Paddling Big Creek In Essex County. July 14th, 2018

Essex, Canada’s most southern county was one of the first counties in the province of Ontario to be settled by Europeans. Today the landscape of Essex County consists mainly of flat farm fields, some sparsely located bush lots, a major city, and other smaller towns and villages. It is one of the hottest and most humid areas in all of Ontario during the summer months, but probably receives the least amount of snow as well. So if you love open spaces, nearby urban areas, hot summers, and not having to drive in snow squalls, Essex County should be on your radar for relocation.

The only problem with Essex County is that if you enjoy backcountry camping you have a LONG drive to get anywhere that will offer a weeks worth of paddling in solitude. Luckily Essex County is blessed with being surrounded on three sides by water. Lake Erie is to the south, the Detroit River to the west, and Lake St. Clair to the north. Mix in some creeks and marshland and you have enough waterways so as to not keep your canoe in storage until your big trip.

One of our favourite spots to paddle is Big Creek which is a tributary of the Thames River. A Canadian Heritage River, the Thames was the location of a pretty significant battle during the war of 1812 (the Battle of the Thames), and at 273 kilometres it is also a great river to paddle. Being a river it has high water levels and low water levels so it’s always a good idea to check conditions before you go.

A nice starting point to launch along the Big Creek section is at Rowsom’s Tilbury West Conservation Area where there is a small parking lot. The conservation area includes a nice level trail, though be wary of walking through the long grass right beside the parking lot as it has been known for ticks. The launch itself is a small man made dock down the side of the creek near the location of a now decommissioned road bridge. Another spot to launch from is the town of Lighthouse Cove right where the Thames River and Lake St. Clair meet.

Water levels on Big Creek fluctuate with rainfall and the overall water level of Lake St. Clair to the north. For us summer is the best time of year to paddle Big Creek as the current will be gentle and wildlife abounds including various species of nesting birds, turtles, insects, and even Longnose Gar.

On this particular paddle we launched from Lighthouse Cove and paddled as far as the old abandoned CASO railroad south of highway 401 before turning around and heading back. This was also the first time we strapped our canoe on our new car which took the better part of an hour to figure out to the point that it felt firmly secure.

We began our morning with an early breakfast at the 18 Wheeler Restaurant which looked to be the only restaurant in Tilbury to be open by 6:00 am. Yes there is a Tim Horton’s in Tilbury as well but we hardly call that a “restaurant”. By the time we got to Lighthouse Cove it was around 7:15 am. Environment Canada issued a heat warning for the day, but lucky for us there was a thin veil of clouds for most of the morning. We launched at the public boat launch that is opposite the lighthouse. This particular lighthouse at over 200 years old is one of the three oldest lighthouses along the Great Lakes.

Heading east we entered the Thames River which is the busy section of the paddle as we travelled adjacent to the town of Lighthouse Cove and a few boats with outboard motors travelling to Lake St.Clair. Heading south past the Luken Marina and then under the Via Rail bridge we arrived at a fork with Baptiste Creek to the left and Big Creek to the right. Heading right into Big Creek we were soon surrounded by farm fields, the odd wind turbine, and solitude. Continuing the paddle we arrived again to another fork and as before we stayed to the right. The left goes into Tilbury Creek.

Bird life abounds along this section of the creek and the earlier you get out the more your chances of seeing waders such as Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Green Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron.

Having keen knowledge of bird song helps as most of your smaller song birds like to hide in the dense cover surrounding the creek and we heard Common Yellowthroats, Indigo Bunting, and once in a while a Baltimore Oriole would fly up ahead of our canoe giving it’s chattering call. Black-billed Cuckoo seem to hang out more towards the Rowsom’s Conservation Area end where the creek narrows with deeper vegetation. One bird that is always on patrol, readily visible and extremely vocal is the Eastern Kingbird as they often like to perch from the tallest branch of the tree. As you paddle underneath some road bridges you will find Cliff Swallow colonies, their nests built out of mud attached to the bridges as you paddle underneath. Unfortunately, being a July paddle, all the Cliff Swallow nests were vacant with this year’s young already fledged.

Aside from your local avian fauna we heard the odd Bullfrog, saw various species of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), a couple of muskrats and…cows. Yup we even saw cows in a field just south of the highway 401. You would think that paddling anywhere close to Canada’s busiest highway would sound horrible, but actually with the vantage of being down in a creek, the sound was surprisingly suppressed.

As we continued to paddle south we observed ripples in the water in the now shallower section of the creek. Upon further investigation we observed some groups of Longnose Gar, one of the more prehistoric species of fish we have in our waterways.

Another notable feature along this, and other stretches of Big Creek is the ever present Phragmites (European Common Reed), an invasive species that is incredibly hard to control. There were stretches where we could tell people were attempting their own methods of control by mowing it down. We even observed someone at Lighthouse Cove trying to burn a big pile of it, a temporary solution at best.

After seeing the old CASO rail bridge it was our landmark to turn around and begin the paddle back. The sun was starting to come out now and being close to noon it was getting hot!

Another man made feature that one cannot miss along Big Creek are the wind turbines, with one of them so close you can hear the blades slicing the wind. Another sound we heard was the sound of a train as we paddled north of highway 401, though one of us was way too chicken to paddle underneath the bridge as the train went over the creek.

Heading back to Lighthouse Cove and the Thames River we observed even more people out on the water in boats with outboard motors; We even got some small wake.

It’s amazing that on such a beautiful day in such lovely calm waters we were (and often are) the only paddlers present along the Big Creek section of the Thames. So if you are looking for a good day paddle that offers solitude, lovely scenery, and some interesting local wildlife, give Big Creek a try!

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