Charleston Lake Provincial Park provides paddling paradise
Area has long been one of Ontario’s prime canoeing destinations
Many canoeists associate true wilderness paddling with the Canadian Shield — a great slab of ancient rock more obvious in northern parks such as Algonquin or Quetico. To the east, however, this two-billion-yearold rock also dominates the landscape by way of a southern extension known as the Frontenac Axis. And because of this, Charleston Lake Provincial Park is also added to the list of the province’s prime canoe destinations.
The rugged, northern character of the Charleston Lake area has always been best suited for the pursuits of outdoor enthusiasts. As far back as the 1860s, the lake had become a wellknown retreat for upper-class vacationers from Ottawa, Toronto and upper New York state who found pleasure in exploring the lake by steamers, fancy sailboats or cedarstrip guide boats rowed by a single oarsman.
Present-day canoeists now seem to dominate the recreational scene by making use of a number of lakes, rivers and creeks in the area. (Charleston Lake — Red Horse Lake — Gananoque River — Wilts Creek is the most popular weekend loop.) However, the provincial park, situated on the southwest corner of Charleston Lake, does offer the best canoeing overall, especially when low water levels can make the extended routes unnavigable throughout most of the paddling season.
Charleston Lake Provincial Park is located northeast of Kingston and can be reached by County Road 3 from Highway 42 and Highway 15 and the Lansdowne turnoff from Highway 401. The main campground maintains 238 sites, but the park also offers13 interior sites organized into clusters grouped together at Bob’s Cove, Hidden Cove, Buckhorn Bay, Captain Gap, Slim Bay and Covey’s Gap. Each cluster has one to three campsites and can hold six people and three tents per site. There is a canoe launch and parking lot at the far end of the main campground, past the interpretive centre and second beach.
It’s wise to reserve well in advance for the more remote sites, especially the cluster site located in Slim Bay, where powerboats have been banned because the area is the only known nesting site for loons in the park. (The southern portion of Runnings Bay is also off-limits to powerboats.)
Conveniently connected to each interior site is a hiking trail upon which visitors can head off to explore the area’s wide assortment of flora and fauna. Since the Frontenac Axis is the most southern part of the Canadian Shield, the various habitats that are found here create what biologists call a transition zone.
Here, a large selection of plants and animals occur either beyond the normal southern or northern extent of their range, and Charleston Lake has some of the rarest finds in the province. Rooted along a narrow valley in Tallow Rock Bay, as well as a southern portion of Slim Bay, is a collection of showy orchis growing at the base of mature hemlock. Pitch pine, one of Canada’s scarcest tree species, is also found in good concentration on the quartzite ridge north of Duck Bay. Charleston Lake’s unofficial mascot, the black rat snake — a harmless but good-sized tree-climbing constrictor that, when startled, will flatten out its neck and vibrate its tail — is also found here.
Three main archeological sites that you can easily visit by canoe include the pictographs in Slim Bay and the mysterious rock shelters found at Jackson’s Point and Gordon Rock. The rock paintings have become harder to spot over the years, but the rock shelters, thought to be used by primitive man, are quite noticeable to canoeists cruising the shoreline. The caves were formed when weaker layers of quartzite pebbles crumbled beneath the more resistant sandstone.
These biological and cultural treasures abound in Charleston Lake, but it’s still the scenic appeal of the rugged landscape, much like the land more to the north, that has influenced both the natural and human history of the area and that will continue to draw canoeists to this semi-wilderness area of eastern Ontario. Believe me, it’s worth a visit!