These are central Ontario rivers but are very good for beginning WW:

Lower Madawaska - put in at Aumonds Bay and take out at either Buck Bay (day trip) or Griffith.
Palmer Rapids - North of the town of Palmer Rapids - also there are usually groups being instructed here by MKC so it is very easy to watch and pick up tips.
Burnt River - Kinmount down to Sommerville Park off HWY 121
Black River at Washago-perhaps the best one here in central Ontario but needs to be run earlier in the season.

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"It's healthy to be dirty" - Lars Monsen

As Sam pointed out these rivers are in Central Ontario.
The nice thing about central Ontario is that it holds many spring runs.
Not to confuse the Washago Black with the Hwy # 7 Queensborough Upper and Lower Black. Other Hwys 7 rivers include the Beaver, Salmon / Upper & Lower, Skootamatta and Moira.
There are many other hidden day or half day trips as well up in the area. Such as the Fish Hatchery run on the Crowe. Moving back towards Apsley you have Eels Creek. Over on the other side towards Smith Falls you have the Mississippi.
But hands down the Best in these spring runs is the Upper Black followed closely by the Beaver.

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Al Greve http://www.canoewateradventuring.ca South Western Ontario's canoeing specialist

Thanks for all the help,

Sam and I have been in contact and are looking to go out canoeing in the futurein his neck the woods. So hopefully I will get the whitewater experience and trips I am looking for!

hey new solo - for a really fun run in the late fall and early to late spring is the eramosa river. to start put in at county rd 29 - just south of highway 7, and take out at the scout camp, on stone road, east of victoria rd guelph, underneath the old bridge. this is a sweet beginner run, basically a long class one for 12 or so km. just before the take out , i forget the name of the little hamlet, there are three legdes (old dams i guess) that are really fun to run - no more than a class two but pay attention for scattered boulders and shore ice in the spring - by the way invest in a dry suit unless you really know your s**t esepically for the spring runs. for a little more challenge put in on guelph line just south of highway 7(right beside Rockwood park) here you will find some really fun class two rapids not very long, but again be very careful in spring runs - help may be further than you think, and i would say these rapids are a solid class 3 at high, cold water. any way this is where i get my fix, at least 3 or 4 times a year, we have been making an annual new years day paddle here for the past few years if you're interested, and wheather permitting of course let me know, or a late fall run, whichever let me know via pm good luck derek

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you know you're a paddler when your boat is tied down tighter than your kids seatbelts........

Does anyone know an easy way into this run other than the Park? http://www.gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/cataract.shtml
Forks of the Credit P/P
Here I thought I knew all the runs in south western ontario This is way sweet!!!!
Jeff have you been up this far on the Credit?

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Al Greve http://www.canoewateradventuring.ca South Western Ontario's canoeing specialist

yeah, but I don't have a creek boat to run it, there are actually a few neat streams and falls along the escarpment, most are high flow dependent though. and the runoff time is usually short.
Back on the days of glass boats only it was the sudden stop at the bottom of these drops that stopped us

but we ran a few anyhow
Jeff

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Choosing to save a river is more often an act of passion than of careful calculation. You make the choice because the river has touched your life in an intimate and irreversible way, because you are unwilling to accept its loss. — (David Bolling, Ho

This is so much on my to do list!

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Al Greve http://www.canoewateradventuring.ca South Western Ontario's canoeing specialist

Aliesha and myself just got back from Minden, its running 9.4 big and pushy. All center rocks are pour-overs with sticky holes. Watched one yaker get really worked in one.
Aliesha is now running the top section and was making some nice lines with good boat placement. She never rolled once in the five times she ran White Horse Falls. Not bad for a kid who just turned 15 and in a C1 and runing class IV water.

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Al Greve http://www.canoewateradventuring.ca South Western Ontario's canoeing specialist

The old power station is completely within the park so there's is no other way. You can park in the official lot but it would be a fair distance to get to the river from there. You can also park (legally???) in the village of Cataract and take the much shorter trail. You can also park where the river crosses Regional Road 24 and paddle down about a km to the power station.
I'd be careful about trying to run this, it's been a very long time since I've been at the bottom of the drop but my recollection is that it's not very deep. There is a significant undercut so at least you won't hit anything on the way down. Once at the bottom your best bet might be to climb up the West bank (river right) to access the train tracks, it's pretty steep but I think a bit easier than the left bank.

Of course you could also continue downstream and take out at the actual "Forks", this would be a few km's of shallow class I.

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"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915