The sheltered waters along Ontario’s Phillip Edward Island can provide a taste of expedition kayak touring for those who are ready to up the ante on an exposed coast line!
Our group of four had a considerable amount of outdoor and canoe tripping experience, and had done some easy kayak trips, but excitement was high for our first multi-day kayak trip on the potentially turbulent Georgian Bay coast.
While narrowing down a location for the trip, recommendations from kayak savvy friends were unanimous; head to Phillip Edward Island.
This large island at the north end of Georgian Bay near the town of Killarney offers a number of trip options worth exploring. A popular 4-5 day route is to circumnavigate the island (approx 50km), making use of Collins Inlet for the return trip after travelling amongst the small islands and bays off Phillip Edwards South shore. We only had two nights for our trip so we chose to head to a group of islands along the South shore known as The Foxes and spend the weekend exploring the areas sheltered islands and bays.
We arrived at Killarney Outfitters on Highway 637 (off of Highway 69) west of Killarney Provincial Park before the staff even arrived for the day. We were anxious to start out early before the wind picked up. Once the staff arrived we picked up our paddles and skirts and headed to our put in at the Chikanishing (Chik) River. Killarney Outfitters had conveniently delivered our rental kayaks here, avoiding the need for us to transport them ourselves. It’s important to note that although we would not be camping in Killarney Provincial Park, the parking lot is in the park, and a park permit must be purchased to leave a vehicle here.
Upon emptying our vehicles we scratched our heads trying to figure out how we would fit all our gear into the seemingly small kayaks, but were surprised at just how much we could actually fit inside the 17 foot boats.
We set off around nine and used the short paddle down the protected Chikanishing to get used to paddling our loaded kayaks. Soon arriving at the mouth of the river we breathed a sigh of relief; the wind was slight and the distance across the mouth of Collins Inlet which separates Phillip Edward from the main land was much less than we had envisioned. As we found out on our return trip, when the wind picks up this 700 metre crossing can be a rough one.
We quickly made it across and entered the maze of glacier smooth pink granite islands and islets that dot the Southern shore of the island. From here we could look back and get our first views of the La Cloche Mountains, which at estimated 3.5 billion years old are one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth.
For the next three hours we leisurely hopped from island to island, taking comfort in never being too far from shore, and enjoying protection from Lake Huron’s swells. We stopped for lunch on Le Hayes Island, which is a relatively large island just West of The Foxes and soon decided to set up camp here, before the arrival of some threatening rain.
Le Hayes as with many of the Islands along the way had numerous great looking campsites, many on beautiful rocky points with spectacular views. The only evidence that others had previously used our site was the fire pit. Firewood was in abundance even for an island site and the lack of privies had not taken its toll.
We squeezed in a quick evening paddle around Le Hayes after setting up camp, taking in more of this truly impressive landscape.
We spent the next day exploring the nearby islands, making it out to West Fox, the furthest in this chain of Islands from Phillip Edward. Here we peered back towards our campsite during lunch atop the islands beautiful rocky outcrop.
The paddle back to camp from West Foxes gave us a taste of what Georgian Bay could be like in higher winds, encountering a steady stream of rollers from the open bay, funnelling between the protective islands. They were just the right size to practice paddling in rougher waters, but we were certainly thankful they were no larger.
Wildlife sightings were limited during our short trip; however there was certainly an abundance of waterfowl and other birds including Sandhill Cranes and Bald Eagles. Our Island was also home to a playful mink who we could watch hunting for crayfish from our site.
Early June seemed to be a great time to visit Phillip Edward Island. The almost constant breeze off of the bay worked wonders at making the mosquito’s and black fly’s a non issue and we only had two brief glimpses of other paddling parties. The water this time of year however was much too cold to swim, a trade off we were happy to make to be bug and crowd free.
We met our final challenge on the paddle out, facing a reasonable head wind coming across Collins Inlet, creating the largest waves of the trip. By this point we were comfortable enough in our boats and confident enough in our ability that we just pushed through and made it across safely. A passing fishing boat helped us to find the entrance to the Chikanishing, which even with markers on the rocks at the mouth of the river, was tricky to locate.
The Phillip Edward Island region of Georgian Bay certainly provided the gentle introduction to more serious kayak tripping that we were looking for. We were lucky enough to have almost perfect paddling conditions, but keep in mind that Georgian Bay is a huge body of water and can provide its fair share of rough seas. The cold waters of June should not be taken lightly and if you are completely new to kayaking it is a good idea to have a couple of gentler trip under you belt and take a skills course before venturing onto this part of Georgian Bay.
Mike Stiell
Trip Planning…
Paper Map:
Phillip Edward Island & Area Map (The Adventure Map series)
Local Oufitter:
Where to stay before/after:
Post trip meal:
Herbert Fisheries (great fish and chips in the town of Killarney)
