The Grand River Story...
The Grand River starts about an hour's drive below Owen Sound near Dundalk. It finishes the journey 300 kilometers later at Port Maitland on Lake Erie. It is the largest river in Southern Ontario. It is located 1 hour west of Toronto... or 1 hour east of London. From Dundalk to Brantford is 200 kms, and the river drops over 300 meters in elevation (upper part). But from Brantford to Lake Erie the Grand River only drops 13 meters in elevation over a 100 kms (lower part). The lower part of the Grand is a murkier clay bottom, with a 2 meter depth, Mississippi-like... motor boat city! While the upper part is more shallow (1m), with clear pools of moving water, running over gravel... a paddlers mecca! In the 1960's the river was dying... one could sit along the shoreline with a sling-shot and shoot the "poop"! We were told as kids you don't swim, fish or paddle in the Grand. In the year 2000, in Brisbane, Australia... the cleanup efforts of the Grand R...
