Centennial Lake (Madawaska River, ON)

Amazingly, on October 20th this year, Environment Canada was still forecasting a 20C day! It was also looking like a lovely sunny day with some medium winds. So I loaded up my 14ft Widgeon kayak and headed for Black Donald Lake. Black Donald is a reservoir lake on the Madawaska River southwest of Calabogie. I wanted to explore the less developed SW end of the lake and the Madawaska River's channels towards Centennial Lake. When I got down the lake's west side on Highway 65, I could not locate a suitable launch spot for my kayak. There's a public launch in the middle of Black Donald's west side, but it would have been a long paddle to the SW end. So I opted to go a bit further and get into Centennial Lake instead. Centennial Lake is upriver from Black Donald and also a reservoir lake.

I launched off highway 65 at "Hwy65 LP1" waypoint (Wilson Lake) and paddled under the road into Centennial Lake. Centennial Lake is full of channels, fingers, and islands. I was on Centennial a few years ago with my MYS15, but it will take a few more trips to explore fully. On this trip, I did about 10 km of paddling and managed only to explore a few islands and two of the lake's fingers.

About 1km from highway 65 down the channel from Wilson Lake, there's an island with a campsite (CS1) – a small sandy beach for easy kayak/canoe landing. I had a snack at CS1, and then I made my way towards another campsite that I'd seen on my previous MYS15 trip. The campsite (CS2) was still there, and it looked well used. I had lunch at CS2 and some rest. I spent some time watching two guys in a boat flying some remote model airplanes over the lake. After lunch, I decided to explore one of the fingers of the lake (F1). F1 is about 1.3 km long and comes to a dead end. There wasn't much to see other than trees (mostly pines) and rocks. I did come across a few Canada geese and some ducks. I reversed my route from the dead-end of F1 and paddled back to the launch point and my car. 

It was a great paddle on a beautiful October day! 

Campsite 1 (CS1)

Campsite 2 (CS2)

Ottawa River Provincial Park -- above whitewater

As usual in the fall, I keep looking for 15C+ days for some last season paddling. This year, the Tuesday (Oct 10) after Thanksgiving was looking pretty good (20C and sunny)! So I headed for the Ottawa River Provincial Park area above the whitewater river section (a few km below La Passe, ON). I had been in this area twice before – MYS15 (2010) and SP21 (2008).

This area of the river from La Passe to Sullivan Island is not great sailing (too narrow, shallow waters, islands/rocks, etc.) and is better to explore by kayak or canoe. A few islands (Big, Butternut, and Cedar) are part of the Ottawa River Provincial Park (un-managed). La Passe has a boat ramp, and I have used the ramp for the SP and MYS15. For canoe and kayak outings, I prefer to launch on the Ontario side across from Butternut Island at the end of Put-In Trail off Grants Settlement Road (45°45'20.81" N; 76°47'37.34" W).

For this trip, I was paddling my 14ft Widgeon kayak. After launching at Put in Trail, I headed upriver, hugging the Ontario shore. I squeezed past Butternut and Sawlog islands and paddled upriver beyond Big Island before crossing over to the Quebec side. After a bit of poking around, I found the bottom entrance to the big shallow bay on the Quebec side. I explored the bay for an hour or so and made a stop for a bio break and snack. The bay is pretty weedy and shallow – so nice shore landing spots are at a premium.

After snack, I headed back to the main river channel and made my way towards the control dam (Barrage du Rocher Fendu). I followed narrow channels along the Quebec side behind a group of small islands. Close to the control dam on a prominent rocky point, I went ashore for lunch and a break. After lunch, I made my way around the large Sullivan Island (private) and back to the Put-in Trail launch point.

I had my fishing rod and tried for bass throughout the trip but did not catch any fish and had very few nibbles. For today's nature sightings, I observed quite a few Canada Geese on the water and a small flock of noisy birds.

It's an excellent spot for a day paddle, but hopefully, the fishing would be better next time!