Topic: Any Super Easy Spots for Kids?

[PeterW]

Sorry, can't make it earlier,  even noon is optimistic, family stuff going on.  Have fun!  Parkway east of the bridge should be closed this morning for the CIBC Run for the Cure, but should be OK west of Island Park.

Peter

[Steve Harrington]

A friend and I were going to go to Champlain about noon because he has to be back
for 2 or so. We could do the Mississippi with you if you want to leave a bit earlier say 11:00.

Steve

[PeterW]

Hi Steve, (or others) looks like I'm heading back there with my brother tomorrow (Sunday).  It'll be day 1 for him, but he's canoed whitewater quite a bit.  Probably leaving noonish or a bit after, I'll be out in the morning but will check the forum late morning.

Peter

[PeterW]

Hi Steve, yes, that is the stretch.  I went with my son and we did the Mississippi at Playfairville today.  He described it as "awesome".  Lots of class I and II, and there were three that were bigger and a bit more technical probably called a low class 3 (but I'm not the best judge of these numbers).  Not as big as the bigger stuff on the Lower Mad this spring, but enough that in our Grumman 17 foot canoe you'd have to be pretty careful to not fill it.  It took 1.5 hours to paddle.  Ferguson Falls gauge was reading 3.2.  We bumped a few rocks here and there, and you would not want to try to cruise along upsidedown to set up for a slow roll - shallow enough that swimming would not be great.  Good current to keep you moving, and no long slow flats.  Some rapids are pretty long.   A beginner who has poor balance and prone to tipping and swimming might get bumped up a bit, but my son stayed upright no problem, but kids have good balance.  We did get fooled because my mapbook said 2 optional portages, and after seeing one portage and going through 2 clearly bigger rapids, we assumed a third one was not too big, and found ourselves doing some last second manoeuvres to find a line, so I'd for sure say 3 "bigger " ones.

We did drive up and look at the Clyde, but from Wolf Grove and from Bow Lake Road all we could see was a flat river.

I could be talked into doing it again.

Peter

[Steve Harrington]

I've looked at the Clyde river from the road and it's fairly narrow so my only concern would be strainers from fallen trees, otherwise it shouldn't be a problem. I believe you are referring to the section that starts at #511 near Hopetown.

Steve
839-1711

[PeterW]

Hi Steve, I have a Backroad Mapbook for Eastern Ontario and it lists some paddling routes. 

For the Clyde River it says "grade I-II... a number of great eddies....some rapids longer than usual...11 km.... 3 hours....best in the spring and early summer when levels are at their highest".  When I look at the online gauge, it shows that the current level is about 8.3 metres, and on averge the water level drops below this level around June 10th.  So this water level might be low but OK, June 10 is not later than "early summer"

For Playfairville, it says "grade I-III rapids... short 6km stretch... 2 optional portages at II-III...depending on runoff levels, this route is only passable in early spring to about mid May".  The Ferguson Falls gauge shows that the water level is about 3.2 metres, and a typical mid May levle is about 3.3 metres.  The Mississippi at the outlet of Dalhousie Lake gauge is all over the place, showing a peak in March, quite low in April, and more in May, and staying up higher than April through the summer, so that might suggest some weird dam stuff going on there, but we are higher than the mid May levels, and are as high as any average level for any time of year, but not sure I trust this gauge as much.

Oh, and the good-ol carp River is about 5.0m but my lower cutoff for that is 5.1.  I know that well enough to wait for higher spring water.

So, neither of the ones that I have suggested are clearly at spring peak levels, but both are potentially passable.  I could go with either one I think.  If water level are low and marginal, maybe the shorter of the 2 is better.  We're not planning on an early start, we'll let it warm up a bit.  I'll check back here, and/or try giving me a call 613-832-0811

Peter

[Steve Harrington]

Another spot is in Pakenham. Not the bridge but go down to the river behind the center of
town to the park. You can put in at the park and there is a short stretch just below the park
that ends in a big pool. You can walk this stretch repeatedly. You are well upstream of the
bridge so ending up at that ledge isn't a concern.

Steve

[Steve Harrington]

I'd be interested in going to the Mississippi or Clyde on Saturday since I haven't been on either.

When the water is up the section in the middle of the Almonte to Blakeny run has waves big enough
to be exciting for a beginner and they could even flip there. At very low water you have to follow it
around to the left into the small bay to find the deeper (relative to the right side) channel.

Steve

[PeterW]

I should say though, that I see guys on this forum who are regular paddlers of the Ottawa and Gat are looking at doing this.  If they think this will be interesting, then I doubt that it's what I want for my kid just yet.

Peter

[PeterW]

Petite Nation... yes, I guess that's possible.  I'm west of Ottawa, so the stuff I was referring to is much closer, and I've a least seen it before so I know what it might be like.  Is the Petite Nation a good bit smaller and easier than the Lower Mad, for example? 

I'd still like to hear about the spots in Lanark area though...

Peter

[coolfarmer816]

La rivi?re Petite Nation...

http://www.quebecwhitewater.com/fr/component/riverdb/?task=view&id=9

Daniel

[PeterW]

Kicking this thread back to life, with all the recent rain I'm wondering if there might be some runs SW of town that are also easy ones.  I know that the Mississippi river at Playfairville (south of Lanark) is often as an easy spring run.  Anyone know what level it needs?  I see it is now about 0.2m lower than when I drove past it and saw canoes on it in mid April (3.2m now vs. 3.4 when I saw it).  Anyone know what it takes to be doable?  Also the Clyde River is in the same area and I understand that gets run too and is not too tough.  Any ideas how that would compare to the Mississippi in required water level or quality of the run?

Thanks,
Peter

[PeterW]

Thanks for pointing us to the Mississippi Steve.  Here's the report for anyone looking for similar easy stuff.

It was by no means a long whitewater run, but it was a good starting point.  We ended up taking our 17 foot Grumman along with 2 kayaks, so we could do the flatwater faster, with a kayak in the canoe.  I only got to paddle in the slower kayak in flatwater, and then soloed in the canoe in the small whitewater, but it gave my wife and son a good chance to try going down a river for the first time in kayaks and feel in control.  I think it was about 2.2 km of flats to start, about 1 to 1.5 km of some small whitewater sections, then another 2+ km at the end, almost 7 km total on the GPS, maybe the flat at the end was longer.  Not about to become a busy run, but it worked for us.  The water was shallow but passable, but at the end of the longest section, the river fans out very wide and it got too shallow.

Having the canoe along as the "mothership" worked well for us, since we didn't have a long time.  It took us just under 2 hours with a lunch stop, but we did have a tailwind.  Paddling it with a stiff NW wind in a playboat would be slow and painful.  If anyone has done the Carp river in the spring, this is smaller stuff that I've done on the Carp, with much more flats, but of course water levels do vary, and at least we were able to do this in the non-spring-flood level, but I think levels are higher than normal for this time of year.  I would not want to do it when much lower. 

Peter

[Steve Harrington]

That's right, in Almonte you put in below the falls at the parking area.
They really destroyed their scenic falls with that micropower project.
I can't imagine that the small amount of power it generates was worth
de-watering the falls and eliminating access to them. It used to be a
very nice spot and I think this is a great example of what not to do.

Steve

[PeterW]

Thanks Steve and John, nice to see there are a few options out there.  Seeing as we live west of town, I think we'll probably try a warmup first on the Mississippi, but the Rouge one looks good too.  Forecast looks OK for this weekend, hopefully we can fit it in.  In Almonte, I'm guessing we put in BELOW the falls and dam??     They looks a little bony!

Peter