Gunkholing, Ontario: The Clyde River & Stewart's Island via the Mississippi

One silver lining to the spring 2020 coronavirus is that I'm spending the month of June in Almonte this year and have the time to continue my exploration of the many rivers and lakes of Lanark County. The largest river in Lanark County is the Mississippi River, which flows through the largest lake -- Mississippi Lake. Over the years, I've explored much of the lower Mississippi River from Mississippi Lake to the Ottawa River. Last year, I started checking out the upper Mississippi River (above Mississippi Lake), which will continue for a few years.

Mississippi River, track 13.7 km

On June 4th, I wanted to explore the Mississippi River section above CR511, especially the Clyde River and Stewart's Island. There's a great launch site at CR15, but I decided to launch my 14ft Widgeon kayak at the CR511 bridge to shorten my paddle. It's not ideal, but you can put-in at the NE corner of the bridge. You have to scramble down a steep gravel bank/hill. Note - next time, it's probably better to park on the other side of the road.

Paddling up the Mississippi (14ft Widgeon kayak)

The paddle up the Mississippi River was great! There was no wind and no human activity on the river. This section of the river has limited development and is not a popular boating or fishing area. Today, it was all quiet -- I had the rivers to myself! From the CR511 bridge, it's about 2 km to the mouth of the Fall River and then another 2 km to the mouth of the Clyde River. I left the exploration of the Fall River for another day and went straight to the Clyde River. It was a pleasant surprise to finally see some rock outcrops on the Mississippi River about halfway between the Fall and Clyde rivers.

Rock outcrops between Fall & Clyde River

I turned up the Clyde River and entered an amazing green world. Everything glowed in multiple shades of green in the narrow Clyde River with the deciduous trees and all the vegetation (e.g. ferns). I was able to easily paddle about 1.5 km up the Clyde River before being blocked by a set of rapids. From these rapids, it would be about another 1.5 km to the village of Lanark. There is no development on this 1.5 km stretch of the lower Clyde River – it's all pristine and quiet.

After I was back down the Clyde, I was excited to explore the second large island on this reach of the Mississippi River. Further downriver towards Ferguson's Falls, there's Stafford Island (25 ha), and here, just above the mouth of the Clyde River is Stewart's Island (10 ha). I can't find any information about Stewart's Island on the Internet, so it's pretty low key in the public domain. There's no development on the island that I could see, and it looks undisturbed and pristine. I found a great isolated spot (flat rocks) for a lunch break on the island's west side. Across the island's SW corner, there are a few cabins and one large modern house/property. It would be nice to see the area around Stewart's Island protected before more development takes place.

My lunch spot behind Stewart's Island

The paddle back to CR511 was also good. I did observe and photograph more wildlife along the way. I was mainly looking for turtles. I did see and hear them multiple times, but mostly they were too fast for my camera. Only one Painted turtle was kind enough to pose for me!

This is a day trip to do again. It's a trip for a cooler day since the Mississippi River area is not so attractive for a cooling off swim!