On the advice of our friends at Parks Canada, after a very successful sojourn in Smiths Falls we put in just below Burritt’s Rapids Lock the following morning. We transitioned immediately, having lost some paddlers and gained others in our ever-evolving crew, into a moving water manoeuvering workshop. Everyone was amazed at a) how good it felt to be back on the water and b) how much a Montreal canoe—at 12+ metres long—behaves like a high-performance whitewater solo boat.


The counterintuitive key for success in all this is to convince all the paddlers to keep their paddles in the water for stability and to learn to shift ever so slightly during manoeuvres to ensure the downstream gunwale is always tilted lower than the upstream side of the canoe. After the bonding experience of figuring out how to productively use our time off the water, and with a couple of wonderful evening encounters in Perth and Smiths Falls immediately behind us, everyone seemed tuned-in to everyone else and it wasn’t long at all before we were performing like a well-oiled machine, knocking off complex maneuvers in the fast water below Burritt’s Rapids. When everyone was comfortable with these moves, off we headed, downstream now, to Merrickville.
During this unconventional portage, we were joined by a group of very excited international students from Fulford, who had signed up for a paddle with the visiting canoe group. And, while some of us checked in at the Baldachin Inn, right beside the school in downtown Merrickville, Jacob Rodenburg and Glen Caradus—canoe leaders extraordinaire—clicked into instructional mode and off they went with Fulford students for a magical spring paddle underneath the big train trestle just downstream from town.
We awoke to snow the following morning and paddled throughout most of the day, as we made our way downstream to Kemptville, through various combinations of rain, sleet, snow and, yes, hail at one point. Nasty cross winds through some of the wide points in the river, made even wider by the high water levels. Having been on local radio and TV stations along the way and with a good presence on social media (thanks to Jessica and Micaela, our Connected by Canoe social media and communications mavens) the few brave cottagers and home owners who we did pass all waved and called out to which we would reply with a raised paddle voyageur salute and a rousing Connected by Canoe cheer. In spite of the weather (which added a lot to the amplitude of the adventure … snow! … RIGHT ON) we knew all was well, and all would continue to be well, when we veered out of the wind and into the mouth of Kemptville Creek to find two bald eagles sitting side by side in a tree, also enjoying the spring snow shower.
As we went about our business, Goh did his thing with his drones and cameras. Jacob and Glen led an amazing campfire, and we paddled, cooked, sang, talked, and appreciated the sun, when it finally came out on the morning of our final paddle into Ottawa. The closer we got to our destination, the more our discussions turned to keeping the momentum of the journey going. This included a variety of suggestions including doing what we can individually and collectively to convince others individuals, organizations and municipalities to examine Connected by Canoe as a “pilot project” and try something similar in their corner of the country. By that point in our journey, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind about the power of a canoe journey to remind us that as Canadians we’re all in the same proverbial boat and that ‘pulling together’ physically and literally is an excellent platform for or prelude to action dedicated to building a better future for all Canadians.
That was the spirit we took as participants in the so-called Express Leg of Connected by Canoe—those of us who paddled from Kingston to Ottawa—took into the Ceremonial Leg on the morning of May 11th. To the ‘fleet of one’ Montreal canoe, we added two more voyageur-style North Canoes (thank you Jacob and Camp Kawartha), a skin-on-frame Umiaq made by volunteers at the Canadian Canoe Museum, and a very handsome Haida-style Spirit Dancer big canoe from the West Coast.
And to our 16 Express Leg paddlers, we added 32 delegates from the Community Foundations of Canada annual conference and another 30 or so other friends and paddlers from the Ottawa area, including fiddler Kelli Trottier, Ottawa Riverkeeper Meredith Brown and the chair of the Riverkeeper Board of Directors, Geoff Green, and his family, along with a variety of other iconic canoeists like Max Finkelstein, Reid McLaughlin and Becky Mason. Max reminded everyone as we approached Pretoria Bridge that in just over a month’s time, his 150-paddler-strong South Wind Brigade will be converging on Ottawa, with similar groups arriving from the east, north and west, for Canada Day. And, mercifully, although flooding continued to dog the poor people of Gatineau and lower down in the Ottawa River valley, for us on the Ceremonial Leg of Connected by Canoe, the monsoon, the snow, the hail, the wind and miscellaneous other divine pestilences and tests of patience and fortitude somehow stayed away on the morning of May 11th, replaced by fair breezes (even tailwinds) and sunshine!