I woke up on a Sunday to a beautiful day with a great forecast and for the first time in a long time, I had nothing to do!

I thought about what to do and settled on a nice relaxing paddle in my kayak.

The weekend before this one, I was at  Ontario Sea Kayak Center to take my Instructor Course and I needed a stress free fun paddle today.

I thought about all the places I could go and finally decided on Go Home Lake.

I had not yet paddled there and was curious to check out the lake and some of the waterways nearby and see how far I could get.

I put my Delta up on my car, packed a lunch and some snacks and filled my water bladder for my pfd and headed out.

Go Home Lake is only a 30 minute drive from where I currently live in Port Carling.  Once I arrived I quickly got my boat into the water, grabbed the essentials and headed out.

I was happy to be out exploring again, no schedules, no rules, just me and my kayak exploring a new place.  I was happy as a clam.

The lake had several speed boats on it and I’m sure in the weeks and months to come, it would be busier.  I managed to find a few areas where only a kayak or canoe could go and set off to explore them without the buzz of a motor boat humming in my ears.

I did a small portage over a beaver dam and through a shallow stream and ended up on this calm quiet lake with no one on it.  It was so beautiful and peaceful and I wanted to just hang out there for the day.

As I was sitting at the end of a lake having a snack, this big bird flew up and sat in the tree next to me.  I believe it is a female goshawk but not 100% sure on that.   Along with this rare bird, I also encountered lots of bugs as the wind was non existent. (hence the buff on my head and covering my ears)

I was lucky enough to see a loon when I went back to the main lake, but it was pretty far and after playing hide and seek with me for about a half hour, I gave up and settled on having the photo above.

I found this quaint little bridge so I paddled up to get a closer look.

Very cool how this beaver dam can hold all that water back.  The differences in the levels were huge and it was pretty amazing to me.

I paddled back towards the parking area and decided to go the other direction into the shallow waters.

They were very calm and mirrored (as I love them) but that also again meant, no wind and lots of bugs.  Ahhh the things I do for pretty pictures!

I got quite a ways, but then arrived at this culdesac and although I was tempted to go through it, I knew I probably wouldn’t get very far on the other side as the water here was extremely shallow… and… did I mention it was SUPER BUGGY? LOL

I headed back to the put in and unloaded my kayak and put it back on my car. It was a beautiful day exploring on the water and I was very happy I’d decided to come here.  Even though there were a few speed boats flying around, most of my time was fairly calm and peaceful, just what I needed.!

I hope you enjoyed my post and it inspires you to get outside and do some exploring!

Unfortunately, paddling time is almost over in my area now. I really enjoyed all the awesome kayak and canoe adventures I went on this year and can not wait to get back on the water in the Spring, and yes, even with all the bugs. Until then, I have lots of great adventures coming up! It’s time to focus on fall and winter camping (yay! no bugs)  and I can not wait to take my new hot tent out for a spin!  Hope you’ll come along!

Happy Camping!

Camper Christina