Journal Entries

Morning happy face. I love waking up in my tent.

Private buildings next to Lowers Brewers lockstation lit up at night.

Most thankful for that clear sky.

Campsite night 2 before the early evening deluge of rain.

4 hours and about 17 km later (15.7 km in the navigation channel but we paddled next shore when possible because of wind, rain and waves) we arrive at our camp, Lower Brewers Lock. If we keep up this paddling speed we’ll enjoy some great paddling days on this trip and get to see lots of interesting shoreline.

And then the rain came harder. This was during the worst of it but we paddled for at least a four hours in steady rain, some of it a downpour.

A moment of calm in marshy cove in the River Styx. Saw lots of swans and herons. Also a bald headed eagle that was hunting.

Just as anticipated we had to paddle a couple hours through rain before reaching our camp destination. This is where we pulled off the River Styx (for real) for some snacks and to go pee. You can see the water coming down on the river under the trees. We’d already dumped the water out of our canoe.

Also, not sure why it’s called the River Styx, not sure what resemblance it bears to underworld archetype.

However there are a lot of wood pieces (old trunks) sticking out of the water. This would be very tricky to navigate in a motorized boat.

This area was flooded to create the contiguous waterway. Are these old tree trunks? A google search will tell... I’ll update in comments or edit this post once I know.

All loaded and ready for our first day of paddling.

We are expecting rain today, the only day of the week with rain in the forecast. We debated last night if we should wait it out at the Kingston lockstation, this is our first day of our first multi-day canoe trip. Can we handle the rain. We don’t know.

We’re experienced with backpacking in the rain but we’re new to canoeing and it’s just so much water!

The forecast doesn’t show rain all day so we’re confident we’ll make it to the next lockstation and be able to dry out.

We decide to go for it.

What’s really cool about this waterway is that Parks Canada allows boaters to camp at the lockstations. The cost (in 2020) is only $5/person which is very affordable for 2 people.

This is our first campsite at Kingston Mills Locks.

A really important part of the Rideau story is the story of the human lives that built the canals. Working conditions were often terrible and a lot of people died to build this waterway.

People built this Canal. People desperate for work to feed their families.