Ontario’s extensive park system provides many places to paddle in protected wilderness areas, but outside of these reserves countless lakes and rivers fill the Crown Lands. Motors are permitted in these vast public lands, so the paddling is not as serene as in places like Quetico Provincial Park, but it is uncontained: endless miles of forest and subarctic tundra welcome canoeists to explore and camp wherever they please. Some rivers descend to large lakes like Nipigon or Winnipeg, but others, like the Albany and the Winisk, make their way to the sea, where paddlers can get picked up by float plane. At times these large rivers feel more like lakes and at others they crash wildly through gorges. One of the Crown Land’s great advantages is that any route is possible, so long as you can find the water to follow.
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Canadian Canoe Routes
