Topic: Upper Madawaska - Sunday May 15

[Jeffrey J Templeton]

The forecast for the Madawaska area tomorrow says it’s going to be cold and windy with mixed precipitation in the afternoon, feeling between -5ºC and -1ºC with the windchill and a high of 3ºC so we are not going.

[Stephen Depooter]

FYI, OPG's update today puts the Bark Lake Inflow at 67cms.
http://www.opg.com/generating-power/hydro/RiverSystems/OttawaSL/Madriver.pdf

Enjoy the river.

[Francois Leclerc]

Can't boat on Sunday unfortunately. Have fun guys!

[Francois Leclerc]

I will confirm today.

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[Jeffrey J Templeton]

Thanks Dave.

There are now 4 of us planning to meet at the takeout, here: 45.535554, -78.046582, at 11:00 Sunday May 15th.

[DaveH]

I just got off the phone with a friendly OPG employee and indeed those numbers are for the outflow (I will contact ShaggyD and suggest an edit on their page). I was told that the current inflow for Bark Lake is 78 cms.

[Jeffrey J Templeton]

The upper section is fed by spring runoff and there is no flow data for the upper section.  The flow numbers from OPG at Bark Lake is how much water they are spilling into the Middle Mad.

I was not sure so I asked two people who run it regularly and they both thought this weekend would be good but also one of the last for the season.  I emailed MKC and asked them too and they said it should be good.

That’s about as good as it gets for a river with no upstream gauge.

[DaveH]

I would like to do this one some day, but perhaps not this year.

Is there likely to be enough flow? The link that you provide says that a inflow at Bark Lake of ~120 cms is a good level.

OPG is claiming that Discharge was reduced to 30  cms on Thursday May 5. Are the other numbers there the inflow numbers??
http://www.opg.com/generating-power/hydro/RiverSystems/OttawaSL/Madriver.pdf

These guys seem to think that they are referring to the inflow rates:
http://www.shaggydesigns.com/guidebook/rivers/madawaska_upper.htm
and they say that ~70 cms is the min for a decent trip. It looks like it was 44 last Thursday and dropping fast.

Also looking at the gauge for the Oxtongue, whose watershed shares a boundary with the upper mad, indicates that Elvis has left the building:
http://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/report/report_e.html?mode=Graph&type=realTime&stn=02EB014&dataType=Real-Time&startDate=2016-04-01&endDate=2016-05-09&prm1=46&y1Max=&y1Min=&prm2=47&y2Max=&y2Min=

Hmmmm, perhaps the Friday rains will be generous. Or perhaps I'm missing some key info.

Just saying: It would be a long drive for a skookum river, but a really long drive for a dry one. So you might want to verify flows before hand.

[Jeffrey J Templeton]

You would make it four.

[Francois Leclerc]

Might be interested, will confirm. How many people?

[Jeffrey J Templeton]

Three of us are planning to run the Upper Madawaska on Sunday May 15th and I'd like to get at least one or two more for this section of the Madawaska.

http://www.whitewaterontario.ca/rivers/index.php/Madawaska_River_Upper

It's a long day from Ottawa but the river is worth the drive.