Reflections on a Canada Trip for Youth – ‘06

MATAWIN - From the 3-4 trips I have been on, the Matawin has always stuck in my mind for its remote, pristine beauty. However, I, like other paddlers who had been struck by the scenic landscape, had paid a mean price for it with a thrashing in one of its trenchy pourovers.

As we paddled up to scout the first rapid, it became clear that the additional water we had this year was going to change things. On a normal day the Matawin starts with a bang, today the first rapid was a growling monster. One hydraulic lead into another going for 8-10 hydraulics. Any mess up would have led to a nasty multiple working. I had been picking out a line to try to get through the meat of the rapid, but when Tom came and saw what I was proprosing, he told me solomnly that we should all take the sneak. I was disappointed and even a little hurt at the decision, but I obviously knew that Tom knew what he was talking about. Tom could see my feelings about it, and explained several times how it was not an appropriate risk. Lesson learned and pride dissipated, there were many more challenging lines for me that day. - Jake Weiss

MALBAIE - After running the first section of the Malbaie, Tom told us about a second, lower section. He had never run it before, but offered that Jake and I could do it in the time remaining that day. We were not going to let this go unexplored. After a quick snack and some last minute advice, we departed. This second section was a bigger size version of the first - pushier, steeper, tighter, slightly more difficult. We navigated the river as a team, scouting from the boat most of the time, but getting out occasionally. Happily, we met four other paddlers from Quebec on the river who showed us the take out at a logging ramp.

After 30 min. of hiking with boats, we met half of our group walking down the trail to meet us, suggesting to us the van was close by. This was not the case however, and we had another 30 – 40 min. of boat carrying. That was the end of our week of paddling, and we immediately started on our 900 mi. return. - Dan Mehrez

OTTAWA – I couldn’t have asked for a better first day in Canada. We put on early to experience all that the Ottawa had to offer, and we spent all morning at the first rapid. Some if us “threaded the needle” between two big holes while others went for the meat where the hole was crashing. Then there were the playspots at the bottom, like horseshoe, and Babyface. The next rapid was the world famous Garburator, a chute with an eight foot breaking wave and perfect eddy service. The Ottawa was a beautiful river that would prove to be a warm up for the rest of the week. - Ajay Sapre

GATINEAU – After a long drive from the Ottawa, characterized by frequent tickle fights and spooning in the back of the van, we arrived late at night in a campground. As late as it was, friendly faces with dread-locks came up greet us. The campground the day before we soon learned, had hosted about 2000 people for a huge trans-psychedelic fest know as Eclipse. We thought we were in the wilderness, so it seemed to be an unusual spot to encounter the last of the partyers.

Jake, speaking intelligible French, discovered that the river was at a springtime high level. We were ecstatic, big water = big fun. The next day in the afternoon, more kayakers showed up, including the awesome Emily Jackson. I walked over to her and struck up a conversation. I got Clay Wright to take a picture of me with Emily. That made my day.

The whole big group of play boaters that arrived with Emily was there for the high water and a surfing wave called High Tension. It was the largest wave that any of us had surfed and air was automatic. A few metaphysical rides, and we continued down the river. Afterwards, I chatted with Emily some more, and we all reflected on an excellent day in the wilderness of Quebec. - Nathan Sass

MUCHA ON THE MATAWIN - A strange feeling of déjà vu hit me as we rolled down the rough dirt road towards the put-in. The Matawin had been a favorite of mine for the last two years, even before I went to Mexico. The river I remembered was pool-drop, made of scrappy, steep drops; but the river I encountered here was a new beast. Flowing at about 3600 cfs.. it was a chaotic jumble of giant waves and hugh holes.

For me the memorable rapid of the day had been the second or third, a huge ledge-like slide. After seeing Dan plunge down the middle line straight into a hole and get a working, I dedided to “man up” and run this same line myself. Of course the outcome was identical… but then I decided to BAM! kick it up a notch and take a swim at the end. This led to a few good laughs at myself, as I contemplated my fate swimming and getting dunked in a few more holes below the rapid. The most memorable rapid for me was watching Dan and Jake run the 35’ cascading waterfall. The day ended late, and the Mat. is still one of my favorite runs.

MORE MALBAIE – I took deep breathes to calm myself down. This was our last day on my favorite type of river made up of a whole bunch of creeky drops. Dan and Jake had eddied out at the brink and checked out the line from up closer. The 30’ falls was called the White Lady. Dan and Jake had taken lines down the center, Dan getting the best line and the smoothest landing. I had an idea for a different line, but I went for the center line too. Now it was time for me to go.

So I’m paddling to the lip, I place my stroke and tuck off the drop. I found at the bottom I didn’t tuck completely when I smacked my face on the water at the bottom. It stung a little, but that didn’t bother me too much. I flipped at the bottom, missed my first roll, and then downstream hit my next roll. Hearing voices from above made me feel better about screwing up the line. In the end it was the best experience I’ve had kayaking. - Peter Redman

GENS DE TERRE - The adults trip last year had tried to explore this river, only to try the wrong put-in and paddle six hours of flat water back to where they started. This year I had been in communication with an employee of the wilderness area, who had assured me that we could drive to the put-in if only we checked in at the welcome center for directions. Following the various advice, we were getting close to the river when the wheel of the van fell through the road next to a culvert. It had washed away next and undermined the road. We spent a good couple of hours jacking up the van and filling the hole with rocks before we could leave the spot. But this was close enough to the river that we could walk.

The Gens de Terre, is a beautiful river in a deep and pristine canyon. The path brought us to below the first rapid. Above in the distance, we could see a monster rapid, but we didn’t hike up there out of concern for the lateness of the time. The rapids overall were steep and crashing, but there was plenty or space between rapids to recover. We often had to rely on a sneak line or else carry the rapid but this was never difficult. One of the best rapids was where all the water narrowed into one big turbulent chute. I dubbed it the Royal Flush. We all ran that one straight down the middle and some flipped when hitting a great breaking wave at the bottom. There were several rapids which required maneuvering and a few more which required sneaking. But we were able to finish the whole in good time. Thanks to Matt for driving that day. - Tom

Click Here for some awsome photos by Ajay Sapre