Reflections on a Canada Adults Trip– ‘06

Helene’s Folly, a.k.a. The Garburator on the Ottawa River.
First day in Canada – my first time on the all-time famous Ottawa River. I was still feeling a bit apprehensive about spending a week in Canada running waters that were undoubtedly going to be harder than most I’d run before. Finally – there it was: The Garburator! That wave was indeed impressive, not so much because of its size but because it was walled into a narrow canyon-like feature with a fast green tongue of water shooting you into the wave from the top eddy like a steep toboggan into a white monster. Also impressive was the fact that the eddy was punctuated with big-names like Stephen Wright as well as pre-teens who were better playboaters than most folks I’ve seen on the Potomac. I was scared, I was nervous, I was intimidated… but I sure didn’t come to the Ottawa in order to skip Garburator, so I was waiting in line with everyone else for my turn at the beasty wave.
Finally the time came. The teens I had been chatting with gave me the thumbs-up with big smiles for encouragement, and with my heart pounding I crossed the eddy line and committed to the green tongue. And then, in a move that I hadn’t really performed since my early days in a kayak (which wasn’t that long ago), I looked at the impressive white foam pile rushing closer and closer and I leaned away from it in fear and flipped. That’s right! I flipped before I even got to the wave. I went through Garburator upside down. To add insult to injury, I was so tense that my usually reliable roll failed me and after a few attempts, I pathetically started tapping the sides of my boat for a rescue. I could not feel any boats rescuing me. Opening my eyes in the clear water, I looked left – no boats in sight. Looked right – no boats in sight. Great! I had to swim after my first try at Garburator, for the un-glamorous reason that I simply missed all my rolls.
This memory brought me down sometimes throughout the rest of the week in Quebec, but fortunately I got a chance at redeeming myself on the last day. We went back to the Ottawa. Same wave, same eddy, same teenagers in line encouraging me with their smiles and their thumbs-up. This time I charged the white stuff.... and ....got my very first surf on Garburator! It was short, it wasn’t pretty and it sure as heck did not impress anyone – but it was my first surf at Garburator. I am sure this will continue to be one of my most memorable surfs!
Helene, a.k.a. Riverwuss.

Recollections of Eric Colbert: For me, our day on the Black River had special meaning. I am from Upstate New York, a small town similar in character to Watertown. As a teenager, one of my favorite pastimes was exploring abandoned industrial sites. The views on this river were differentiated from our other days due to the presence of old decaying industrial structures and remnants of deteriorated retaining walls and rusting machinery.
As we started this day’s trip, we paddled upstream to an old hydroelectric dam. At first, these towering structures were intimidating; however, Tom showed us how to easily paddle behind the falls from one side of the dam to the other. Further downstream, we arrived at Knife’s Edge Rapid. Remnants of massive stone walls with elegantly proportioned brick arches graced the right side of the river, reminding one of ancient Roman ruins. Further down the river, we watched Tom, then followed him over a dam/slide, another old industrial structure that gave this day its special character.

Reflections by Shawn Duffy: This was my first full week of non-stop paddling.  I was very pleased with the progression and tempo of each of the rivers.  The Black was a good river to start.  It was a little “sharp” on the rocks, but the size and speed set the pace for the rest of the week.  Nicely, the Ottawa came next as it was the focal reason to visit.  Don’t you just love Babyface?  The Gatineau was a great river which demanded good reads, proper boating skills, finesse, and some endurance for the flat water paddling.  I will look forward to running that one again on another trip up there.  My favorite rapid was the one that became mine during Tom’s scouting game.  I think taking ownership of the rapids was a nice touch of personality for the entire team.  There is only one other comment I would like to make and it is in regards to my swim-of-death on the “Chutes du Lion”.  Whenever you decide to run a rapid, go over your 4 steps and accept them.  It could be the biggest and most rewarding challenge of your life.  Or not.”  J

Carrie’s reflections:
The first few days were great and I could not imagine more beauty and splendor than I saw in Canada. I might have enjoyed the scenery almost as much as the rivers and by the end was about decided to spend a summer sometime soon just driving around Canada.

My favorite river on our trip is hard to say. I loved the beauty and challenge of each one of them. Loved surfing the easy hole at Black’s and loved the big water in all of the rivers. My biggest reflection from the trip was that I have to kayak on the Potomac a lot more days a week to get the strength for next year’s week long Canada trip. After having been sick with campylobacter (Montezuma’s revenge ) in Europe for almost the whole previous month and with it still lingering on, I was tired out at the end. However, I hung in there for last two days on the Rouge and on the Ottawa. I can’t wait till my surfing skills are better when next year I can join Helene in getting onto Garburator. I chickened out this year, but next time I will give it a go! Way to go Helene!

Tom's Reflections: In the dog days of August heat, when the Potomac is at all time lows and even the Yough is schriveling to a trickle, there is no better place to be than in Canada's fresh waters. Low flows for rivers like the Gatineau and Ottawa might be 15,000 CFS, the equivalent of about 4 ft. on the Potomac. We had on most days clear, sunny skies, and a super-abundance of water. Our hearty crew headed up to Canada with every intent to be fully baptised in the powerful Canadian white water.

Day by day as we worked are way from river to river, I grew to understand individuals' strengths and weaknesses. Helene wanted to face big water, but she was nervous. Dan's roll was coming apart but he had such confidence and experience with rivers and rapids. Shawn was anxious to run the gnar and learn to throw a blunt. Carrie was feeling sick, but didn't want to give in and let it spoil her trip. Eric squared off against each successive challenging rapid with directness and managed calm. Emily kept listening to everyone and thinking about how to keep the group running smoothly. I was intent to find just the right amount of adventure challenge with a minimum of consequence.

One day near the middle of the trip, we explored a section of the river that was new to me - the Upper Gatineau. It was five miles of beautiful lakes and swift water turns intersperced with 8 powerful rapids. We scouted, ran some, sneeked some, and walked some. The day ended with Eric's trip to the hospital and then with some of the best pizza in the small town with the hospital. I was amazed that you could get such good pizza in the heart of French speaking Canada. Maybe was it because the the owner/manager was Argentinian?

Click Here for some awsome photos by Eric, Helene