On Sunday I had a free day, which is rare for me as I have been on 13 trips so far, camping and exploring nature and have rarely been home! I decided I would ride the TC Trail in the morning and paddle in the afternoon. I was so excited to go paddling here, its been so long, so after putting my bike away in the shed, I got my awesome little kayak up on my car and headed to 16 Mile Creek.
Sixteen mile creek is a very close drive to home. I am basically 2 exits away from it on the highway and it’s a really nice place to paddle. The weather was good, warm and sunny with a few clouds here and there. The only thing I don’t like about paddling there is the parking for the put in, however, there is another spot if you really want to avoid that.
I always park on the side of the service road in between Seventh Street and Jordan Road exits off the QEW. People seem to think that the service road is part of the highway and they drive along it, extremely fast. Today, the traffic wasn’t too heavy which was nice.
You can park on either side of the road. I just happen to have come from that direction so I parked on that side, but either side has room for cars to park. When I was little my parents used to bring me to this same spot to go ice skating and there hasn’t been a time I’ve been here to paddle that I haven’t thought about that. It is a happy memory that makes me smile and I love that now, as an adult (lol), I get to kayak here as well!
Once you park and get your boat off the car, you need to do a very small portage to the creek. There is a narrow trail that goes down to the water, but it isn’t very far and only takes a few minutes to get to the water from the car.
I got my boat settled and got in and started my adventure saying goodbye to the nice fisherman who offered to push me off. They didn’t speak much english but they were very nice. Every time I’ve ever paddled here, there has been at least one person here fishing. I guess it’s a good spot for it!
It seemed like today was the day of the birds. Every place I explored, had umpteen birds in and around it and I caught as many photos as possible.
I saw quite a few herons, as I normally do here,but I also saw the bald eagles that nest here and a ridiculous amount of ducks, geese and seagulls. I’m sure there were lots of other types of birds, but I don’t really study them, so I am not 100% sure what kind they all were. There were just a lot and they were everywhere. I am amazed actually I didn’t get any gifts from them as they were constantly flying overhead.
I continued to paddle towards the smaller area of the creek. Sixteen mile to me, is two areas, the very open large water that you put in at by the highway that is akin to being in a small lake, and the actual creek like area, which is very narrow, calm and full of wildlife. My favourite part was the latter and I was anxious to see what was waiting for me there today!
En route to the creek I caught some beautiful sights, including some small splashes of fall. Although in Niagara, the colours are just starting to change, they are always so pretty.
After a bit of work, I made it to the train bridge that signifies the start of the small creek paddling area. I love this bridge as it is always a good subject for photos and it just looks like something out of a movie, super cool and just waiting for you to get the right shot to put on canvas and put on your wall.
After passing under the bridge, the water trail went to the right and then straight again. It was very shallow and covered in lots of green algae, but I did my best to continue on.
I made it up to the beaver damn but then was plagued with a decision. Do I try to portage over it and see how much farther I can go, or do I turn back? As I had ventured past it earlier in the spring, and it didn’t let me go much farther, and I had already biked about 25km’s this morning and still had other things to do today, I decided I would turn back and leave that adventure for another day, maybe one where I had my water shoes, or rubber boots on. lol
The scenery was just beautiful. The sky was super blue, the colours were so vibrant, there were fish jumping out of the water before my eyes in every direction, turtles jumping into the water and birds, everywhere. I honestly felt like I was in the wilderness when I came here far from any city or people and it was such a great place to get solace and peace!
I slowly paddled back towards the put in, getting some pics of the wildlife and changing colours alone the way.
The heron was having fun playing hide and seek with me. I would see it sitting somewhere, paddle up to get a photo, paddle closer, he would take off to another spot, and we would continue on, all down the creek. it was quite a lot of fun.
Then there were the ducks with their swooshing flying sounds. They would sit and wait until I was what they thought close, which wasn’t really at all, I thought, and then they would start their take-offs, flying one by one in a line until all of them had left the area. They would sit, wait, and do it again, further up the creek. Repeat, repeat, repeat. lol
Soon I saw the put in and the highway in the distance. I slowly paddled back to it and pulled my boat out of the water, carried it up the trail and put it back on the car.
I truly enjoyed my time here. It amazes me every time I visit this creek that I can be right next to the heart of the city, and still see so many creatures and feel like I am in the middle of nowhere, when I am most definitely not.
If you haven’t paddled 16 mile creek, you should definitely check it out. Everytime I go I see different animals and have different experiences and that is what exploring is all about.
I hope you enjoyed my post and I somehow inspired you to get outside and take on an adventure of your own. If you have any questions, comments or issues, please do not hesitate to contact me. I love hearing from people!
Thanks so much for reading!
Camper Christina
AWESOME!! What a beautiful day!
Yes, it was! thank so much for reading! Glad you liked it! 🙂
Definitely fun changes in scenery (the water changes, the bridge that could of course be in a movie! ;), the birds/turtles. What a good use of the spare moment of free time 🙂
Thanks Kyrstin! What a great compliment! How are you doing? What’s next for you?
Camping in Oregon soon and hopefully doing some kayaking there (there’s a river near the campsite that I haven’t heard has rapids but I need to look into it) 🙂 Haven’t done much in the last month so I’m itching to get out!
I hiked like 35 km’s this weekend. Last weekend before my knee gets worked on. Have so much blog content now though! yay! Looking forward to your next post! 🙂
That’s awesome! Hope everything with your knee goes well. The Stairs will be your next hike!
How many kms round trip is this trip?
Umm, not 100% sure but it can`t be more than 3 or 4kms in total. I paddle very slowly in here and take lots of pictures so I don`t have a real way of telling, but it`s not a very big distance. 16 mile pond is about 2km`s I think and then depending on how high or low the water is you can go through the creek for maybe another one or two kms. As you have to turn around at each end that is just from one to the other, so for a round trip, just double it I guess?
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What is the entry point I would like to go, what are the directions? Is this Milton or Oakville?
This is just outside of St. Catharines, Ontario. The put in is off the service road right by the 16 mile creek sign.