Gnoming the Globe with Kayaks - Wilderness Tours on the Ottawa

Posted Saturday, September 15, 2007 by Andrew Hiss

Students showed up to WV three weeks ago. We ate dinner together, and then drove through the night to the Ottawa River on the Ontario Quebec border. Joe Kowalski of Wilderness Tours has graciously hosted our group in his resort compound, and now out at his Keener Village while we hold classes and paddle the Ottawa...some of these waves are big enough to peel eyelids back when you wipe out, but there is something for everybody on this river.

The resort is a wonderful facility where you can choose from camping on the lawn to a posh bed and breakfast, or a range of accomadations in between. Joe has a restaurant and bar on his property where we ate three delicious hot meals each day. Brenda and Sue really look out for you there, and keep the coffee strong. These Canadians don't mess around. I think the hot tubs were my favorite perk. Bring water and stand up slow when you get out. The pool is right below the tubs if you like to shock the system. I'm sure the jarring is somehow bad for the circulatory, but it feels good. Unfortunately, I stayed so busy getting school up and running at the resort, that I didn't get many pictures. You can refer to this link, Wilderness Tours, where Joe has prepared a world class website to give you all the info you need to plan your own trip. I take kayaking trips for a living, so I hope you appreciate when I say, the Ottawa and the WT resort respectively offer the highest quality of water and creature comforts. Keenerville, on the other hand, doesn't have the civilian creature comforts, but is a kyaker's dream spot with a world famous rapid within view from the porch and an @20ft. long kayak launch ramp for getting in the water...I swear that ramp is more fun than I expect it to be every time I go off it.