Grand River - The Oxbow | ||
| Route description submitted By: | ||
General Info | Difficulty Ratings | |
| Distance: 14 km Duration : 1 days Loop Trip : yes | River Travel : novice Lake Travel : not applicable Portaging : Easy Remoteness : novice | |
Portage Info | Maps Required | |
| No. of Portages : 1 Total Length: 1500 m Average Length: 1500 m Longest Portage : 1500 m | ||
Handicapped Accessibility | GPX Data for this Route | |
 Suitability : good | no gpx data found | |
Route Description | ||
| Location – Just south of Brantford From the 403 coming from Hamilton - take the first exit at Brantford (Wendy`s / Tim Hortons exit) and head south towards Cainsville. Stay on Road 18 until you cross the Grand River at Newport Bridge and turn right at the first road. The first right is to the finish under Newport Bridge but if you continue north you`ll cross the Grand again. Immediately on the right is a dirt lane that leads to the water and is the starting point. 5 easy swifts at low water 12 km of flatwater 1st Bridge is the takeout point (right side) Walk 1500m back to the car to finish the loop | ||
General Comments | ||
| The Grand River is only 20 minutes from our door and we though that since it was 30 degrees we should head out onto the water where it might be cooler. No such luck, but the Oxbow is a pleasant way to spend a lazy evening.
The Oxbow is just south of Brantford and is a 14 km paddle and a 1.5 km walk back to the car. There are places to park at the start and the finish where bridges cross the river. From the 403, take the first exit at Brantford and head south towards Cainsville. Stay straight on Road 18 until you cross the Grand River at Newport Bridge and turn right at the first road. The first right after that is to the finish under Newport Bridge but if you continue north you’ll cross the Grand again. Immediately on the right is a dirt lane that leads to the water and it is a convenient place to leave the car. We paddled the river at 28 cms according to the Grand River Conservation website water data, and the summer low is 20 cms (a far cry from the 225 cms we paddled back at the start of April!). There were several swifts where the river had a gravel bottom and the current picked up significantly at the beginning. However, after a few km the swifts were gone and it was a long flatwater paddle. It was in this flatwater stretch that we saw 2 beavers and one deer. The one beaver ran down the bank and swam in front of our canoe, when we were 15 feet away he smacked his tail and dove – startling Jenn. There were a number of herons, ducks and other small bird and several fish were jumping as we paddled down the river. After 2 ˝ hours of lazy paddling we reached the take out point and walked back to get the car. Eran and Jenn Andrechek | ||
Trip Log / Diary | ||
Photo Gallery | ||
User Submitted Information | ||
| Do you have any useful information to add to this route description?. Simply fill out the form at the bottom of this page and submit it. It will automatically appear as part of this route description. Please note: This is not the place to ask questions about this route. If you are seeking advice about this trip, please post your questions in the discussion forums on this site. It is also not for commercial advertising. | ||
Submitted by: Chris Hess | ||
Very nice loop to paddle close to the city. quite ideal for a disabled person.July 20th very this water but a good paddle even in a white water playboat.nice flat lazy river ... | ||
Submitted by: Peter Goodwin | ||
Paddled this route on Thanksgiving Monday (October 11TH, 2004). A beautiful day & nice easy paddle, even if water levels were low in places. Saw herons, turtles and an occasional duck but otherwise we pretty much had the river to ourselves. A bit over an hour from Toronto, a short drive for a great escape to end the season. | ||
Submitted by: Mark Hammar | ||
Finally got to do this route on Sunday May 15, 2005, with the grand flowing at 45 m3/s. It was the first real paddle for my wife and I in a while, and the first with our 7 week old daughter along. {Strapped in a car seat and fixed with a lifevest}. Great trip, nice view, lots of wildlife to see. It was a little long for the baby, and we had to stop and feed her twice en route (it took 2hrs, 50 min with two 10 minute feeding stops). Unfortunately, we could not stop and get out for this as the banks are prety steep, and I had to hang on a branch to hold us during the feeding, but the steep banks helped reduce the wind so it wasn't too cool. All in all a very nice paddle, and easy for her first trip. | ||
Submitted by: mike, laura, verna | ||
Oxbow June 21, 08. Started to rain as we got on the river, waited under the bridge. Good current with little paddling for first hour or so, good spot for lunch at the middle of the bow, then not much current and some wind for the rest of the trip, so paddled. total 4 hours, lots of herons, water level high, once touched bottom, rest of time, not really even rapids due to high water levels. Nobody else on the river, exit point muddy. Even got a ride back to the car by a local, thank you. | ||
Submitted by: Gerry Schaefer | ||
We did the muddy Oxbow on the Grand in July of 2005. It was a weekday evening and the only place we saw people was at the put-in. The river was slow and pleasant, but really stinky in the vicinity of the sewage plant. I found the scenery and wildlife a bit boring. Now that it's off of my list of places to check out, I doubt I'll ever do it again. | ||
Submitted by: James Wolstenholme/Angela McPhee | ||
Canoed the Oxbow on June 24th, 2006. We had a great time. The water levels were not too low(scrapped bottom once). The fishing was pretty good as was the wildlife...herons, raccoons by the waters edge, deer. We found the Oxbow to be a nice, leisurely paddle for us novice paddlers. The hike back to the car takes no time at all!!! (however, the trip took us approx. 5 hours with quite a few stops for fishing) We did the Cambridge to Paris run last year and are thinking of grouping a few parts of the Grand together into a 2 day trip next. All-in-all, a good river for a novice to have fun and gain some experience. | ||
Submitted by: Dan, Alison, Mark and Marie Both | ||
We canoed the Oxbow July 30, 2006. It was great, the water levels were good and the swifts were fun. I solo canoed, the girls went tandem and speedy Mark was in his Kayak. The trip was an easy 14.5 kms on the GPS in 3 hours with 2 rest stops we averaged 6.5 kph with the current and about a 15 minute walk back to get the truck. The GPS coordinates were very helpful for finding the access and egress points. | ||
Submitted by: Julian Millard | ||
We canoed the oxbow on 15 May 2010 with a group of scouts. The flow was about 70 cubic metres per second so the swifts etc were cvovered but the initial speeds were easily handlable by the youth and soon slowed down. It proved to be a great route for the youth with great wild life to see (turtles sunning on rocks and branches, herons and what may have been a beaver). We had a fairly leasurely 3hrs paddle round and then had lunch back at the start. The only watch was the rather high speed of local traffic on the small road you come out at. | ||
