Lac des Chats, East end - Ottawa River

On a beautiful calm morning in late May 2020, John Verbaas and I met on the Ottawa River's shores in Arnprior (McLean Avenue Park).  We would spend the day exploring and fishing the eastern end of Lac des Chats (Arnprior to Morris Island).

Lac des Chat, east end  (15 km track)

Ottawa R. currents; GE map (May 4, 2019)

After getting organized and launched, we proceeded east along the Ontario shore. For the first kilometre, before reaching Goodwin's Bay, you paddled by the beautiful riverside homes of McLean Avenue.  Once at Goodwin's Bay entrance, the shoreline is less developed and starts to feel more remote. Out came John’s fishing rod at this point, but the fishes weren’t going to cooperate much all day.

Could it get any calmer?

Easy paddling!

Once past Goodwin's Bay, it was off to Marshall's Bay and then to the mouth of the Mississippi River (the Canadian one).  We could have paddled up the Mississippi River to Galetta (3 km). That would have been a pleasant paddle, but it wasn’t on our trip plan for today. So we headed north up the shores of Morris Island towards Lavergne Bay. Lavergne Bay is the location of the private “boat transfer dock” to get around the Chats Falls Generating Station and dams. But instead of going into Lavergne Bay, we took a rest on a sandy beach at the southwest point or peninsula of Lavergne Bay (just west of the boat transfer dock). Lavergne Bay’s shoreline on Morris Island is completely developed with homes and cottages – that’s a good reason not to spend too much time around there.

Sandy beach by Lavergne Bay

Our landing on Blackhead Island

The highlight of the day was finally coming up – the islands and channels where the Ottawa River narrows between Morris Island and the Quebec shoreline. The river currents are strong and treacherous in this area at the peak of the spring river flow.  But it was late May, and I had expected the currents to be subdued enough by now for our kayaks to manage this beautiful rocky area. But not so, the river currents were still too strong for us to cross the river directly to the Quebec side anywhere near the old rail bridge.

Ottawa R. currents with Morris I. rail bridge in background 

We reached the Quebec shore (over 1 km from the rail bridge) by staying further out in the river and going around the more serious rocks and currents. We did make a landing on Blackhead Island to explore, take pics of the river, and for John to try a bit more fishing.  After getting to the Quebec side, we paddled upriver around rocky island and channels and eventually went ashore for a late lunch.  By now, our very calm day had been changing to a brisk SW wind, and by the time we started the 3.5 km paddle across the river to Arnprior – we were battling a 10 to 15 knot headwind.  So, except for the fishing, we had a great adventurous day with treacherous currents and gale force winds!