Ottawa River - Voyageur Provincial Park

Leaving the Bay

We kayaked the Ottawa River in August of 2010. We spent a few days at Voyageur Provincial Park and launched from there. All of our kayaking was above the Carillon Dam. The weather was mixed with some rainy, grey days and a couple sunny hot ones thrown in. Dave caught some nice bass. The picture to the left of this is my favorite one taken on the water. We were kayaking out of the bay towards the Ottawa River. The sky, water and parked boats in the distance made for a cool picture. Below are some other pictures of our time on the water.

Beautiful Morning Sky

Heading for the Launch

The photo to the left is taken just before the boat launch where we took out. We had a lot of fun paddling here. I encountered many herons along the way along with many other species of bird life. A few times as I paddled along a fish jumped beside my boat. The scenery was beautiful and the river wide with no current. The only work came from paddling back into the wind to reach the launch.

Dave's Bass!

Lily Pads

My Manitoulin Kayak

Corillion Dam, Ottawa River

Clearwater Design

I finally made it to Clearwater Design, the factory where my kayak was built. It took us just over four hours to drive there, but it was worth it. We met Michelle at the factory and she told us to bring the kayak in and they would repair it for us. My kayak had a few issues and needed skilled hands to repair the rudder and a few other issues sustained in unfortunate accidents over the last season. Skilled hands fixed it up and it looks as good as new. The weather here is not great for kayaking, but I'm anxious to take it out again and do some paddling. The rudder works so smooth now! I cannot say enough about the amazing service at Clearwater. We were treated to a little view of how my kayak was built as well - amazing! The pride in the company, its manufacturing process and the final product is so evident in the staff. At some point, I'm sure I'll want to upgrade my kayak as will Dave. When that day comes, we'll gladly drive to the Clearwater Designs factory and buy a kayak. If you're looking for something high quality built by good people,  look at a Clearwater Designs kayak and try to visit their factory. I have a link to their website on the sidebar of my blog.  I cannot say enough good things about Michelle and her wonderful company and staff!