What says fall in Ontario more than the changing colours of the trees. Red, Yellow and Orange mixes with the greens to make for stunning photography opportunities. It is my favourite time of the year to do familiar kayak routes. Something about seeing them in their fall glory makes them new again.
Did you know that fall colours are unique to our geography? I had never given much thought to how lucky we are until I started meeting kayakers from England, Norway or the southern USA. As we get less sun in the fall months, Arborous and Oak trees are susceptible to their leaves changing colours. This is due to pigments in the different kinds of leaves.
The three pigments that color leaves are: chlorophyll(green), carotenoid(yellow, orange, and brown), and anthocyanin(red). As the days shorten and the trees get less sunshine, they have less capacity to produce chlorophyll, that allows the carotenoid in the leaves to show through. This is why orange and yellow leaves always seem to be consistent. What about the reds? That’s a whole other ball of wax. Reds depend on the weather. Sunny days with cool nights are the perfect conditions for the leaves to turn. The red pigment is made as a protection from the colder weather. If it is too warm, there is no need for them to form. As well, the wetter the fall, the brighter the colours will be. The best autumn colors come when there's been:
- a warm, rainy spring.
- a summer that's not too hot or dry.
- a fall with sunny days and cool nights.
Algonquin Provincial Park
Established in 1893, Algonquin is the oldest provincial park in Canada its vast interior consists of maple hills, rocky ridges, and thousands of lakes. While most are not well suited to kayaking, there are few notable exceptions. If you plan your trip right, you will have spectacular views of the pine, maple, birch and spruce.
ock and Opeongo Lake are personal favorites. The best time to view the colours in the park is from mid-September to mid-October, depending on the weather conditions. If you want to make sure to plan your trip to see the best of the colours, you can use the Friends of Algonquin’s colour tracker to estimate the season’s peak.
Amazing moose viewing opportunities along Highway 60 as the moose are attracted to roadside salt left after the winter sanding operation. However, please be careful, respectful, and never approach or feed any wildlife.
Georgian Bay Islands National Park
Beausoleil Island is the largest island in the park, which is a part of the largest freshwater archipelago (a sea or stretch of water containing many islands) in the world. In Ontario we are very lucky to have two major archipelagos, the other being 1000 Islands National Park, which is also a spectacular place to kayak.
This park is vast, spread out over many islands and very close to Toronto. With a city if 5 million+ people so close (2.5hours) comes heavy summer boat traffic. I highly recommend going in the off season to mitigate the traffic (boat and car) as much as possible. It is a fairly sheltered kayak trip to the main island. Once there, you can paddle up and down the east coast of the island. The sunsets and views are amazing. Spread across the island are places to stop and enter the various trails. I recommend doing the Ferry lake loop trail at the North end of the island.
Killarney Provincial Park
Killarney is a paddlers paradise. From the Chikanishing Trail to Phillip Edward Island. Lake George to the Silhouette trail. Killarney is one of the most dramatic places in Ontario to see the fall in all of its glory. Here is a trip report from Josh Spina.
You can read more about his adventures at: CanYak Family Adventures
We had been meaning to take a kayak camping trip for a while. This trip was made spontaneously on a Sunday night in August. I called my brother at 6:30 pm with the idea, and next thing we knew we were on the road by 9pm heading towards Killarney Provincial Park. The drive would take us over 7 hrs heading out from Windsor. For this trip we brought our own boats but decided to rent equipment from a local outfitter.
Long story short the following year we would purchase all our own equipment. We drove through the night, and arrived at the outfitter early in the morning, grabbing a quick nap in the parking lot. They quickly gave us our gear, and we headed to the park office to obtain our parking lot permit. Our put-in was at Chikanishing Creek. We would shoot for 3 days/2 nights for the circumnavigation of Philip Edward Island. Our first day was fairly calm on the water, but the 2nd/3rd brought some nice rollers. Circumnavigation would be from west to east counter clockwise. Day one camp was on one of the small unnamed outer islands facing the Bay.
The 2nd day camp was on the far east side of the island before heading into Collins Inlet. Personally I wasn't all that impressed with Collins inlet, compared to the Southern Bay side of the island. We plan on returning someday when we have more time to explore the outer islands.
Lake Superior Provincial Park
One of the best ways to see the fall colours in Lake superior provincial Park is by hiking the Towab trail. It is a 24 kilometre out and back hike. It's best to camp overnight at the end of the linear trail and return the next day.
The Awausee trail also offers spectacular views of the fall colours. The fall season is also when the waves on Lake Superior typically pick up. Staying at one of the rooms of Rock Island Lodge serve as the perfect base camp for fall adventures. Other trip options in the park include paddling the inland routes, or traveling along the coastline. Naturally Superior Adventures offers a guided trip from the Agawa pictogrpahs to their base at Michipicoten Bay. A favourite spot of the locals in Lake Superior park is Gargantua Bay and the surrounding islands. They are all unique geologically and features such as Devil's Warehouse Island are stunning. There are resident peregrine falcons which can often be seen flying around. Devil's Chair is one of the most recognizable symbols in the park, a spiritually significant formation to the First Nations who occupied the land before European contact.
Agawa Canyon
One of the most epic paddling trips in Ontatio is the Agawa Canyon in the Fall. It is not a trip for a novice paddler but there are various guided trips available. Jeff McColl has been doing this trip for many years. Here are are some highlights from his last trip. To learn more abut Jeff, please visit his blog:
http://agawagroupofseven.blogspot.ca/
Lake Superior Provincial Park is an amazing place!
The geography here is stunning and the fall colours really bring out the definition in the topography.
The area itself is still relatively undiscovered to the masses, but to those of us who return yearly it is more of a pilgrimage.
I have met dozens of people both on the river, and in the back areas who all have this connection. Also there are those who have “matured” over the years who will come to the Parks different front country campgrounds or do day trips from the local motels to just to keep their connection to the park. It really does mean that much to them!
Most of my trips here are solo, and with 50 years of paddling behind me I find myself very relaxed, even when the weather is “iffy” or even having critter interactions around camp. One of the most exciting things I find is imagining those that have visited before, and survived in here with minimal equipment.
On my trips I never tire of the scenery, the lighting, leaves, weather make for a constant change, not only year to year, but just over short periods of time and if you wait you will get incredible shots! No photoshop required! If the weather, lighting and water levels don’t work out, there is always next year.
An important thing to remember if you venture into the various canyons and gorges is that cellular phones, spot/inreach/ and satellite phones do not work or may only work in short bursts. If you are on top of the hills, the SAT systems will work but you are a long way off from the city, your gadgets will not function reliably. One thing that is reliable, is the Environment Canada Marine Weather Forecasts. For the last three years I have been able to pick up a strong signal throughout the canyon, which is a great bonus because the weather up there can change so quickly.
Even though the images portrayed here are of the calm areas, the Agawa river is a wilderness white water river with rapids ranging from Class II to V. The river itself is prone to flash floods or very drastic increases of water flow. The rapids are long and continuous. Log jams and channels can change from weather event to weather event so one always have to be very aware of what you are in the river because the scenery can be very distracting.
In lower levels the river can be very “boney” and is not suitable at all for light weight or wooden boats.
The above view, also accessible from the Towab trail is pretty well the same view that early tourists saw well over 100 years ago. If you want learn the history of this spot, read Stewart Edward Wright’s book “The Forest” It is free, and in Chapter XII, it describes the Agawa Canyon.
On my travels, I really get the feel for this area but also get to meet Stewart's First Nations guide who the Towab trail is named after.
There is history of logging in the area. Some is easy to find and you have to have a little understanding logging, to find.
There is a huge treasure trove of information at the Sault Ste. Marie Library under the “Historical Forestry Database online”
There are some very ancient trees on the huge rock faces that are scattered throughout the park. There are gnarled Cedar and Black Spruces. One can only speculate their age. I counted the rings of one that came down in a rock slide, it was no bigger than a twoonie and I could make out 125!
As amazing and beautiful the bush whacking can be along the river, it can be extremely hazardous, huge accents and descents, very loose talus slopes, and loose boulders, holes covered by rotting brush, and dense bush that grows right up to the edge of the cliffs is not for the un-initiated.
This is part of what remains of Logging dam # 6 on the Agawa from the Historical Forestry Database Search Engine. There is a ton of information on the various Algoma watersheds from when logging was the way of life.
How can you say “Typical” view from Agawa Canyon, the views and vistas are all amazing!
Just another one of the fantastic views one encounters when running the Canyon.
This is just inside the eastern park boundary where the little Agawa meets the main Agawa river. This is the view the Group of Seven and the loggers would have had 100 years ago.
Even though there are numerous Class I & II rapids the river is in constant transition. Floods make natural dams that can make for some very deep pools. I have seen some areas where I have had to drag the canoe through shallows and then a few years later it is a long pool. It is pole-able in lower waters but not really easily paddle-able due to the shallow rapids.
A good canoe poler would be able to get up to the falls in a couple of days from Hwy. 17. That said a good poler could also make it to the eastern side of the park with only a couple of portages.
You get a really great view of the falls from being able to paddle into the gorge below the falls.