St. Lawrence

Day 70. Kingston to Prescott. 67 MI. 4,326 Mi TTD. 2551 ft elevation. The weather was good, the wind was not so good.

Last night, I had to put on a new chain. I had been having some trouble shifting, so I stopped in at a shop yesterday. When the guy checked my chain, he almost laughed; it was so stretched. At first, I thought I just changed it in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Then I realized that was a couple of thousand miles ago. Thankfully, my brother had arranged for me to get one from his friends at the Mspeedwax company in Minnesota. This is the type of chain I’ve been using across Canada, and it’s very nice with a wax coat rather than being greasy.

This is pretty much the last view of Lake Ontario as I pedaled out of Kingston this morning. Kingston is right at the mouth of the St. Lawrence as Lake Ontario empties into it and flows towards the Atlantic. I pedaled through downtown to get out of town at like 7:45. It continues to shock me how these Canadian towns were so calm that time of day and close down early in the evening. I wasn’t even dodging traffic except on one street that was mildly busy.

You might not be able to read that, but it says Gananoque. That’s the name of the town at the West End of the Thousand Island Parkway, which was part of my route today. The Thousand Island Parkway is part of the Thousand Island Park, which is actually a lie because there are 1,864 islands, but that would be a very obnoxious name for a park, especially to have to repeat it more than once.

You probably want to turn the sound off because it’s just wind, but this is the parkway, which I was able to follow for about 30 miles of the ride today. It was a very pleasant ride, other than the wind. The view of the St. Lawrence River, with its many islands, was beautiful.

Many of the islands had homes on them. That raised several questions for me, not the least of which is how to get to own one of these islands? The other question is a more practical one regarding river levels. I assume, since it’s the St Lawrence River, that the water level goes up and down. Some of these islands and the houses on them looked like they were inches above the water level.

Along the shore, there were many very nice homes. This one was apparently built by the wise man. Hopefully, you’re biblically Savvy enough to recognize that pun.

Of course, there were beautiful beaches where I could rest. This one actually charged $29 a car as a private operation, but the kid at the guard stand just told me to go in free. They had a nice concession, and I enjoyed a chili dog while looking out over the river and the beach.

You are likely wondering why I took a picture of a parking lot. It’s the flags that are my focal point. Notice the direction they’re blowing? It’s the opposite of the direction I was going. Unfortunately, the parkway was so pleasant that it didn’t bother me until I was finally off the Parkway and winding through the last 15 miles of the ride. So even though my distance today was 64 Mi, I’m going to round up to 100 because that’s what it felt like:-)

It’s hard to appreciate this waterway. I read that the average flow in cubic feet per second on the St. Lawrence is about 350,000. The Arkansas River, which flows through Pueblo, is at high water at 2,500 cubic feet per second. That’s a pretty big difference. All along this waterway, I’ve seen evidence of shipping, areas where grain was loaded onto ships, and refined products like fuel. It’s quite an amazing waterway. For me, it’s pleasantly beautiful and a nice ride, other than the wind.

Tomorrow, I continue along the St Lawrence, just one stop shy of Montreal. Then it’s parles-tu anglais?