The Secret of Landon's Bay

Chuck is a long-time kayaker and frequent visitor to Sugar Island, near Gananoque, Ontario, in the heart of the Thousand Islands.  I met him a few years ago when I anchored my sailboat Persistence off Sugar Island and went for a paddle in the small Pungo kayak that I carry on the deck.

"Ever been into Landon's Bay?" he asked me.  

Actually, no -- despite years of boating in the Thousand Islands, I have found little that attracts me in Landon's Bay -- it's exposed to the southwest, so it's not much of an anchorage -- and the part of the bay that lies behind the Thousand Islands Parkway is inaccessible to sailboats, and looks too weedy even for a dinghy ride.

"Well, it's worth a kayak trip," said Chuck. "There's a canyon in there!"

This year I decided it was time to go looking for this 'canyon'.  After anchoring in behind Stave and Hickey Islands in the Navy Group, not far from Ivy Lea, Ontario, I unshipped the Pungo and slipped through Molly's Gut and the fish sanctuary.  Then it was across the open gap in 15-knot winds into Landon's Bay, surfing downwind, under the bridge that carries the Thousand Islands Parkway along the causeway separating the two parts of the bay.

Inside, the southwest wind was blocked by the causeway and the weeds were thick in the July heat.  But Chuck had directed me to the western shore, and sure enough, there was an opening in the bullrushes that edged what appeared to be the end of the bay. 

Holy kadoodle!  Where did that rock come from?  All of a sudden, I am looking up, up, up at what appears to be 80 to 100 feet of bare rock cliffs that slice down into the water ahead of me. The cliffs are almost entirely on the western shore, and the water is open at their base, inviting me around one rock face into the next.  The wind is pretty much gone now -- I can see turkey vultures circling in the thermals high above the cliff tops. For over half a mile after the 'end' of the bay I am treated to one spectacular view after another.  The camera gets a lot of work.

The cliffs seem to be formed in a series of layers that step back slightly from the water.  The ledges so formed support trees here and there, clinging to the rock in whatever soil they can find.

The Thousand Islands Watershed Land Trust says the cliffs consist of gneiss and pink granite and the ledges support a unique microclimate.  

I wondered if rock and ice climbers have found Landon s Bay yet... sure enough, they have, and some of the rock faces even have names like I Scream Sunday and the Dirty Half Dozen Wall.  Seems everyone knows about Landon's Bay but me!

How to get there
44°21'4.31"N,  76° 4'6.31"W
By land, from downtown Gananoque head east along the scenic Thousand Islands Parkway for about 8.5 kilometers (5.2 miles) to the causeway at Landon's Bay. Always a lot of fisher folk there, fishing under the bridge.