Selkirk Shores State Park - Grindstone Creek
Memorial Day weekend May 27, 2018
This was a good day to be paddling in the north. We avoided the rain back at some of our homes, and even saw some sun. It was a new paddle, so we were not sure what to expect. First off, we did not have to pay to get in. They don’t charge until June. We liked that. Next, it was a convenient launch area with plenty of parking. The dug out tunnel fit our kayaks perfectly. The 5-8 mph south wind however, seemed more like 15 mph when we put in. It lessened considerably as we traveled south on the creek. Prior to the paddle I checked online and found out that the creek was right on the bird migration route. I looked at pics of the birds traveling by in late May, so I would recognize them. But ... I only spotted a blackbird, a tern, 2 swans and a couple raptors flying high. Bummer. Maybe next time. There were 10 times more fisherman than migrating creatures.
The Creek paddle was not very long. It was slightly more than 2 miles to the Route 3 bridge and low water. We checked out a wetland area near the launch. A huge fish floundered noisily in the reeds, then came out and splashed Cindy MP. Cindy, Cindy MP and Kim ventured out into Lake Ontario through the rushing water passageway just big enough for small boats. That was the easy part. We drifted on the Great Lake past the rocky beach area. It was a little more exercise paddling back to the passageway. It was impossible to paddle back through the rushing low water (Bill E warned us). Luckily a fisherman and 2 young lads were happy to pull us through, so we did not have to get out of the boat there. The water temperature was 69 degrees in the creek and 62 degrees in Ontario.
After the paddle, 9 of us went to Lakeside. It is just a quick left hand turn out of the park. Their Sunday special was Chicken and Biscuits. The majority ordered it. Walt, it was not as huge as Buffalo Head’s but it was tasty. We thought of you as we chowed down. There was no mile high pie, so we settled for some ice cream. Yum. The Memorial weekend paddlers were Bill E, Amy, Dave L, Eric, Kim, Cindy MP, James in his “for sale wooden boat”, Cindy P and Rick, Ruth and Bill G and their friend Linda, and Margie who lives nearby in Mexico.
We pause to remember to give THANKS this weekend to all our Veterans who have fought for our freedom.
-Kim
