Boatwerks.net

Looking for some multi-day, self supported trip options. Specifically something 1-3 nights in duration, grade 3-4 water, and of course as little flat water as possible. Either within Ontario, Quebec or Eastern US. July or August time frame. Looking forward to some recommendations,

Hutch

I'd look into some of the classic canoe routes - Petawawa, noire, dumoine, even the madawaska. Not sure you'll find a river trip of the length you are looking for with out a fair bit of flatwater. Topography just doesn't suit the three day continuous ClII-IV runs. There might be something out there though!

Good luck and let us know what you find.

Dan C
Rapid Media TV Guy

Crowe River, Beaver Creek and Black River Moria combo any one of those may be interesting and lees well known then the regulars, however would have to be run in spring time.

I know of a river that has very little flatwater with 40-50 km of class 2,3,4.

The trouble is that its very inaccessible unless you fly in and fly out. Ive been on it twice. as a canoe trip. you end up portaging over all the significant drops. but some creek boats, expirenced paddlers and somebody who's been on the river before id expect you could paddle this strech in 5 or so days. long days.

Kessagami river. North of cocrhane, flows into james bay.

Ive been looking to go back to this river with keen folks in creekers for 5 years now.
CHeers.!

5 long days to do a 50KM stretch with little moving water? I was thinking if it's II-IV whitewater that would be almost a day trip (or easy two).

Dan C
Rapid Media TV Guy

perhaps it can be done faster but ...

My experience with this river ( leading youth X2) is that the 50 km are staked seamy continuous and consist of lots of small portages around Class 4 + . Granted leading 14 kids down class 2-3 takes 100 times longer than with a small group of experienced boaters i still think that with logistics, scouting and setting up safety for the bigger rapids etc. 4-5 days to complete this river ( assuming its possibible to fly out once the river widens at the end.) i would think to be reasonable.
Maybe the canoer in me wants to scout everything .

This is what i'm refering to

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=212 ... 5,0.213203

Oh and the river drops 230m in elevation over 45 km.

Interest anybody ?

I've looked into the Kesagami before as a canoe trip. Never thought about attempting it by kayak due to its length. But now you've got me thinking. By kayak you're going to have a lot less portaging and with a smaller group of kayakers you should be able to cover at least 10 km per day, maybe more. How much flat water is in there? You can fly in to Lake Kesagami and take out by train from Moosonee I think. Might even be able to arrange for a water taxi from where the river empties into James Bay and avoid the long flatware paddle into Moosonee. If it can be done in less than 5 days this could be a cool trip by kayak. I'd consider it, Etienne how serious are you about kayaking the Kesagami self-supported? Is it really doable with the ultra-low carrying capacity of creek boats? Since you've canoed it twice sounds like you're the man to talk to.

You could do the Gens de Terre or the Magpie in Quebec. They're far away but have good volume and big sets. I've never paddled either but they look awesome. I would Not paddle the Dumoine in a kayak, there is too much flat water and most rapids can be run in a canoe.

You should check out the Magpie. There is some flatwater, but it also has some of the longest continuous 2-3 and 4 rapids that I have ever seen. There are some BIG 5s and 6s as well. The scenery is stunning. There is one long mandatory portage around a canyon that is the most impressive piece of river I have seen anywhere: if it were closer to any kind of population base, I'm sure it would be a national park.

hutchi wrote:I've looked into the Kesagami before as a canoe trip. Never thought about attempting it by kayak due to its length. But now you've got me thinking. By kayak you're going to have a lot less portaging and with a smaller group of kayakers you should be able to cover at least 10 km per day, maybe more. How much flat water is in there? You can fly in to Lake Kesagami and take out by train from Moosonee I think. Might even be able to arrange for a water taxi from where the river empties into James Bay and avoid the long flatware paddle into Moosonee. If it can be done in less than 5 days this could be a cool trip by kayak. I'd consider it, Etienne how serious are you about kayaking the Kesagami self-supported? Is it really doable with the ultra-low carrying capacity of creek boats? Since you've canoed it twice sounds like you're the man to talk to.

I've been trying to together a kayak trip on this river for a few years now. Both times ive done it (canoeing) we paddled to kessagami lake, (5 days) and paddled to mossenee. totaling 300km and about 22 days on hte water. However some days our group moved only 2,3 km's because of the numerous small portages around ledges drops and some more significant rapids. there is a 1 km section in a canyon that we portaged around containing some great whitewater that i have never seen,

The whitewater section has very little flat water ( a couple stretches around 3km). you can usualy see the next rapid from the one you just finished. i'm jsut checking my trip report here and count about 70 rapids i considered noteworthy, and 22 short portages. Likely more than half can be run in a in a kayak.

Ideally id think it would be most convenient to fly in then fly out or at the very least a water taxi to mossenne,
The paddle from the end of the whitewater to mossenee would be hell. the bay paddle is 60 km, exposed on james bay over sand flats fighting tides and little access to clean drinking water. then you still have to paddle against the moose river up to mossenee, If you miss the tides ( so don;t miss the tides) you will be paddling at a very slow rate.


I haven;t done many self suported kayaking trip. ( one) but in my experience this trip is entirely feasible if the logistics can be organized to trim the flatwater before and after top portion of this river.

If anybody wants to plan a trip up here count me in.

The Dog river up by Wawa could also be a potential candidate, with much easier logistics and great whitewater it is an amazing trip. I know it is done by canoers that late in the season but I have done it in the spring as a kayak trip and it is magnificent.
CJ

CJ could you provide info on put in/take out, length of trip, number of nights, what to expect, etc for the Dog? What time of year is best? I seem to recall May being the best time for kayakers, not sure if there'd be enough water in the summer

I did the Kesagami last summer on Etienne's recommendation with two canoes. We spent 13 paddling days total: 4 days to Kesagami Lake, nearly 4 days from the end of the whitewater to Moosonee, and 5 relatively easy days on the whitewater section. With three relatively inexperienced paddlers we portaged all of the rapids that would warrant a kayak / small canoe trip- lots of nice rapids that would be a lot of fun. The 4 days into Kesagami Lake and the paddle from the end of the whitewater would not be fun in a creeking canoe or kayak. Flying into Kesagami Lake is relatively straightforward, though expensive. Water taxis on the bay are also easy to arrange. Could be a great mission.

The Dog has also been on the list for years. I remember trying to plan for around May long weekend. 5ish days seems to ring a bell.

Happy Paddling.

Here is an entire trip report. This report describes a longer trip than I have done. I am going to be doing it again this spring in May sometime, and will be doing it over two days: camp at putin, day one paddle half camp halfway down below a LARGE slide, day two paddle to river mouth, day three get picked up by fisherman and brought the 25 kms back to Wawa(you leave a car at the fishermans).
http://www.myccr.com/canoedb/routeDetai ... outeid=216
CJ

Batiscan or Lievre have easy access, lots of CIII water and are both close by. The only issue is if there will be enough water in July / August.