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Les Rivieres du Quebec. Quebec Rivers by Simon Wiles Last summer Mark Rainsley and I, with wife and girlfriend in tow, visited some of popular classic runs in Quebec. Whilst the girls were happy with the Rouge, Gatineau and Ottawa, we were left feeling a little let down. I spent the rest of the summer trying to glean information from some of the local boaters at Lachine, trawling Canadian message boards, and picking the brains of some local Vermont boaters. Montreal is very playboating oriented, and very rightly so, with the world class Lachine rapids, and several other honorable mentions. All I got out of the local boaters were nonchalant shrugs “You should try the Rouge, or maybe the Gatineau”. I was getting nowhere. Then I hit paydirt. A group of Vermont boaters who spend several weekends a year up in Quebec opened up to me. ‘Why don’t you come to the Taureau gorge” They invited. So I did. That weekend was a blur: Driving. - Lots of it. Beer - lots of it. Grade 5 boating. (you get the idea). In one weekend, the myth that there is only easy grade 3 / 4 runs in Quebec was dispelled forever. We paddled the Tareau gorge, which is a mini expedition, and trail blazed into the high gorges of the Malbaie, in search of an elusive 30 foot waterfall that had eluded previous groups. I swore that I would be back, but thought to myself
that it would never match that weekend. I was wrong. Two more
trips this spring. Another 4 classic Quebec grade 5 runs. Here
is a guide to some great grade 5 runs, to give you a taster of
what Quebec has to offer.
A recent article on creekboating in a UK magazine had Corran Addison naming his favorite creek… the Rivierre du Nord. Only 1 hour north of Montreal. Interesting I though, very interesting. If he thinks it is good, it must be good. Although I was a bit disappointed to read that it was grade 3/ 4. The rivers were starting to run low in Vermont, depressingly all too early in May. I decided this was the weekend to explore the Rivierre du Nord. I rounded up Ed, a trusty local boater who also had invited me on the Taureau trip, and a few other buddies. Of course he’d paddled the Du Nord, but only once. He was very keen to repeat the trip, which was a very good sign. The river starts off with a pool drop nature, with some interesting long slides and ledges thrown in. One of the biggest falls lurks after small wooden bridge. The waterfall runs pretty well down the centre, boofing left to avoid the hole and jutting rock face. This set the pace for the run. Not really my idea of a grade 3 / 4 run, and we had low water! Slides led into pools, which led into boof ledges, it was heaven.
A number of grade 5 rapids required scouting, many of which had multiple lines. Picking our way down the river, the one rapid that only Corran had run came into view. He classed it a hard 5… Maybe on his scale. A Definite 6 in my book, and probably anyone elses. A long extremely trashy rapid led to a short pool above a 20 foot fall into a narrow gorge. As we peered over the edge of the gorge wall, a narrow line presented itself, don’t screw up the lead in, hit the boof far left, and you just might avoid decapitation as nearly all the flow drops under the right hand wall..
Our long portage was made much easier with a great path to the base of the gorge. From the put in, it was straight into the crux of the run, a twisting triple drop, with unpleasant consequences at each stage. Fortunately we had a couple of safety / photo volunteers.
A clean run by Ed, was followed by a not so clean, “remodel the nose of my boat” on the first stage, by me. A few additional fun ledges, and an unpleasant bouldery rapid led to a mile of shallow grade 2 run out. Heading back through Montreal, we even managed to get a few runs in on the Expo wave at high Spring levels. Nielson – 1hr North West of Quebec City – 12 km The Nielson section of the Saint Anne river is a great spring run. 12 Miles of action packed horizon lines. Our late May visit coincided with high water – 30 cms. At this level the run was non stop back to back rapids for the entire 12 miles. Mostly grade 4 rapids tested us continually, many rapids led round corners and over blind drops.
One gorge section, one of the harder grade 5 rapids, boasted six back to back drops, all of which sported sizable holes to avoid or punch.
Towards the end of the section, the rapids transformed to pool drop. A fabulous slide rapid was particularly memorable. We took out where the road came close to the river for the first time in 12 miles. We didn’t attempt the final two miles down to the bridge due to high water, but I will be going back when levels drop. The last 2 miles contain exceptionally large falls and slides. Saturiski – Jacque Cartier Park – 12 km After paddling the Nielson, we drove an hour east into the Jacque Cartier National Park. The ‘Jacque’ , a popular rafting and paddling river, with a number of good sections, was running high, but our target was the Saturiski, a side stream. We camped overnight in the Park, and set our shuttle at the highest take out road. The shuttle for this run is a bit of a monster, back out of the park, head north, and then in on the dirt road. The road is gated until mid May, and luckily had opened the weekend before.
The Saturiski had been recommended by everyone we met of the Nielson, and it didn’t disappoint us. The rapids were slightly easier than the Nielson, and the river had less volume. A seal launch portage followed by a difficult fall marked the start of the middle portion of the river, which was non stop ledge boofing and grade 4 rapids. The only disappointment was the 3 miles of shallow flatish water before the take out.
Cache – Jacque Cartier Park – 2 km Following our run on the Saturiski, we passed over the Cache. The level looked low, but then, how much water do you need to drop falls and slides. Ed had paddled the Cache before, thankfully, so we knew that we were in for ‘a few falls and slides’. What I didn’t realize was that we were in for such a treat.
The Cache might only be 2 miles long, but it is steep, very steep. Spectacular fall followed slide, into more falls, and more slides….. for 2 miles… with no flat water! As it happened, the level turned out to be fine.
The main event was a twisting double drop that only Ed managed to nail. Jonny and I tested various lines, fortunately without serious consequences. A series of slides culminating in a great triple slide led to a short 100 yard stretch of scrappy shallow rapids down to the take out bridge, where Ed and I sunned ourselves, contemplating a great weekend of boating, whilst Jonny hitched the shuttle.
Taureau – Jacque Cartier National Park. 15 km Where my Quebec grade 5 runs started. The Taureau Gorge. ‘The Bull”. This mid summer run is only usually possible when other sections of the Jacque Cartier are too low. It is rarely too low to run, but groups have however found too much water. Like the Saturiski, Shuttle is set at the highest road access, known as Camp 4. Then it’s a 2 hour drive back out of the park, North, then back in on dirt roads. A shuttle bunny would be handy, just make sure they park at the right take out. The ‘World Whitewater’ guidebook describes the Taureau as a “hair run, one of the most difficult stretches of river on the East continent”. Many groups have run this as a two day trip, but an early start, and a fast group should ensure that you don’t run out of daylight. Also the Mosquitos are really bad. I wouldn’t want to spend the night on the river bank.
Whilst the Taureau is set in a spectacular 1500 ft deep gorge, the towering bald rock walls are set back from the river, with dense fir trees flanking the river. All the rapids can be portaged with some difficulty if needed, but if you start portaging, or even inspecting unnecessarily, it will be a long day. From the dirt road access, the first 5kms are a warm up, with plenty of flat water, and nothing more than grade 2 / 3 rapids. The middle 5 kms are where “the bull starts” to charge. There are at least 18 named rapids all hard class 4 or higher, and countless others, separated by only small pools and boogie water. One of the first rapids is a 25ft waterfall, which has been run on the right narrow channel, but is usually portaged on the right.
A major side stream joins from the right, about half way down the gorge. A dangerous rapid shortly follows this. It can be run at higher levels, but in lower water, the only line drops into a bad siphon. It is an easy scout and portage on the right. The final 5 kms of this long day are exhausting flat water and easy rapids down to the take out. Having someone who knows the river is almost essential if you expect to complete the run in a day. Emergency gear is also a must. It is a long way out. Several groups have lost boats, and been forced to walk out, back up river. There are no paths or roads inside the gorge. Reports that these groups were mercilessly eaten alive by bugs have not been disproved. Malbaie – 8km After picking up our shuttle car, and draining some well earned beers following the Taureau, we headed east for a couple of hours to the Malbaie. We were planning to start higher than the Vermont boys had paddled before, aiming to start above a 30ft fall, that had been seen above the put in previously used. We managed to get truck about a mile up a disused road, with trees bashing the windows both sides. From there, we hiked a further mile along the disused road, before dropping down to the river through thick standing and fallen trees.
Fortunately, we’d got it spot on. A couple of easy ledges and slides, led us to an imposing horizon line and clouds of rising mist. Here the river dropped into a sheer sided gorge. We hopped out and found to our amazement a perfectly clean 30 footer. With no shortage of volunteers to go first, we set cameras and watched as one after another hucked the falls into the gorge.
Following the falls, there was no shortage of other good falls and slides, down to the normal put in bridge. From the normal put in, the rapids were smaller and more constricted. Several problematic rapids were scattered amongst the fun stuff. A funnel drop, which induced much down time was the last major rapid, before we came across the shuttle car. A treacherous drive back along a sinkhole ridden dirt road completed the excitement for the weekend Having worked our way far North east from the Taureau, it was a long drive back to Vermont, but a great weekends boating to think about all week at work. So next time you think about a summer holiday to Lachine or Ottawa, it may be worth trying to get hold of a creek boat for a few days, and try to explore some of the creeks. There is life after playboating! The Lac St Jean region, several hours north of Quebec city, about 2 hours north of the Taureau and the Malbaie is the latest whitewater frontier. US and Canadian boaters are heading there each year, picking off first descents each year from the 45 rivers and creeks that drain into the lake. If you haven’t heard about these runs… Its because they are keeping them to themselves! Information Sources: Mostly local Vermont boaters! There is no equivalent
to the excellent UKriversguidebook. Simon Wiles |
