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This summer, we knew we wanted to take our daughter canoe camping. The only trouble was, she had never been in a canoe! So we took every opportunity we could find to get her into one, starting with small paddles at the cottage, and then practicing with longer paddles here in Ottawa.
We were lucky enough to borrow my brother’s canoe, and he lives in Little Italy. So one day, we found ourselves putting in at Dow’s Lake and paddling out towards the locks by the Ottawa River.
The Rideau Canal is a super cool route that actually travels all the way from Kingston to Ottawa. In total, it’s 202 km long. There are sections of open water, like rivers and lakes along the way. And there are other sections through towns that have lock stations along the way- places where the lock masters can change the water levels to help boats pass through to different sections of the canal.
Putting in at Dow’s Lake was actually really easy. And if you don’t have your own boat, you can rent one at the Dow’s Lake pavilion. There, you just hop into your rental right from the dock.
A beautiful shot from above on the Rideau Canal, thanks to passportunities.ca!
The Boat Launch
Right behind the lights at Preston and Prince of Wales there’s a small roundabout beside the boat launch. You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.395811, -75.706272.
We stopped our car there and offloaded the canoe, leaving it in the grass nearby. Then, we went and parked across the street. You have to pay for parking there.
The boat launch itself was wide, and made of concrete. The section of concrete that was underneath the water was a little bit slippery and slimy, but not too bad.
Photo of my kid at the boat launch, trying to convince me to take her swimming.
Our Route
We carried our canoe down and jumped in without incident. Then, we headed away from the pavilion to the opposite shore of Dow’s Lake. We had checked the map before leaving, so we knew that if we paddled to our right out of Dow’s Lake, we would come cross a lock station soon after leaving the lake. Since we wanted a longer paddle, we headed to our left to leave Dow’s Lake. This had us traveling north along the Canal, towards the Ottawa River.
The water on Dow’s Lake was really calm, and I doubt it would get too choppy even on a windy day. Dow’s Lake is fairly small, as far as lakes go. But it’s also big enough that if you were just starting out paddling, you could get a good trip in by sticking to the shoreline.
@polefitjulie paddling on Dow’s Lake- thanks for the photo!
The Canal
The water in the canal acted differently than the water in Dow’s Lake. Motor boats are allowed in the canal, and we saw a lot of huge, very cool looking boats as we paddled along. It was fun to watch them, and for the most part they traveled fairly slowly when they noticed they were sharing the space with a little canoe.
But, given the sheer size of some of the boats we saw, they couldn’t help but to make some wake. “Wake” is when a boat’s engine causes waves in the water, and those waves came our way more than once. On one occasion, they were big enough to come up over the side of our canoe and into it.
Normally, when you paddle through a boat’s wake it’s a few little waves and then it’s done. But in the canal, the waves bounce off the sides of the canal and then travel back towards you. So it ends up being a really unique, bumpy ride in spots.
With so much to see along the way, paddling through Ottawa towards the river was a ton of fun. In addition to the boats, we passed under a bunch of bridges. It was also really cool being right downtown and seeing all the usual sights, but from the water.
By the time we reached the lockstation up near the Ottawa River, we had paddled just under 6.5 km.
Feeling like you’re in the city but immersed in nature at the same time is amazing. Thanks for sharing this photo @vignesh_editz!
Patterson’s Creek Park
Heading back, we decided to stop for a break. Because, quite frankly, we were exhausted. We paddled under the cute little bridge about halfway back that would bring us to Patterson’s Creek Park. This proved to be the perfect place to stop for a break. There was a small dock that made it easy for us to jump out of the canoe. There was also a building with washrooms and a water fountain, as well as a lot of green space to just sit down and relax in.
If you were planning a shorter paddle, a trip out to Patterson’s Creek Park for a picnic would be just about perfect.
After resting our poor, weary arms, we hopped back in the canoe. We paddled back to Dow’s Lake slowly.
SUPs seem to be very popular on Dow’s Lake. Photo by @bytowneboyz.
We Made it Back!
All in all, we had paddled just under 13 km. It was tough, but also super cool. Dow’s Lake is a popular spot in the summer, and now I know why! Plus, with Little Italy just around the corner it would be really easy to find a great spot for lunch or dinner, or coffee, or sweets. You could totally make a day of it!
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!
Paddling from Dow’s Lake along the canal is the perfect half day trip! @mon_greenwood agrees… Thanks for the photo!
Map
Whenever I’m paddling somewhere new, I tend to wonder about who was on, and who took care of that land before me. I’ve enjoyed using this website as a place to start learning more about the indigenous people whose land I’m on: Native-land.ca.
Our GPS tracked route from Dow’s Lake along the Rideau Canal.
Gear We Brought
- Canoe
- Paddles
- Life Jackets
- Bailing Bucket with Rope (by law, you have to have one)
- Hats- there’s not a lot of shade along the canal! (Sunday Afternoons for my husband and Jan & Jul for my daughter)
- Sunscreen
- Hydroflask (SO nice to have icy cold water on a trip like this)
- Pika Layers Adventure Shirt (for my daughter, its UPF 50)
- Aquaquest Waterproof Backpack (to hold phones, clothes, snacks, etc)
- Blanket (for my daughter to sit on)
This STUNNING photo by @serjiio has me wanting to try SUPing on Dow’s Lake next!
If you haven’t already seen this, you can relive your trip! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_d2mqTLNNg&ab_channel=TVODocs
Thank you for posting this. We just got our own boat and have been looking for little children friendly lake options close to home to get started. Your post was perfect info!
Yay, so fun! Be careful of venturing too far into the canal. The water acts so funny bouncing off the sides, I found it to be a bit unpredictable. (I’m also a bit of a chicken lol)