Kayaking the Humber River - Rexdale to The Kingsway (Toronto)

In this video I shared my Saturday July 31st experience of paddling down a less commonly explored portion of the Humber River. Since this particular segment of the river has many shallow rocky sections and noticeable current flows, I decided to paddle it only in one direction. Using my bike trailer, I towed my kayak up to the West Humber Parklands at Albion Rd in Toronto's Rexdale area. After locking my kayak to a tree, I rode the bike and empty trailer down to Home Smith Park in Etobicoke's Kingsway neighbourhood. Leaving my bike and trailer locked up downstream on the river here, I boarded a #73 TTC bus which took me back to where my kayak was waiting for me. I was then able to paddle the kayak 15km downstream on this river to my bike and trailer. Along the way I passed underneath of many bridges including Albion Rd, Highway 401, CN Railway, St Phillips Rd, Lawrence Ave W, Eglinton Ave W, Scarlett Rd, the CP Railway, Dundas Street and many pedestrian/bike bridges for the Humber River Recreational Trail. Along the way I also passed 4 golf courses: The Humber Valley Golf Course, The Weston Golf Course, Scarlett Woods Golf Course, and Lambton Golf & Country Club. I also portaged the kayak around 2 man-made weirs in Cruickshank Park and Raymore Park. I decided to end my kayaking adventure just south of Dundas street because the next 2 km of the river downstream has 6 more weirs in rapid succession which would have meant a lot more portaging than actual kayaking!
Many segments of the river seem very isolated from the city and I was lucky to have many excellent wildlife sightings including Beaver, Mink, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Canada Geese and Cormorants. Along the way there were several sections that were shallow and rocky where the kayak got stuck on the bottom. It was easiest to just get out and walk through these sections. I also encountered some small rapids where the water was deep enough that I could paddle though. I'm sure during the spring runoff this river is much more suitable for paddling.
Since I own a white-water helmet, I decided to wear it just to be safe. I concluded that this was a good choice, especially since rocks on the bottom of the river can be slippery to walk on, and I was doing this adventure solo. Please do your own research and be sure that you have the correct equipment if you're going to attempt an excursion like this yourself.
Strava for this adventure: / strava
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Large Beaver comes out of the Water: • Large Beaver comes out...
My Kayak Bike Trailer: • My Kayak Bike Trailer
Linear Limo Recumbent: • Assembling my Linear L... ​
My kayak is a 1999 Dagger Redline (whitewater). I filmed this video using a Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone. I protect the phone from sinking in the water using a homemade floating pouch.
Buoyant Smartphone Accessory: • Buoyant Smartphone Acc...
I hope you enjoyed this video. Please COMMENT and subscribe!
Thanks for watching.

[@MultigrainKevinOs]

10/10 GPS diagram for the incredible setup journey, that must have taken hours :) Super scenic and surprisingly clear paddling. What a nice surprise in the city.

[@cjhoyle]

haha thanks! Yes, getting all the equipment in position took me most of the morning, but it was all worth it to get to take advantage of the downstream current. It was my first time doing something like that, but I'm sure it won't be my last!

[@raymonddaviau4502]

Thats amazing what you did!

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks! If you enjoyed this one, I think you'll really enjoy the next video I'm currently working on.

[@HairySon92]

Awesome video, CJ! Truly taking advantage of everything Toronto has to offer. And in my neck of the woods too! Only thing that could have made it better is if you began the day with a delicious bowl of campsite overnight oats!

[@cjhoyle]

haha thanks! It did indeed begin with a bowl of overnight oats, but that was at home just before things began.

[@IvansBikesBmws]

Wow that took some work. Loved it !

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks!

[@trep53]

Very relaxing for me because your adventures are well planned and go smoothly.

[@cjhoyle]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks! Maybe I should be less prepared for my next adventure so that the resulting video will have more suspense haha.

[@trep53]

No no good planning is essential especially when going solo on the water.

[@37915062]

well documented , glad you had fun doing it

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks, it was a really fun and memorable day,

[@martinvanoene7192]

Absolutely informative and it tells me that there is some effort to preserve in Toronto!

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks. Yes for sure!

[@Hafiz100ify]

Loved the video!

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks!

[@BioDave1955]

Love the distance updates on the maps interspersed with the action. Great video. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the adventure!

[@NeutralGenericUser]

Amazing. Glad you had a good time! Thank you so much for the satellite imagery!!

[@cjhoyle]

No problem, glad you enjoyed it!

[@tenspeedca]

Wow, what an exciting adventure!

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks, it was a fun day!

[@adventureswithjosie]

Cool video Christopher! Looks like a fun day!

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks! This was my favourite paddling excursion of 2021.

[@sharafmedo]

That half a second clip just before the 6min mark is what I really wanted to see, which is how you are walking down the river when it gets shallow or rapid. I'd love to see more in your videos about how you handle challenges like these. I'm thinking to start doing some urban paddling in my treat city of toe-raw-know Also thanks for taking the time to identify the birds you cross paths with.

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks. I try to include details like that in the videos when I can.

[@royhutchcraft5985]

Great video, I have rafted in an inflatable from Steele's to the west Humber mouth several times, nice to see someone enjoying this beautiful river.

[@cjhoyle]

Awesome! Good to know that section is deep enough to do that. I'm interested in exploring more of the Humber in the future.

[@hamsterhuey1497]

Great video!

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[@kevinborovsky3558]

Hey thanks CJ for another interesting and most informative video. If I didn’t know you were in the city the scenery could easily pass for a out of town area. Cheers

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks. I love exploring the hidden parts of Toronto that few others normally get to see.

[@waynesimmonds9646]

Nice, fun in the city.

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks.

[@royieg2543]

Great video, did a small canoe section around Weston. Gave me the courage to paddle all the way from Weston to the lake

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks. Wow nice!

[@mikelandry3375]

Great video

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

Just for reference, on the date of this outing: 31 July 2021, the guage at Elder Mills 02HC025 read 5.490 meters and 1.40 cubic meters per second. This means that long stretches upstream were little more than wet gravel bars. So it is good to see that you did have some deep pools between the shallows.

[@barrygothard2146]

Excellent stuff here. Your next one shouy be Bronte Creek!

[@cjhoyle]

I'd love to get there some day! A bit far for a day trip by bike and trailer though, but maybe I could incorporate in a night of camping at the provincial park.

[@caseylabelle1128]

Nice work

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks! Did you end up padding your long journey through the Trent-Severn this year?

[@gjswilson]

Surprising amount of wildlife in the middle of the city, smart wearing a helmet going by those golf courses in case someone shanks one off the tee 😁

[@cjhoyle]

haha good point!

[@paulchevrier9961]

Another great video CJ. Have you paddled the Rouge River in Scarborough / Pickering? How about Duffins Creek in Ajax? Just watched your video of cycling in Ajax.

[@cjhoyle]

Thanks. Nope I haven't been to either of those yet! I only got my kayak back in April and have so far mostly been using it in Toronto but would love to explore further with it.

[@AndrewsQuest]

Very cool, watching your videos has been making me want to go on a river adventure. I rode my bike along black creek to the spot you showed at 9:56, pretty fun if you haven't checked it out already.

[@cjhoyle]

Nice! So you rode your bike along the concrete which forms Black Creek?

[@AndrewsQuest]

@@cjhoyle Yep, just north of rockcliffe middle school is where I went in. There was no fence or sign saying you cant explore the creek. I only went west from rockcliffe blvd, but I bet theres other neat things east too. I did make a video if you want to check it out kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6rCf2V7rLl-nac

[@heraldo2881]

Hey CJ great adventure, and do you think if you would have done this trip either if the fall or spring that the water level would have been higher(deeper) which would have allowed you to not get out of the kayak as much?

[@cjhoyle]

I believe that doing it in the spring would have for sure meant it was deeper, but also much colder water!

[@whitbydude]

Just curious, what is the purpose of the weirs, why would they have been built?

[@TverangerTrent]

They are to prevent Lamprey from going up. They are poorly designed and incredibly dangerous. In high water they are death traps.

[@BGRANT777X]

@@TverangerTrent I've read they are designed to moderate river levels and flow and weirs and low head damns of all designs are death traps.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

They are also a part of the overall flood control measures introduced after Hurricane Hazel. A second that the weirs are very dangerous and unfortunate considering that they are such a strong deterent for recreational paddlers who might otherwise navigate the river.

[@cjhoyle]

As others have mentioned, my understanding is that they are there to manage the flow of the river and help prevent flooding.

[@whitbydude]

Thanks for the answers, everyone,

[@raczyk]

Can an inflatable SUP board survive the rocks? Or they jagged and will pop the SUP board?

[@cjhoyle]

Unfortunately I think the rocks would damage your SUP board. The section of the river south of Bloor (not showing in this video) is great for SUP. I was out paddling there yesterday and saw many people SUPing.

[@ChristianLanctot]

9:50 that looks like a night heron.

[@brad__s]

Seconded. A Black-crowned Night-Heron

[@cjhoyle]

Awesome, thanks!