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Opeongo River

Information for planning a canoe trip down the Opeongo River.

Due to the water levels, this river can only be run in the spring and it's for intermediate paddlers and above. It's a great 22km day trip filled with whitewater. The Opeongo and the Upper Mad can be run in a weekend, but the Upper mad is a longer day. "Base-camping" a motel makes it an easier go. 

When the water is high (river data discussed below) there aren't many rocks to avoid, just big wave trains to bounce through. 

Best resource: George Drought's Madawaska and Opeongo Guide Book. It's got everything you need for this river. 

Shall Lake Algonquin Access Point #17 to Aylen Lake Road

Nights: I guess you could bushwack/stealth camp, but there are no official sites along this stretch.

Put-in: Shall Lake Access Point. You'll need to get an Algonquin day pass for your car since it starts in the park.

Take-out:  Aylen Lake Road. There's a small parking lot with a campsite at the take-out. It could accommodate maybe 8 cars. This is also not a bad spot for free camping before or after your run.

Paddling distance: 22 km

Shuttle distance:  44 km

Outfitters: Opeongo Outfitters, Algonquin Bound Outfitters

River data: There isn't a water gauge on the Opeongo, but you can get a rough idea for the region at least from the lower Madawaska gauge at Palmer Rapids. When we last paddled it on May 10, 2025, the Madawaska gauge showed 90 m3/s and the water on the Opeongo was pretty big. We used a canoe with a full spray deck and would have been swamped without. 

Another suggested river data point is to use the Bark Lake dam input (since the river is upstream of the dam, the dam's output isn't helpful). You can get the inflow from the text box on this page (don't use the chart), Bark Lake Control Dam. I'm not sure how often they update it though. The Wilderness Canoe Association says, "In flow into Bark Lake; 20 cms boney min.), 45-90 cms ideal, 120 sporty max for open boats" (Source). This appears to be fairly accurate in our experience though we ran it at 115 and likely would have been swamped a few times if we didn't have a spray deck on.