Well well...
Guys (Louis, Mark)... You didn't see the 'location'... Le Rapide des Tout-Nus is a fast-moving water class II/III shallow rapid, level dependent. In other words, at 75 on the gauge when we were there it was class II but now it is certainly above class III. But it's still not deep since the river is very wide.
There, the river is perhaps 100 feet wide and the boat is pinned only 10 feet from river-left shore, under the water pillow that forms in front of a big rock. The boat is just under the surface, there's maybe six inches of water flowing over it. Even after crawling up onto that rock, Cl?o wasn't able to (safely) reach the grab handles. He could touch the cockpit rim, but that was it. In the current of last weekend, it was more or less safe to get to the rock and back (using two tow ropes tied together with two guys holding the ropes!), but don't even think about it now, as the water flow has more than doubled since (it is above 180 right now).
It's not that the boat has sunk in deep water, it is pressed by the current against a big rock... I wish we had a photo of it. Cl?o had a camera, but was too annoyed and busy trying to get to the kayak, I suppose, to take a picture... By now, as Cl?o mentionned, if the kayak is still there, it would have deformed and wrapped itself around the rock. Of course if we hook anything through a grab handle, we stand a good chance of retrieving it, although ideally because of the way it was pinned, we would have to be pulling from the other side of the river for best results...
So Cl?o, go take a look and take some pictures of the river. You can walk all the way up above the last waterfall. Since it was already quite big last time, it must be quite impressive now.
As for the strange presence of the "Bridge Construction" warning signs above the five waterfalls (no sign to warn of the coming waterfalls themselves!), Bill Schlarb seems to remember that the extension of Highway 50 will pass there, with a brigde spanning the canyon in a narrow spot. And we were wondering why the satellite images of that area had such high resolution... Maybe that's one reason. I was wondering too, as can also be seen in Google Earth, why just below the last waterfall one can see a strip of land, perpendicular to the river, that has been cleared of trees (Google Earth coordinates: river left 45?39'0.16"N, 74?41'15.29"W and river right 45?39'2.63"N, 74?41'8.65"W). That would explain too why the road to the put-in, which I remember was crappy, is now wide and freshly paved (up to a point). The good news is that the proposed bridge would have to span the whole river in one shot, so would not modify the river itself. I'm sure the three rafting companies on that section voiced their opinion here...
More Google Earth fun: because of the way the water flows when a river turns, I believe Cl?o's kayak is located approximately at (45?38'57.25"N, 74?41'7.74"W). The seal launch is at (45?39'9.41"N, 74?41'13.31"W), the washing machine at (45?39'57.55"N, 74?41'2.57"W), the put-in at (45?41'49.64"N, 74?39'52.06"W) and the take out is approximately at (45?38'40.93"N, 74?41'23.69"W).
Cheers!
--C.
