Ahhh...The Cottage Life!: Kawagama Lake Waterfalls

Kawagama Lake Waterfalls

Posted by Lorac Thursday, 6 August 2009

I love waterfalls! Even man made ones.This one is produced by a dam on Kawagama Lake, which feeds into the Hollow River flowing to Lake of Bays. It helps to regulate the depth of the lake. In the spring there are very high waters due to the ice (up to 3 feet deep) and the snow melting. Our lake is fed by other small lakes and springs.The dam is at the end of a narrow bay.

Recently they have put up floats to keep boaters away from the mouth of the dam. Hard to believe but some do not understand how powerful the undertow can be by dams. It looks deceptively calm and tranquil.

Son takes us in with a paddle. In the last century this river was used as a logging river and there are still logs embedded in the bottom form that era. There are a lot of Dead Heads or partly submerged old logs in here, so you can't run your motor.

We park off to the side and walk through the bush to the dam. The fishing is great here but other than my youngest granddaughter no one brought their rods. There a lots of bass in here. Granddaughter put a small daisy on her hook and can you believe caught a small bass! I guess this proves they will go after just about anything!

The top of the dam is where they have access to place or remove more timbers to control the flow. You can see the covered chutes for the timbers. It has railing all around and of course warning signs about the swimming danger.

The down side of the dam flowing into the river. Even with such a small dam the force is intense.

Years ago , in the spring, we rescued a baby raccoon clinging to the rocks in the middle of the river. On the shore was the remains of the mother and siblings. We figure a Bobcat got them by the paw prints Whether the Mother got the kit out there or it somehow got out there on its own is unknown. It would not make it on it's own. Too young and injured. Battered and bruised, it still put up a fight but we secured it in the cooler and took it home where I nursed it back to health. In the fall of that year we released it into the bush behind the cottage. She came back the next year to show off her own brood of kits. How do I know it was her? When I took care of her we used to talk. Raccoons have a high pitched trilling sound and I imitated it and she and I talked to each other. When she came back, we talked again. Normally a raccoon will not let you get that close to her kits.