Saint Lawrence River

The Saint Lawrence River rises from Lake Ontario / Lake America and flows approximately 1197 kilometres northeast through Ontario, Quebec and New York into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, forming one of the world’s largest estuaries. Its upper course features the Thousand Islands region with countless granite islets and widens into fluvial lakes such as Lake Saint Francis, Lake Saint Louis and Lake Saint Pierre, while partially demarcating the Canada–United States border and linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic. Along the river the canals of the Saint Lawrence Seaway bypass natural rapids: the South Shore Canal with the Saint Lambert and Côte Sainte Catherine locks around the Lachine Rapids, the Beauharnois Canal with two locks, the Wiley-Dondero Canal with the Snell and Eisenhower locks, and the Iroquois lock. These waterways and the surrounding landscapes invite diverse recreational pursuits including boating, sailing, kayaking and canoeing among the islands, fishing for muskellunge, bass, pike and walleye, scuba diving among sunken villages and wrecks, swimming at beaches, as well as hiking and camping in parks such as Thousand Islands National Park and along the Long Sault Parkway.