Jock River- An 18.5K Paddle from Richmond to Ottawa

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I can’t believe we didn’t know about this gem- it’s so close to home! But I’m glad we found out about it, because our adventure on the Jock River had everything you could want for a sunny Sunday morning in July. When we first set out, the river was calm and peaceful. Trees were crowding the riverbank and turtles were lounging in the sun. Then near the end, the water started to move quickly, and things got way more exciting than peaceful. And the inside of my kayak got WAY more wet than dry. The class I rapids we were paddling through seemed to want to jump inside my boat.

To be honest, I’m not even sure that people who enjoy white-water sports would classify these as anything but little baby rapids. For me though, they were a really fun (and kind of scary) challenge. This was an awesome day.

I’ve heard that water levels on the Jock River can get low enough through the summer months that parts of it can’t be paddled. We didn’t have that problem at all, probably due to the record rainfall we’ve had in Ottawa all summer so far.

Getting There

This summer (and last) there’s been a ton of wild parsnip all over Ottawa. Like all over. The City of Ottawa has put up warning signs because this stuff is bad news. If your skin has contact with sap from the plant, it becomes really susceptible to burns from the sunlight. Obviously, it’s best to avoid wild parsnip, but that also makes it trickier to find spots to put into, or get out of, the river.

We decided to leave a car at the end of Goodwood Drive, because that’s where we planned to get out of the river. You can use these coordinates to get there: 45.262699, -75.716608. This street ends at Heart’s Desire Park, and travels right alongside the Jock River. We noticed that there was very little wild parsnip between the river and the street. There was also a little “path” from the river to the street that let us know others had thought this was a good spot to get out too. There’s a dam on the river a little past this point, and we just didn’t feel like making the effort to portage and get back in (more details about how to do that come later in this article).

Originally, we had planned to put in at Greenbank Road. There were a few areas we noticed along the river that might be good spots to put in or get out, and I’ll describe these to you as we move along the route. When we woke up that Sunday morning we felt like a longer paddle would be a great way to spend the day, so after dropping off the first car we headed out to Richmond with the kayaks. We drove to Jock River Park and offloaded our kayaks before parking at the church we had passed on the way in. This was a really residential area, and parking on the street would be easy to do as well. Use these coordinates to get there: 45.186712, -75.834445.

From where we offloaded the kayaks to where we put in was roughly 150 metres, following the gravel trail that headed to the left. We dragged our kayaks beside the trail, across grass that was still covered with morning dew. We were super excited to see some huge tadpoles in the water as we approached. There must have been about a hundred of these guys, and they were close enough to the shore that you could see their little legs and tails really clearly.

The Route

Since we wanted to head towards the mouth of the river, we went left (north) towards the bridge. Even though Ottawa is a long way from Richmond by boat, we knew we would have the current with us the whole way, making things easier. This first part of the river was in a residential area but was beautiful regardless. The trees on the banks of the river made it feel quite calm and secluded. There was some really great wildlife along the way too; the turtles were out enjoying the sun just like us.

We had our first little bit of excitement only a *kilometre in. The water was rushing over an old dam, and so started to move a little more quickly before we dropped just a foot over the dam itself.

*All of the points along this route that we noted were recorded from a safe distance from any water that was moving quickly. So in most cases, if I say something is at a particular distance, it’s likely at least fifty feet beyond that.

Following this first little bit of excitement, things stayed calm for quite a while. It wasn’t until we had paddled 8.6K from our starting point that we hit our next section of fast-moving water. This is an area where the current was noticeably stronger; they could MAYBE be considered class I rapids, but “fast-moving water” seems like a more accurate description to me. The current in any sections I describe as being “fast-moving” isn’t so strong that you couldn’t control your boat, or even paddle backwards if you wanted (it would be tough though!).

If it helps you to keep track, we had gone under three bridges before this point. This first section of stronger current didn’t last very long, and felt very manageable (but keep in mind this can change from year to year with changes in the water levels).

We carried on, and slowed down to check out the rail trail (after paddling 9.8K) because it’s a pretty cool structure to see from below. Then, we caught our next section of fast water just after the Moodie Bridge, at the 10.2K mark.

From where we were sitting, it looked like you could walk down from Moodie and put into the river near the base of the bridge, but this would be made tricky by the steepness of the slope near the bridge. There was also wild parsnip growing on the slope.

We passed under the 416 Bridge and the bridge on Borrisokane Road on our way to the next fun section of the river, just before the Greenbank Road Bridge. If you’re still keeping track, we’ve now passed under seven bridges (if you include the railway). There’s a little blip of a rapid at the 14.7 K mark, right before the bridge at Greenbank. We stayed close to the left bank, and it was really easy to navigate.

After the bridge, we noted that the river’s edge at Greenbank would be a really good spot to put in, or get out. This area is also very residential so it would be easy enough to find parking in a neighbourhood nearby, or near the culvert that runs under Greenbank. Use these coordinates to get there: 45.255911, -75.737687.

If you are a big old chicken, like me, GET OUT HERE. Call it a day. By this point you would’ve had a lovely paddle, ending with a tiny bit of excitement. Perfect.

We did not get out here. We kept going, and in no time we were at the longest and most rapid-y rapids we had seen all day. These started just after the 15.8K mark, and didn’t end EVER.

Okay, if I’m being completely honest, they ended after only half a kilometre, right under the bridge at Jockvale Road. Going into this section, the water starts to move quickly, but if you can get over to the left hand side there’s a calm area that you can rest in before the water starts to move REALLY QUICKLY right before the bridge. I bet it took us less than a minute to get through this whole section, but it felt like a long time because to my untrained eye it looked like the water was going berserk. A lot of the water also jumped in my boat. I think these could possibly be class II rapids.

These rapids were super fun, but I was very glad to pull over under the bridge for a little break. The amount of water that had gotten into my kayak was threatening to tip me over, so I was glad for the opportunity to bail it out.

The bridge at Jockvale Road would also be a good place to take your boat out. From where we stopped to rest, on the left (northern) bank of the river, there was a two lane track leading up into an open field beside Jockvale. This field looks as though it’s being developed for housing to be built. I can’t guarantee that this will always be a good access point, but right now you could drive into the field and carry a boat up or down the short track we saw. There are big rocks at the river’s edge that require careful footing. Use these coordinates to get right onto the track leading to the river bank: 45.262016, -75.734793.

After a short rest, we decided to carry on. The water under the Jockvale Bridge moves quickly, but after what we had just been through it felt like nothing. This section only lasted for another half a kilometre, and we went right down the middle. We had a bit of calm water that lasted about .3K, and then we were on to another section with stronger current. During this stretch we had to navigate around a little clump of land in the middle of the river. We chose to head to the right, and had no problems in this short section (which was half a kilometre long).

Things settled down after that, and we soon passed where we had left the car. We paddled past that point to check out the location of the dam, which we came across at the 18.5K mark. We had traveled along this river for hours at this point, and not once had we seen any signs or buoys warning us of any hazards. So when we saw a long line of buoys roped together, in front of a bright red “danger” sign, we approached very cautiously. We weren’t able to get very close to the dam, and that was fine by me.

Getting Home

We paddled back a little ways and pulled our boats out on the north side of the river, which was now on our right. After getting out, we decided to follow the dirt path at the very end of the road.

This little path leads to a trail that runs along the river in Heart’s Desire Park. You can walk right up to the dam to check it out. In the summer months (when there is less run off) there’s quite a drop from the dam to the water below- it was at least four feet, but probably closer to five. I was able to find these pictures of what the dam looks like in the spring- there’s an incredible difference.

There is a spot just .3 kilometres along the path that could be used to to put back into the river. You might decide to portage if you wanted to end up at the Jock River Landing, or if you wanted to continue onto the Rideau River. The Jock River Landing is a nice boat launch at the mouth of the river (coordinates: 45.260498, -75.708089). We chose to end our journey before the dam, because the water levels on the other side looked pretty low, with lots of rocks to bump into.

We were able to cover the 18.5K from Richmond to Ottawa in four and a half lovely, sunny, scary hours.

I hope this trip report has enough info to get you there too. Let me know in the comments, or share and tag a friend to start planning your next adventure!

Map

Gear We Brought

• Kayaks
• Life jackets
• Bailing buckets (with rope and whistle)
• Kayak locks
• Helmets
• Canvas shoes
• 2x 1 litre water bottles
• Snacks (with plastic bag for garbage)
• Waterproof camera
• Cell phones
• Waterproof cell phone cases
• 35 litre dry bag
• Change of clothes

Gear We Forgot

• Kayak skirts (gotta get some of those!)