Six Mile Lake

Saturday, June 27, 2009

A two-hour drive, almost, from Jane and Steeles .

An identical trip to Gloucester Pool is available.

Above is a general view of the area. Take the Whites falls Road exit (162?) off Highway 400 North (center, bottom, of the image). The road makes a sharp right turn immediately after crossing a bridge; straight ahead is Joe Lake Road, but we want Whites Falls (center of the image), so we turn Right.

Read more about South Bay , Baxter Lake , Wood Landing And Cedar Nook .

The Big Chute Marine Railway is only five kilometers east of our launch spot.

Above is a schematic of our paddle, red out, magenta back (after luncheon!).

You can find more information about Whites falls and Six mile Lake by following the links below:

http://gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/minorfalls.shtml

http://www.ontarioparks.com/English/sixm.html

http://www.sixmilelake.net/

As we descend towards the big concrete bridge on our approach to the intersection of Joe Lake Road, we spot a laneway scooting off to the right. We explore.

Don’t bother. There is a perfect parking spot, and a drop of about one hundred feet into the lake - no path. A veritable drop-in!

About a hundred yards after we turn east to continue along Whites Falls Rod we spot Kings Farm Road, almost opposite the entrance to Six Mile Lake Marina.

Don’t bother. There is a perfect parking spot, and a drop of about eighty feet into the lake - no path. A veritable drop-in!

Here is a photo of me taking a photo of the sign to Six Mile Lake Marina.

I have marked both spots on the view above.

Approaching from the west, cross the bridge at Whites Falls and pull into the capacious parking lot on the south side of the road, marked with the large oval above. In a few minutes I am going to talk about the shoulder, marked with the small rectangle above.

Here is a view of the falls emptying from Six Mile Lake into Gloucester Pool. At 10:30 a.m. fishing is a popular recreation.

Here is a view from the weir looking upstream (into Six Mile Lake) under the bridge we have just crossed.

Cables protect boaters from being swept under the bridge and over the weir, but they also prevent canoeists from launching from here and paddling upstream.

Keep your eye on that tree growing out of the lower-left corner of the image.

Not that there is a launch spot. This is a poor photo of a steep bank of sharp rock. That’s the tree from the lower-left corner of the previous image. Now take a look at the slope of rock in that (previous) image!

On the north side of the road is a serviceable shoulder. I say that because I slipped on it, and it needs servicing. The car park entrance is seen on the right edge of the photo. Big Chute Marine Railway is five or six kilometers to the east.

From the shoulder, a narrow path leads towards the lake. The weir is off the left of this photo. Six Mile Lake is to our right.

At the end of a path, a right-turn leads down to the lake. We ported the canoe and gear down here quite easily. A large rock, sloping into the lake, is visible center top of the photo.

Here is the rock, a good launch! We are looking downstream under the Whites falls Road bridge. The bridge has red tabs. Reflective, I hope.

I caught The Notch! (More about that later …)

We are launched and away at 10:40. We left Jane and Steeles at 8:40 and made two small diversions along the way.

A beautiful lake. Ripply water, sun-shine; a light northerly breeze will be at our backs on our return.

Trees and cottages line the shores.

Fred spotted a Blue Heron. [honesty] I took three successively closer photos before I realized it was never going to move [/honesty]

We wend our way through a quiet and shallow (one foot) passage between two islands, skirt the Six Mile Lake marina and head north west into an almost-swampy bay.

Here is one view. We saw a turtle on a log, but as so often happens, he slipped into the water before I could grab my camera.

Purple Irises line the shore.

Fred thinks this is a muskrat lodge .

More Iris. (Is that the correct form for the collective verb?)

We spot a swampy bit and head there …

… it leads us into a narrow green-water channel, so we brave it until the mosquitoes force us out.

Here is a shot of Fred bravely, and feverishly, backing us away from the mosquitoes.

So, out of the bay, hugging the shore on our left we skirt a private recreational area. This area is not a good launch spot, so your critical Google Earth examination of the structures at the northern end of Joe King Road may help identify such areas in the future!

Plastic water jugs mark the boundaries. Two people are paddling a paddle boat, doing a lot of work!

Six people are in each of two other pedal-powered craft.

Geese! This was a large family, Mama, Papa, and what I took to be about a dozen chicks, almost full-grown.

We pulled up onto a rock near the foot of Sanders Lane and ate our lunch.

After lunch we paddled a few bays on our way back.

Here is a poor photo of one of the cottages with multi-colored muskoka chairs

The lake tilted slightly to one side, but luckily I had my camera ready and got a good shot of it!

As we make our way back, the wind picks up and blows us home!

A strange sensation. The view ahead, seen here, suggests we are hardly moving, as the waves and we travel at about the same speed.

A glance sideways to the shore tells us we are screaming along!

We spot some flamingo-pink muskoka chairs; two great cultural icons merged into one profound don’t-give-a-damn statement.

Another poor photo. The chair on the right gives an idea of the true shade.

The wind picks up, choppier now we head back through a channel between two islands.

The tree-lined shores are beautiful to behold.

Or if you prefer, “The tree-lined shores are beautiful to see”.

The shallow, narrow bay greets us with an island property (Lat 44°53'5.64"N, Long 79°44'2.32"W) that we could almost afford.

Large enough for a camp stretcher and a propane stove.

No road access though; still one could use the canoe as a storage locker.

Maybe a tomato plant?

Nearly back. That’s the Whites Falls Road bridge away to the south.

A zoom view of the bridge. There are people on the bridge.

The fishermen must have migrated up stream?

DIVERS on the bridge, the bridge that says “No Diving” (Shakes his head, mutters “Kids!”)

Caught one splashing in the act!

I said I’d tell you more about The Notch. Fred figured it made an ideal parking spot for the prow of the canoe. It did too on our return!

He docked in there so neatly; a perfect fit!

On our way back we stopped off on Dunlop Street in Barrie.

This might be the site of the narrowest short-back-and-sides in the world.

We got our ice-creams in the Pita Pit in Barrie - the REAL Pita Pit, not the one next to Mikes barbers. Pita Pit at 29 Dunlop Street West serves the biggest ice-creams in the region. I can vouch for that!

For the Purists .

Search