Charleston Lake Kayaking

Kayaking past some large rock cuts

We spent a week at Charleston Lake in August 2010 for our holidays. The park has a nice northern Canadian Shield feel to it. Lot's of rocky islands and beautiful scenery. We bought maps for the lake including a specific fishing map for Dave. With so many islands, it's easy to get misplaced. Our first kayak day trip we paddled across Charleston Lake to the Blue Mountain trail head, where I pulled up on shore to hike this trail. I don't remember how long the hike took me, but I know that while I was up there the wind picked up a little and we were paddling through white caps on the way back across the two channels. What a work out! Once back to the launch, we kept going and found a nice rocky shoreline where we had our lunch and a swim. The fish were biting as well, so we stayed put for awhile. The next day we launched from the canoe launch and paddled around Whitefish Island in Runnings Bay. We paddled from Runnings Bay into Slim Bay as well.  From Slim Bay, I noticed a small channel into Mud Bay. Ever the explorer, I paddled through shallows and over a log into the bay only to find a huge population of Yellow Jackets flying all over the lily pads. Unbelievable how many yellow jackets everywhere. I quickly paddled back out into Slim Bay. There's a cool bridge we paddled under which is part of the Tallow Bay Trail. Some of my best kayaking memories I know will be of this trip. It was so very much fun. The afternoon always brought with it a wind that eventually blew us off the lake, but we had so much fun kayaking the times we were out on the water. The clarity of the water and beauty of the scenery make this park so worthy of a visit. Lot's of beautiful remote campsites too if that's how you roll. See my link on the side for the Ontario Parks site. Now enjoy some photos:

On shore for some lunch & swimming

Leaving the boat launch

Buckhorn Campsite

Dave trolling - Runnings Bay

Runnings Bay

Dave's Fishing Gear

Slim Bay

Bridge On Tallow Trail