Mephisto Lake to Dixon Lake- A 15K Paddle Near Bancroft

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We had been thinking about how to make this trip for a while before we finally attempted it. My family grew up near Limerick, so we had been hearing about how beautiful the Blue Sea Lakes were forever. Finally, we put our minds to trying to get there.

Spoiler alert. We didn’t actually make it to the Blue Sea Lakes, so this is a trip report about the paddling route from Mephisto Lake to Dixon Lake.

Getting There

The Blue Sea Lakes are in the township of Limerick, which is just south of Bancroft. It’s about a three hour drive from Ottawa.

These lakes are on privately owned property. So, that meant we had to try to get to them by water (in Limerick, you can’t own water, or even technically the waterfront of your private property- I’m pretty sure).

After looking at all our options (there were only two), we decided we were going to try to paddle from Mephisto Lake, to Dark Lake, and then through to Dixon Lake. We were going to try to find Dixon Creek which would hopefully get us to the Blue Sea Lakes.

Our other option would have been to put in at the St. Ola dam and try to paddle from there. It seemed just a bit too long for a couple of amateur paddlers such as ourselves.

By starting at Mephisto Lake, we were actually starting our journey in the township of Tudor and Cashel. Check out the map below to see where the boundary lies between Tudor and Cashel and Limerick townships (straight grey line). It runs right between Mephisto Lake and Dark Lake- this is an important distinction because a lot of the land around Mephisto Lake is Crown land, which means you can camp on it. But, once you cross over into Limerick, all the land around the lakes is privately owned.

There’s a public launch on the northeast side of Mephisto Lake that we wanted to use to put our kayaks into the water. This launch is at the end of Mephisto Lake Road (use these coordinates to get there: 44.941660,-77.569377).

Calling Mephisto Lake Road a road is pretty generous. It might be better described as a wide-ish dirt trail. We were able to get in with our little car, even after all the rain we’ve had this year. There were other small cars down there as well. It just takes some careful, patient driving to make sure you avoid the big rocks and even bigger potholes.

There is a ton of parking available at the launch. About 150 metres from Mephisto Lake the road starts to get a little steeper. We decided to park at the big field at the top of the hill and walk our kayaks down. Crown land can be camped on for free, and if you were getting in late you could camp in this field for the night.

The Route

After launching, we set off to the shoreline directly across from the launch. Mephisto is a small lake, so getting across to the opposite shoreline took no time at all.

We knew there were campsites along this shoreline and hoped to get a sense of where they were, even though we knew we wouldn’t be stopping on this trip. We paddled past the first campsite within ten minutes. It was about .75 kilometres from the launch.

This site was really easy to find because someone had put up a big rope swing overtop of a rocky ledge. Mephisto looked deep from where I was sitting, but since we forgot beach towels (and because I’m a chicken), we didn’t stop to try it. From what I could see, this site didn’t look too flat, but would be well suited to hammock camping.

We found a second site quickly after, which looked more open than the first, and much flatter. This one was easy to find as well- it’s just to the west of an area on the lake that has a lot of driftwood, which is the first spot we saw like this on the lake. This second site was about one kilometre from the launch, along the northwest shoreline.

In our planning stage, I had seen a map that indicated there are a few more campsites along this shoreline, but they weren’t readily apparent to us. Since we had a destination in mind we weren’t looking too hard. I would love to come back here and take a better look around so I can report back!

We stuck with the shoreline for the most part, and after 3.2 kilometres, found ourselves leaving Mephisto Lake via a skinny creek. We turned right (okay, headed northwest) to start paddling into Dark Lake. There’s no way you can miss this turn, because there’s only shore in front of you at this point. If you were to head left, you would be paddling into Limerick Lake.

Mephisto Lake had some really nice, rocky areas on the shoreline and Dark Lake was lovely as well.

Where I thought it got really fun though, was leaving Dark Lake for Dixon Lake. First things first, we had to paddle toward the break in the trees. The sky was cloudy and clear at different times throughout our journey, but at this point the sun decided to shine directly where we needed to go. Cute! Thanks for the help, Nature.

Past the break in the trees was another little creek, which started to widen up as we paddled further. In order to get to Dixon Lake, we had to paddle through the “Lily Pad Highway.” It was really cool- lily pads all across the stream except for a path through the middle.

We also had to get over a few obstacles. We were able to just barely scoot over the beginnings of a beaver dam. There was also an area in the creek where there was once an old bridge, and branches have been getting caught as they move with the current.

Finally, we passed through a grassy little area, and Dixon Lake opened up before us! We knew Dixon creek was supposed to be over near the clearing to the north, and so we headed in that direction.

We did our best to figure out how to get into that creek, but it just wasn’t happening. We even checked our electronic GPS to make sure we were in the right spot, because it didn’t look like any of the creeks we had paddled through so far.  Sure enough, we were in the right place. But, this creek was so overgrown, and there were so many trees that had fallen, that there was no way we were getting in to it.

At this point we had been paddling for a little over 7.5 kilometres and my arms were KILLING ME. So instead we pulled our kayaks up into the little clearing to stop for lunch and enjoy the view. It had taken us two hours to get to this spot, so you better believe we were going to enjoy it for a while.

Getting Home

The wind and current must have been on our side on the way back, because we were actually able to get back in about an hour and forty-five minutes instead of the two hours it took us to get there.

Paddling from Mephisto Lake to Dixon Lake was an awesome adventure, even though we didn’t reach the Blue Sea Lakes. But, I think Mephisto has a lot of potential whether you want to paddle two kilometres, or head in the opposite direction from us and try to get twenty or more. It’s a great lake for those new to kayaking or paddling, because none of the lake are very big so the water stays calm. It would also be fantastic for anyone wanting to try kayak/canoe camping for the first time, and not wanting to travel too far to set up camp. While there are some cottages on Mephisto and one on Dixon Lake, there’s very little boat traffic. Despite all the cars at the launch, we saw four powerboats the whole time we were out. It was incredibly calm and peaceful even though we went on a long weekend.

I hope this trip report has enough info to get you there too. Let me know in the comments, or share and tag a friend to start planning your next adventure!

Map

Gear We Brought

• Kayaks
• Bailing buckets (with rope and whistle)
• Life jackets
• 2 x 1 litre water bottles
• Bug spray
• Sunscreen
• Sunglasses
• Hats
• Cell phones
• Waterproof cell phone cases
• Waterproof camera
• Lunch
• Extra snacks
• Small dry bag
• First aid kit (including tick removal tool and water purification tabs)
• Fire starters (lighter, fire starter stick, lint)
• 2 person bivy
• Map
• Compass
• Pocket knife
• Toilet paper
• Plastic bag
• 35 litre dry bag
• Extra clothing

Gear We Forgot

• Towels (for swimming!)