Tucked away on the East side of Toronto is one of the most unique and beautiful land formations on all of Lake Ontario’s shore line. The Scarborough Bluffs are a surprising sight. As soon as you turn the corner around the RC Harris Water Treatment Plant, you can see it in the distance, a towering sand spit. It is as breathtaking as it seems misplaced. A 90 meter high wall, that extends on the lakefront from Crescent Wood Part to the Highland Creek, a length of almost 15 kilometers.

Our tripping group, now called The Explorers, decided to set out from Balmy Beach and head East to the Bluffs. The parking at the beach is sparse, so we decided to meet early. This was a good decision because when we returned, the beach was absolutely packed.

We unloaded all of gear, had our safety talk and split into two smaller groups. Both groups are going to the same destination, but the small groups are easier to keep together.

Off we went!

The first landmark we came across is the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant. It also happened to be doors open Toronto during our paddle, so there were a lot of people on the pier watching all the boats go by.

By SimonP at English Wikipedia – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Skeezix1000 using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6777824

Once, we rounded the point, we entered a stretch of some open water, the prevailing winds from the East were starting to give us a nice push. It is always fun to paddle in a following sea, it was just too bad it wasn’t on the way home. The scenery on the way to the bluffs is stunning, the wall of sand masks the city and gives it the feeling of a much more remote setting.

As we approached Bluffers Sand Beach, the water turned from the familiar dark blue to a pleasant turquoise. It looked almost tropical. Don’t let that fool you, the water temperature measured a cool 4C when we launched.

After making a successful landing on the sand beach, we stopped, had lunch and took a lot of pictures. There were a lot of people walking around and asking us questions about how we got there. I am not that used to landings that are as busy as this park, but it was pretty fun. Once we were all rested up and ready to keep going, we decided to go see the floating village in the Bluffers Park Marina.

The marina is a 2-3 km paddle from the beach, it is a bit tricky to find, but tucked in the back of the marina is a floating village of houses and cottages. They are actually fascinating. We paddled around looking at them for a while and some of the amazing boats in the marina, The locals were very friendly and seemed quite interested to see a large group of sea kayaks.

After we were done, it was time to head back. Remember those prevailing West winds? Well, I won’t soon forget them. We had to battle back in some waves and headwinds, the return trip took about two times as long.

The only negative of the day? Traffic was a mess on the way home!

Launch: Balmy Beach

Trip Rating: 4/5

Safety Considerations: This is a trip only suited to an experienced open water sea kayaker, preferably in a group.

Route:

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This trip would require a minimum of level 2 or higher skills depending on the conditions.