Fall Paddling in Frontenac

With the fall colors at their peak, we wanted to get out for a final paddle, so we headed to Frontenac Provincial Park and parked at the Kingsford Dam access then portaged into Devil Lake.

We have been on Devil Lake before when we test paddled some kayaks from Frontenac Outfitters, but this time we were accessing the lake from the north west side and not the south east side.

The portage from Kingsford Dam into Devil Lake is very well travelled as it is also a section of one of their hiking trails. During the month of October, if you hike all their trails and find the code words along the way, you get a certificate from the park (something I’d like to do one year).

Once we arrived on Devil Lake it was apparent how low the water levels have gotten. It was a little difficult to find a place to put in the canoe, and the creek we had to paddle was very low with lots of logs underneath to avoid.

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Out on the main part of the lake we paddled along the shoreline just enjoying the cooler air. Along our route we stopped at what would have been an old homestead and got out to see if we could find any old house remnants.

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We continued down the shoreline to find the marble cliff face that was labelled on the map, which we found in a few minutes. It is very neat how this area was used for so many mining purposes before it became a protected park. If you get the chance to look on the park map, there are many old mining sites to find along the trail system.

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It was time to head back to our portage trail and we got lucky to have the wind at our back. We all noticed how much warmer we were paddling back to the creek and portage. We decided to paddle up the creek a short distance until we came to a set of rapids that were flowing towards us. These rapids must be really fun to paddle in higher water… maybe…. but at that time the water was too shallow to paddle in.

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Once back on the portage, we saw a few groups of hikers heading into the trails for the afternoon. It was actually fairly busy in the parking lot and was even busier when we left. Guess the nicer fall weather was getting everyone outside.

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There are many places to access Frontenac Park and paddle for the day, so if you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us. We have been here many times and have paddle a large selection of these lakes. You can also contact Frontenac Outfitters as well for canoe and kayak rentals as well as information about the park.

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