Paddling — Flatwater.
Buckhorn Lake and Lower Buckhorn Lake meet at Buckhorn Lock 31 in the centre of the township, and from there the connected Kawartha chain runs west across Pigeon Lake and north up to Catchacoma Lake and Crystal Lake at the Shield edge. Catchacoma is the principal Trent-Lakes-side put-in into Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park's interior canoe routes — the same park whose marquee Long / Anstruther / Wolf access points sit one township east in North Kawartha.
The brief.
Inside the township the chain is essentially flatwater between dams — Buckhorn Lock 31 separates the two Buckhorn lakes on the Trent-Severn Waterway, with no whitewater along the cruising reach. Through-paddling between locks needs planning around the Trent-Severn navigation calendar (roughly mid-May through mid-October), since locks are staffed seasonally.
Catchacoma supports day-and-overnight canoe routes into Kawartha Highlands' interior; backcountry-camping reservations are required for any overnight on the park side. July and August are the warmest months; deep Shield lakes (Catchacoma, Crystal) hold cold thermoclines well into July.
4. places.
- 01
Buckhorn Lake and Lower Buckhorn Lake
Two Trent-Severn lakes separated by Buckhorn Lock 31; flatwater paddling between township shorelines and lock approaches.
- 02
Pigeon Lake
Large Kawartha lake on the township's western shore; part of the TSW navigable chain.
- 03
Catchacoma Lake
Northern lake; principal Trent-Lakes-side access into Kawartha Highlands' interior canoe-route network.
- 04
Crystal Lake
Clear-water Shield lake in the township's north.
Today's read.
Temperature (1.8°C) below the typical range.