Half the point of driving the 7 with a boat or canoe on top is that the put-ins are everywhere — most of them free township launches that big-lake boaters have never heard of. Here’s where to get on the water, east to west.
Carleton Place — km 50
Riverside Park has two public launches on the Mississippi — the easiest big-water access on the east end of the corridor, with parking, washrooms, and the beach right there for the swimmers in your crew.
Silver Lake Provincial Park — km 110
The park’s day-use area is the corridor’s simplest canoe and kayak put-in — carry from the parking lot, and you’re paddling a quiet Shield lake two minutes off the highway. Day-use fees in season; best suited to cartop boats.
The Sharbot Lake cluster — km 120–145
Central Frontenac runs free public launches with docking at nearly all of its township beaches — a paddler or fisherman could work this stretch for a week without launching at the same lake twice:
- Sharbot Lake — launch and docking at the village beach (1021 Medical Centre Rd), free parking, food a short walk away. The most services of any launch on the corridor.
- Big Clear Lake — launch and dock at Arden Beach (Price Rd).
- Kennebec Lake — launch and dock at Kennebec Beach (Henderson Rd, Arden); the quiet option.
- Long Lake — launch and dock at Long Lake Beach (Public Beach Rd, Mountain Grove), with the corridor’s sleeper sand beach beside it.
- Crow Lake and Eagle Lake — smaller township launches with docks and picnic spots.
Actinolite — the Skootamatta take-out
Price Conservation Area, on the south side of the highway at the Hwy 7/37 junction, is the regular canoe take-out for the Skootamatta River paddle route — free parking, no fee, and the picnic area at Skootamatta across the road for the drivers waiting on you.
South of Kaladar — the stargazer’s put-in
Eleven kilometres down County Road 41, beside the L&A Dark Sky Viewing Area, there’s a small public water access — genuinely small, with a steep little incline, so this is strictly a cartop spot: slide a canoe down, don’t dream of a trailer. Its charm is the combination: an evening paddle, then the most southerly dark-sky site in Ontario a few steps from where you tied off. Sheffield Conservation Area is next door.
Mazinaw Lake — via Kaladar, km 150
Launching at Bon Echo Provincial Park (35 minutes north on Hwy 41) puts you on deep, clear Mazinaw with the pictographs and the great cliff reachable only by water — the corridor’s most spectacular paddle, full stop. Day-use fees; arrive early on summer weekends.
Crowe Lake — Marmora, km 205
Two options in town. A public launch just south of Legion Park puts you on Crowe Lake and the Crowe River system — solid fishing water with the village’s swim area and the mine lookout rounding out the stop. And Mag’s Landing, just north of the dam, reaches Beaver Creek and Crowe Lake from the other end of town — walkable from Memorial Park along the riverside trail.
Before you launch
Three things that matter out here. PFDs: carry a properly fitting one for every person aboard — it’s the law, and Shield water is cold. Clean, drain, dry: these small lakes have so far dodged the worst invasive species, and keeping it that way depends on boats arriving clean — pull your plug, drain everything, and let the hull dry between lakes. Launch conditions vary: township ramps range from concrete to gravel-and-hope; if you’re trailering something heavy, eyeball the ramp before you commit. As everywhere on this site, conditions on the day overrule anything written here.
Details from municipal and park sources, July 2026 — ramp-by-ramp field notes (concrete vs. gravel, dock condition, trailer parking) are the next upgrade. Know a launch we missed? Send it in.