Niether Elke or I had ever been to the Minesing Swamp (which is not that surprising, since the word "swamp" doesn't usually go with "fun" in my word association games). So we decided to give it a go, on the second weekend in April (we had originally picked the first weekend, but a return of winter's icy grip meant that this was not feasible).
We decided to put in at the bridge over the Nottawasaga River on Simcoe County Road 90 just east of Angus. Before we got anywhere, though, Elke slipped on the tricky banks and went in up to her waist - but since she brought three changes of clothing, this was just a minor slowdown.
Though the ice has only just melted recently (there was still a crust in some areas of standing water), the water level has dropped from the spring flood level already. Judging by the banks, the river was a foot or more higher than it is right now a mere four or five days ago.
There was plenty of current to make the downstream trip pretty quick (we did have to portage around one section where the river was jammed with debris, but we managed to get our bodies below the gunwhales of the canoe when we came to a low bridge and avoided a second portage).
The banks were dry enough that you could comfortably stomp around the mud, but the evidence of recent flooding was everywhere from stuff caught in trees to the matted direction of the mud-coated swamp grasses. It wasn't, however, dry enough anywhere that I would have wanted to pitch a tent.
We saw plenty of wildlife, including turkey vultures, chickadees, two swans, a bunch of birds I can't identify, several muskrat, a few morbidly obese beavers, a dead raccoon floating down the river, and a couple of porcupines stuck in trees (you can see one in the picture on the left - it's the lump about two thirds of the way up in the middle of the tree).
We turned around in plenty of time to fight our way back against the current. I had the bright idea of taking out at the bridge we floated under on the way down and walking back along the road to get the cars, but that idea revealed itself as very dim indeed when we got out of the boat and saw that the road is clearly not maintained, since it turned into a water-covered track within 100 m of the bridge...
Coming back against the current wasn't bad at all, though - we had the sun in our faces, the wind at our backs, and the current was entirely manageable. Upstream of the swamp, the riverbed is very wide, and the stream velocity consequentlly slow (there were only a few spots where flow constriction was enough that we had to push for a few strokes to get through a spot).
If I were to do it again, I'd ditch a vehicle in Edenvale and go the entire length of the swamp with the current. And I'd try to go when the swamp is in peak flood. But despite all of this, we had a great day on the water and in the mud. Paddling season has started! (and I guarantee, I won't be going anywhere near Minesing Swamp when the bugs come out!)