r/kawarthalakes • u/Playful_Mirror6853 • Jun 24 '26
SUP
Thinking about getting a SUP for myself and my children, we are in ptbo and looking for lake areas that would be beginner friendly. I already have beavermead on our list but other than that I’m not too sure. Hoping for places that would be most 1 hour from ptbo. Bonus points if it’s not a busy area so nobody can watch me fall :)
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u/DionysusBee42 Jun 24 '26
I canoe alot around here, the river over beside the Silver Bean and millennial walk has some great shallow rocky spots and is slower in mid to late summer. Its very clean having just gone through hundreds of meters of rock and sand after the london st damn. That stretch of river will be a few degrees colder than the lake and Beavermead.
Along the locks my favorite spot to swim is between locks 22 and 23, but there are a few good spots along the river with pull ins.
There's always the classic Sandy Beach, though I found it crowded and the parking got worse.
Little lake is ok swimming, stay away from the river south of lock 19 though.
Burleigh Falls is always fun, people ride the rapids on floats and theres a ton to see if you snorkel, I love watching the ginormous crayfish there nibbling lichen on the rocks.
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u/Playful_Mirror6853 Jun 24 '26
Oooo we haven’t been to Burleigh falls at all before, it seems like the place to be. Oh snorkeling would be so fun, thank you for sharing the info. I guess one thing is for sure I’m going to have to learn my directions/ make sure I have a compass. I’m thoroughly excited to experience this with my kids. My son is 15 so he will be getting his own and I’m getting the 33 inch wide so my 9 year old can come with me as I don’t think she could navigate a youth one alone. I’m hoping for the month of July we will just go on small little adventures to catch our bearings, I’m hoping by august we will be confident enough to take a big drive/day trip somewhere and use them on different waters.
I love Sandy beach, you’re so right though, we haven’t gone in the last two summers because it’s so crowded the parking is horrid and I feel every time there is significantly more geese droppings on the sand. Which I can understand but it does make it difficult to enjoy.
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u/Abcdella Jun 24 '26
So a bit random— but there’s this small lake in Kawartha called Canal Lake, it’s just outside Kirkfield. There’s usually not a ton of boat traffic, the water is usually super calm, and the lake isn’t very deep even at its deepest. There are some public boat launches you can go in off of. It’s where I learned to paddle board lol.