Canoeing, kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding (SUP)
Paddling is for everyone - even for those with little or no experience. Kejimkujik offers some of the best paddling in Atlantic Canada. Canoe, kayak, or paddleboard waters travelled by the Mi’kmaq for thousands of years.
Bring your own equipment or rent a canoe, kayak, or stand-up paddleboard (plus safety equipment) online from Whynot Adventure, The Keji Outfitters at Jake’s Landing.
- Equipment rentals
- Self-guided day trips
- Wilderness canoeing
- Guided activities
- Paddling safety
- Map of navigation buoys in Kejimkujik Lake
- Help keep Kejimkujik wild and beautiful
Equipment rentals
Self-guided day trips
From Jake's Landing (1-2 hours)
- The trip up river is excellent for families and those with little experience.
- A one to two-hour trip up the quiet Mersey River takes you beneath overhanging red maples and through the home of turtles.
- In small side streams, frogs and water lilies abound; watch them but leave them undisturbed. If you are quiet, you might see an elegant great blue heron.
- An evening canoe outing may offer you a glimpse of beavers.
- Down river leads to Kejimkujik Lake and its many islands, where you can spend hours watching water birds or exploring coves.
From lower Mersey River at the Eel Weir Bridge (2-4 hours)
- A short (200-metre) portage takes you upstream to George Lake, a great place to explore among the islands (2 hours).
- Search the lake for ducks and loons diving for fish, or deer feeding on the shoreline.
- This lake remains sheltered from most strong winds.
- If you canoe further northward, looping around Hemlock Island, you will see the expanse of Kejimkujik Lake.
- Turn into Minards Bay where the landscape changes to large granite boulders in a bay dotted by islands and ringed by a rugged shoreline.
From Big Dam Lake (2-3 hours)
- A 400-metre portage from the Big Dam parking lot takes you to Big Dam Lake.
- The entire lakeshore is forested, with impressive pine and hemlock stands on the eastern side.
- The lake is divided into two halves; the clear spring-fed southeastern half allows you to gaze at water lilies rooted in the shallows. This part of the lake usually remains sheltered from strong winds.
- Paddle through the narrow passage and enter the northern expanse of this lake with its bog-fed dark-brown waters.
From Mersey River at the Visitor Centre (90 minutes)
- Launch your canoe from the little dock just behind the Visitor Centre and take a short, leisurely trip up the Mersey River.
- Explore this stillwater carefully, watching for signs of beaver or muskrat among the lushly vegetated islands.
Paddling safety
Map of navigation buoys in Kejimkujik Lake
This downloadable map (PDF 935 KB) shows the navigation buoys in Kejimkujik Lake: red buoy, green buoy, yellow and black cardinal buoy, and orange buoy.
The map also shows:
- Kejimkujik Lake and George Lake
- Mersey River and West River
- Jake's Landing and Jim Charles Point
- Meadow Beach and Merrymakedge Beach
- Jeremys Bay and Minards Bay
- Big Muise Island, Dukeshire Island, Richie Island, Ell Island, Moose Island, and Peale Island