water, when we paddled the islands around the northern part of Georgian Bay, in 2021. Again, we lucked out as far as wind and weather, and we were treated to fairly calm water. It was only our second season with our kayaks so we were thankful that we faced no challenges.

But it wasn't just Georgian Bay that held us in awe. George Lake and Freeland Lake were beautiful, too, so this whole trip was memorable.

I'm hoping that we return to Killarney and perhaps paddle around Phillip Edward Island. DW did that trek, a couple of years ago, with one of our Paddlefolk friends, and she says it's one of her top kayaking adventures. I'd like to experience the awe that she felt.

So those are my top 10 kayaking adventures so far. Next year, DW and I plan to complete the part of Lake Superior that we cut from this year's trip, so perhaps that will enter the top 10 list. Plus, we have other ideas for paddles: we'll keep hitting the water for as long as we can.

If you've made it to the end of this post, you must enjoy kayaking. Do you have a favourite spot? Let me know in the Comments section.

Happy paddling!