Today we got up and decided this was the perfect day to kayak Lake Ontario. This is the final Great Lake, so now I have kayaked all five Great Lakes. As you can see the water is calm, but there are some swells. It was really great. The point you see in the distance is were the lighthouse and our campground are located.
Great Lakes: Lake Ontario fun facts
The Great Lakes — Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Erie — make up
the largest body of fresh water on Earth, accounting for one-fifth of
the freshwater surface on the planet at 6 quadrillion gallons. The area
of all the Great Lakes is 95,160 square miles.
Lake Ontario, the 14th largest lake in the world, is the smallest of the Great Lakes in surface area.
It ranks fourth among the Great Lakes in maximum depth, but its average depth is second only to Lake Superior.
Lake Ontario lies 325 ft below Lake Erie, at the base of Niagara Falls.
Figures
LENGTH:
193 miles
BREADTH:
53 miles
AVERAGE DEPTH:
283 ft.
MAXIMUM DEPTH:
802 ft.
VOLUME:
393 cubic miles
WATER SURFACE AREA:
7,340 sq. miles
TOTAL DRAINAGE BASIN AREA:
24,720 sq. miles
DRAINAGE BASIN AREA BY STATE/PROVINCE:
New York: 13,500 sq mi
Ontario: 11,200 sq mi
Pennsylvania: 100 sq mi
SHORELINE LENGTH (including islands):
712 miles
ELEVATION:
243 ft.
OUTLET:
St. Lawrence River to the Atlantic Ocean
RETENTION/REPLACEMENT TIME:
6 years
NAME:
Champlain first called it Lake St. Louis in 1632. On a
Sanson map in 1656, it remained Lac de St. Louis. In 1660, Creuxius
gave it the name Lacus Ontarius. Ontara in Iroquois means "lake," and
Ontario, "beautiful lake."
There was a boat launch at this state park. It was about a half mile down the road. The launch was also located at a small river outlet. It made it so easy to go into Lake Ontario. But I really think if we had a beach at the camp site we could have launch from there because it was so calm today, but all we have are big rocks for a beach.
Rog is out in the lake, you can see the swells here too. We only took one kayak out this time. Not sure why. Rog said that the seat on his was broke, but he could have gone with it or I could have taken his. But I was out voted so we went out one at a time. It really is not as much fun without him.
The beach area
All along the shore in the campground there are nothing but rocks like these.
This is the river that goes into Lake Ontario and where the boat launch is located.
A small bridge on the river
Pretty flowers along my journey
the seed pods to the pretty pink flowers
white, yellow and orange flowers
purple water flowers
This is a cormorant and in the bushes you can make out a Canadian goose. They were hanging out together along the river bank
Erie Canal
After kayaking we headed into town to look for a hardware store. Rog's kayak seat was broken so he needed to get some hardware stuff to see if he could repair it. He thinks he has it now, but would not take it out for a test run. I really wanted to go out again and kayak to the lighthouse. But I lost again.
On our way to town we drove over the Erie Canal.
fun facts about the Erie Canal
1. The first shovel of earth to begin construction of the Erie Canal was turned in Rome on July 4, 1817.
2. The first section of the canal opened in 1819 from Rome to Utica.
3. The entire length of the canal is 363 miles and opened in 1825,
serving as the water gateway to the west, connecting New York City to
the Great Lakes and providing a cost-efficient mode of transporting
freight to western portions of the state and eventually the country.
4. The canal was a state-funded endeavor costing about $7 million.
Federal government officials were unwilling to burden some of the task,
but later when it proved a huge success the federal government tried to
take it over.
5. When the canal first opened, Rome citizens were furious. The
original path of the canal did not go through the heart of the city but
instead bypassed it by about 1.5 miles. During the opening where many
communities fired cannons, Rome threw barrels into the canal in protest.
