CONROY MARSH - July 2013

The day after our Barron Canyon trip, Rudi, AJ, Alexander and I headed out to the Conroy Marsh for what was intended to be an overnight canoing and camping adventure. The plan was to put in at Burnt Bridge Road on the Little Mississipi river, traverse the length of the marsh, taking out across Negeek lake at the MNR dock and spending the night there. Katherine would drop us off, and then meet us that evening with our tent and supplies that evening, and then the next day we would leave the MNR dock on Negeek, and take a shorter paddle up to Combermere and the take out in town.

It all started out well, albeit a little bit windy, and with those vaguely ominous little puffy clouds scudding southward overhead. Paddling was a little tough, be we made decent time down the Little Mississipi to our first break at the point that marks the entrance to the marsh.

On entering the marsh, the wind picked up a bit, and made paddling more challenging. Additionally, just over the Craigmont hill it appeared a squall had formed, and had us right in its path. I decided to try to cover more water, and lashed the boys canoe to mine to keep them in line, and really dug in. Still, progress was slow, and sure enough in less than twenty minutes the nasty weather hit, wind driving at least 50kmh, heavy rain, and the water on the marsh pushing back up into half foot tall standing waves.

Entering the Conroy Marsh on the Little Mississippi River, the marsh opens up to the right, the York River enters behind the trees directly ahead of our canoes.

AJ, Alexander and Rudi posing at our lunch stop, a small point of land that demarks the point the Little Mississippi enters the Conroy Marsh.

This was likely after we got drenched in the squall, the winds too high and the time to late to make it to the other end of the marsh, I decided to turn back.

THE LITTLE MISSISSIPPI RIVER - Into the Conroy Marsh

Monday following our short trip on the York, Rudi and I abandoned Alexander with mommy and headed out to the Burnt Bridge Road put-in, this time heading north along the Little Mississippi and into the Conroy Marsh. Total trip time was roughly two hours paddling, with a fifteen minute break exploring a point with a couple of rock ringed firepits, Rudi excitedly proclaiming there to be an abundance of minerals, including quartz, mica, and fools gold present in some of the rocks. 

Noodling down the Little Mississippi. The main channel generally is about 75' to 150' wide, in a wider wetland from 300' to 500' or wider here

The channel widens out, and the opening of the Marsh appears. The long line of hills trends to the Northwest, leading the marsh to its outlet in Negeek Lake near Combermere

Another view of the opening into the Conroy Marsh. Around the small headland on the right, the marsh opens up to roughly two or threee kilometres wide

Once again we played leapfrog with a pair of Great Blue Herons, and this time I was able to shoot one... Finally!

Sedge Bending! The term courtesy Richard Powell, author of "100 Lakes On Vancouver Island", click to visit his absolutely stunning blog!

Almost back to the put-in, the Burnt Bridge Road bridge over the river is just visible, as well as the trusty Ford Freestar!

Yes, the little (big) kid does paddle a bit! A well graded boat launch we used for our put-in is directly ahead of the canoe

PADDLING THE CONROY MARSH

I got away with my little bowman Rudi on a big canoe adventure today, a three hour trip across Negeek Lake and into the Conroy Marsh and back. We drove down the Palmer Rapids Road South of Combermere (Highway 515), and found a cottage access road north of Jewelville that ended near the Southern end of Negeek Lake (Negeek is tha large body of water on the Google Earth map, top left), with a little track maintained by the MNR that led further to a grassy turnaround, and an old boat launch with a short log crib pier (Top photo). Ten minutes later the canoe was in the water and we were paddling across the shallow lake. I had to overcome my ridiculous fear of shallow water - for some reason I get really nervous about what is coming up underneath the boat, and I get the willies when I can see the bottom vegetation and muck. I think it has to do with the fact I would probably freak out if the boat got upset, and I had to swim in all that crap, so I reassured myself that there was no way in hell the Canadian was going to tip over on flat water on a warm, calm summer day!

It was fairly easy to find the entrance to the York River across the lake, up which the Conroy Marsh wandered, and we paddled through the wide river mouth, with a line of steep hills to our right, and most of the marsh and further hills off to the left. By this time I'd overcome my fear of the shallows, and was paddling close to reeds and lilies, not worried about the murky bottom (Middle photo). For about half an hour we paddled Southwest, mostly along the main channel, and then exploring some side channels on the South side of the main.

The side channels were of a consistant width, about thirty feet or so, and were divided by hillocks of probably spongy waterlogged ground, supporting in some cases small stands of trees (Bottom photo). In other areas, some mammoth rock outcroppings rose above the surface, around which these channels formed. Paddling quietly down one, we surprised a Buck, who looked up, decided we were a bit of trouble, and bounced away to the South. Rudi was very excited, as we had just rounded a corner, and the Deer was less than 80 feet away. We also saw a number of geese, a variety of ducks, and a pair of Great Blue Heron. After spending another half hour or so checking out various little channels, we found the main course again, and headed back down river to Negeek Lake, then across and back to the put-in. The canoe handled nicely, stable and predictable, and was quite easy to paddle, even for a relative novice like me. Rudi does have a bit of improving to do, as more often than not his paddle is in the boat, not the water!