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York River

Information for planning a canoe trip down the York River in Algonquin Park.

If you're up for a beautiful, two night adventure that's a mix of some great river paddling as well as some beautiful lakes, and is less of a drive, might I suggest the York River. It's right at the bottom of Algonquin's pan handle. It does have a doozey of a 1.4 km portage, but there's no whitewater so bring or rent the lightest boat you can. 

This route is almost a loop, as you can see in the map below. You'll still need to set a short little car shuttle at the end and there's no official safe parking lot. 

There's a fun little section with several beaver dams to pull your canoe over. If you don't find that a cool part of the trip, you might be annoyed—there's a bunch.

Planning information

Route

• Easily done in two nights. 15 km total paddling distance.

• Put-in:  Kingscote Lake, Algonquin Access Point #15.

• Take-out: A sort-of take out on Eagle Rd. If you're shuttling yourself, you'll need to find somewhere on the road where you're comfortable leaving your car.

Portages: 

• A 1400m, a 600m portage, and a 650m portage.

Booking

• Since this route is mostly within Algonquin Park, you'll need to book your sites ahead of time through Ontario's Park Reservation system. 

• The Kingscote car camping area has "Jump off" sites, which are very handy if you're driving up in the evening. Jump off sites are sites intended for canoeists arriving late. They are meant for an overnight before your trip, not for hanging out for the day. The best part is they apply the same rules as backcountry camping, not car camping, so the 9 person limit applies rather than 6.

• Kingscote Lake has jump-off sites at the parking lot for use if you drive up late. 

Shuttle

• We just used our own cars for a shuttle on this one. It looks like Deep Roots Adventure would offer such a shuttle—you just need to contact them to find out the cost.

• Since it's a 7 km shuttle drive, you could also lock up a bike at the take-out and drive back for your car. Or even hitch hike or pay a local to give you a lift.