Saturday, June 4, 2016

Paddling Lake Eugenia

I told myself I could afford half a day away from gardening, so on the spur of the moment I headed out with a paddling buddy to paddle Lake Eugenia, not the open lake but the stump-filled and marshy southern reaches where the Beaver River enters the lake.

Lake Eugenia is an artificial lake, created by what is now Ontario Hydro, in 1914 when the Beaver River was dammed to generate electricity and the Eugenia Power Plant began its life.   Quite a few farms were purchased by the government, and flooded, but in parts of the lake, the trees were simply cut down, leaving stumps.  So in the upper shallow end of the lake the stumps all stick out of the water.  Makes for some tricky paddling.

We paddled through that, and headed up the channel of the Beaver River, though it`s flooded quite a bit deeper than it was originally.  I was in my little `single`canoe, which I love paddling to explore places like this.

We went as far as we could, but eventually the way is blocked by fallen trees.  This is where the flooded portion of the river ends, and you begin to have to paddle against a current, a fairly serious current.  And as we got in among the trees the bugs found us of course.

We were paddling across lots of logs in the water beneath us.  This one crossed the entire river, so if the water level dropped far it would be a barrier.

The logs look so clear under the water, sometimes it`s hard to believe that you can paddle right across them.

In several places there were Marsh Marigold tumbling over the banks, their bright yellow flowers reflected in the water.

Another big stump as we paddled down out into the lake again.  Those circles of roots are under all the stumps, under the water, but this big one had obviously fallen over (or been pushed by winter ice).

There`s a pair of swans nesting in the area, and we saw one adult Mute Swan (see its orange beak).  It never moved far so I suspect it was guarding its mate on a nest in the reeds.  We stayed well away.

We also saw a very large gull, just sitting on one of the stumps.  No appearances of a nest nearby, but it stayed still while I got remarkably close as I paddled by.  This view is uncropped.

I double-checked and it`s a Herring Gull.  In this cropped version, you can see the red spot on its bill.  It also has those the black-tipped grey wings, and  flesh-coloured legs.

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21 comments:

  1. Nice stump tour & always encouraging to see such nice clear water.

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  2. You brought back memories of the many fishing trips I had on Lake Eugenia. One of the best bass fishing lakes in Ontario.

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  3. what a beautiful place, while I do not boat because I do not swim I think thi was a beautiful post
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  4. The water looks so clear! What a lovely place for a paddle.

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  5. A very pleasant outing. Some of those stumps are like works of art.

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  6. Lovely area to paddle, and I always wonder what story is behind those stumps and gnarled roots.

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  7. awesome shots, I think the 2nd one is my favourite where you can see the tree stumps through the water :-)

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  8. Looks like you had a great day. The strumps and fallen trees look interesting, but they make paddling very tricky.

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  9. Sounds like a wonderful outing!

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  10. You refer to...what is now Ontario Hydro.....but I don't believe that Ontario Hydro exists as a discrete entity any more. It was broken up into Ontario Power Generation, Hydro One etc. Herring Gulls are probably breeding there. Perhaps next time you can find a breeding colony.

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  11. Nice to paddle up a quiet river, love the stumps.

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  12. We went paddling the other day. It was perfect even if our water is not as clear as yours.

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  13. Thanks for taking me along. I enjoyed it all and didn't even have to put up with the bugs! :-)

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  14. Love this post because of the curious waters you travelled. The eight photo is a woodland sculpture. Gorgeous.

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  15. Interesting tour FG. I imagine that a bit of mist would make for some moody photos out on that water.

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  16. Looks and sounds like a great adventure!! Your images tell the story, and how fun to find nesting swans!! Happy Sunday!!

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  17. The old stumps and sunken logs in an artificial lake or beaver pond are always really picturesque and well worth a few photographs.

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  18. That is rather pretty in among the dead tree stumps and logs. The water is so clear! Great shots of the swan and gull. Hope you had your bug spray on.

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  19. I can see the challenge to paddling around in all that!



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  20. sorry im soooo confused... the beaver river doesnt connect to lake eugenia... im wanting to go fishing at the lake and im looking for stumped areas like that for bass fishing... can you please explain where this is?

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    1. Dear Unknown, the Beaver River does flow through Lake Eugenia. It was a dam on the Beaver River that created the lake. The river then drops over Eugenia Falls, and flows down through the lower valley, joined by it's major tributary, the Boyne River. A substantial portion of the flow of the river is diverted through the hydro station. But Lake Eugenia is created by the Beaver River.

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