canot – Lucidity Strikes

I don’t know exactly why I did it this way, but in the end I did the full 47 km covered by the map (of canoeing) in about 8 hrs with 2 breaks, then I biked from the take-out to the put-in to get my car; as I was alone, it was either that or try hitchhiking. It’s 55 kms to get back, mostly uphill although gentle.

In the end it took 11h30, from 7AM to 8:30PM. I did take 30 minutes to eat, most of the portages have no trail left, so that was an assault on my skin. In the morning it was about 3 celcius, so no bugs until 2PM, that was eerie in itself. I saw 3 juvenile moose swimming about 200 feet ahead, a bunch of rather unhappy beavers, a few falcons although I couldn’t tell you which species; one had a fish in its claws. Most lakes in the ZEC have cottages around them; not a bunch, yet not a few. There was no one else on the water all day.

The last stretch is basically 15km of non-stop rapids; the R3-4’s are fun, the S5 has a decent rappel, I wouldn’t try it alone.

Otherwise there are 2 waterfalls, 2m and 5m, one after the other, and a few S4-5’s that I think could possibly be done, again not while being alone.

In the morning I was a bit worried since I didn’t bring anything for camping or cooking with me on the water, so I HAD to get back to the car. It was my first time on this river.

It’s a big of a mix, the first part has significant flat sections, although all beautiful, the second half is non stop whitewater. It’s like between the 21 miles section on the Rouge river and the Batiscan River, about half the size in width of the Batiscan; although the rapids on the Batiscan are more challenging and fun for me.