Tuesday
(April 28th) was looking like the only nice sunny day of this late
April week, so it was time for another paddle outing on the Indian River. This time, I headed to the Command Bridge on
Galbraith Road. This put-in at the bridge allows you to go upriver (2 km) or
downriver into Clayton Lake.
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| Upriver from Command Bridge (4km track) |
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| Downriver (4km track) |
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After launching on the SE corner of the
bridge, I ducked under the bridge (barely) and headed upriver. The river from
the Command Bridge to almost the Tatlock Road bridge is the best section of the
Indian River to paddle. There were low areas, so it may not be so navigable in
the summer months when the water level can be much lower. The river makes
twists and turns through a variety of wetlands and forested areas. At this time of year, there were lots of
Canada Geese and ducks to entertain me – while paddling upriver. I would say, there were more numerous in the
first kilometer (closer to Command Bridge) – probably due to the more extensive
wetlands. In this wetland section, there are also lots of duck boxes installed
on the edge of the wetlands. But, I
didn’t see any ducks making use of these boxes.
Also in the first kilometer wetland area, I saw a few muskrat abodes –
but no muskrats in sight.
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| Duck box |
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| Muskrat house |
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| Canada Geese |
Before I got to the end, I had to power my
kayak through a few dams but never had to get out. That’s a good thing; it’s
not easy to hop over beaver dams in a kayak – much easier in a canoe. Low rocks and rapids block the way about
0.5km from the Tatlock Road bridge. To go further upriver, these rapids would
have to be portage (100m), but the next section of the river is not really
navigable. Someday, I would be
interested to check out the section of the Indian River between Conc. Rd. 10
Darling and Darling Road by canoe (at least 5.5km).
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| Beautiful day (no coronavirus here!) |
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| Upriver - the end of the road! |
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The returned paddle downriver was leisurely
and very enjoyable, although I lost most of the sunshine and my fingers got a
bit wet and cold. After going under the
Command Bridge, I kept paddling downriver towards Clayton Lake. It’s about 1km to the mouth of the Indian
River into Clayton Lake. I started
looking for a nice place to go ashore for a break and to add some warmer gloves
and a wind breaker. Before I found a suitable landing spot, I did spot three
large white swans and managed to get a few pics from a distance. At home,
iNaturalist did confirm the species to be Trumpeter swans. Cool!
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| Trumpeter Swans (Clayton Lake) |
After my rest stop on a point (north side of
river), I went exploring some of the marsh area on the south side where the
Indian River meets Clayton Lake. It was a very narrow and shallow channel
through the marsh and eventually I got blocked by fallen trees – so time for a
U turn. Then, it was a bit more paddling in Clayton Lake before heading back to
the Command Bridge starting point.
In Clayton Lake, I could see the Trumpeter
swans in the distance and also I was hearing the call of one or more
loons. The sound of loons on Ontario
lakes always feels remote and magical!
24Apr2021 dg
ReplyDeleteI launched my kayak at the Command Bridge and first went up the Indian River. This year, I got blocked by a beaver dam but quite close to the end of the navigable waters. Then it was down river to explore the south shoreline and wetlands. This was close to the same paddle as last year (above).