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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Petawawa River 2009
On the second weekend in July, Mark Scott, long-time club member, white water enthusiast and our trusty Club Vice President embarks on his annual voyage down the Petawawa River. He has done this trip every year at this same time for over 15 years.
The trip was GOOD. Actually it was better than that; the weather was perfect, the company spectacular, the scenery was breath-taking and the paddling fun. Thanks to all of those factors and Mark’s experience and leadership, the trip was GREAT.
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The Petawawa trip is a 3-day trip on the lower portion of the Petawawa River through Algonquin Park from Lake Travers down to Lake McManus. We left the shed bright and early. After the packing up of the cars, shuttling and loading of the boats we were on the water by lunch time. The first day we tackled Big Thompson, Little Thompson, portaged Crooked Chute and found a good campsite for the evening. The water was a little bit low but this gave us a good opportunity to practice technique rather than just blasting down the rapids. We eddy hopped, surfed and jetted across the troughs as much as possible.
The second day was shorter although it started with a portage around most of Rollaway, put-in two-thirds of the way down. Then the Upper and Lower Natch, again the low water level meant some fancy paddle work which was well done by all of the trip participants.
At the base of some big cliffs we found a nice campsite and spent the sunny afternoon swimming, hiking to the top of the cliffs, relaxing and generally having a good time. We also had a reprieve from all the BAD jokes when Mark decided to take a nap.
After dinner we watched an impressive sound and light show from our natural amphitheatre by the water. A thunderstorm raged on for just over an hour in the distance. Thankfully there was little rain and we could just sit back and enjoy the show.
The third day we ran all the remaining rapids Schooner, Five Mile Rapids and all the swifts in between. It was a bit of a bump and grind but fun never the less.
We certainly understand why Mark has done this trip every year for the past 15 years. It felt as though we had had a week of holidays when in fact we were only gone 3 days. Get your calendars out; Mark has assured us he is going back next year. We have it down already for 2010.
Where is the UGLY part you are probably wondering? This insect….any ideas what it is ???
