Rivers of SW Nova Scotia An interactive map with topographic map references. To get more details of the rivers, refer to topographic maps using these references. Please note: large file at 225kb

For the most current information on paddling our area see "Paddling the Tobeatic: Canoe Routes of Southwestern Nova Scotia" by Andy Smith. It is published by Nimbus in Halifax, 2004. It is available at local bookstores, on-line, or from the publisher <http://www.nimbus.ns.ca>

SW Nova Scotia's rivers span the full range of paddling preferences. They provide among the most placid, inspiring and beautiful flatwater in the province, and at the same time offer some of the most challenging whitewater. Of course most routes are a blend. They are a combination of lakes, rapids, stillwaters and portages which can be experienced in small doses — day trips lasting a few hours — or in multi-day wilderness trips lasting 8-10 days. The Tobeatic Wilderness Area can involve a 1:1 ratio of paddling to portaging; but look at the bright side: there are no crowds.

Our canoe routes can lead you into vast bogs, along (when carrying), and past, numerous eskers, through old-growth stands of eastern hemlock, white pine, and red spruce, and across erratic-strewn lakes. The woodland caribou, eastern cougar and grey wolf are now extinct, but you may see beaver and muskrat, whitetail deer, osprey and eagles, black bear, coyote, ducks, and even the endangered mainland moose.

Of as much or more importance than what you may see, and how you see it, is the season you choose to paddle. Generally April is high water month and ducks are nesting, but it's cold; May has moderate water but blackflies are out; June has blackflies and mosquitoes, and is warmer, but there's less water; July has bugs and still less water, but it's warmer; August and September are our dry season so avoid long stretches of moving water unless on the dam-controlled Quinan, lower Tusket or Sissiboo; October begins to have water again, and bugs have gone, but so have the warm temperatures and most waterfowl.