Where to Whitewater Kayak in Rapides-des-joachims

Penniseault creek - Access through the town of Rapides-des-Joachims and go to the bridge leading to the registration shack of the Zec. Don’t forget to pay for your road passes. Once you get there, drive all the way behind to the shack to come down to the riverbank where you can leave a car at the mouth of the creek and take a look. What you see is pretty much the style you can expect from this run. Drive up around 4km on the main road where you will drive over 2 large culverts. Park at the campsite and enjoy a 1.5km scenic flatwater paddle to get the shoulders warmed up. On the way up in the first couple hundred meters, you will see the creek and a trail leading to it. Don’t cross the rotten bridge but look at the gauge on river left. If you’re doing a park and huck of the main drop, 4” should be minimum and 6” for the whole creek. You can also scout the main event down this trail. Once at the put in, Slide down in the lake and start paddling. Note that if you get to the first drop and are not feeling good about this whole thing, there is a trail on river right allowing you to hike out to the road. Inspect the first drop as it gets very gnarly as water levels climb up with wood hazards, lots of pinning/pitoning potential, and retentive holes. Portage or preferably run on the left. The right channel is extremely gnarly up against a wall leading in a huge hole, definitely class V at high flows. The rest is continuous class 2-3 with 2 major log jams that must be portaged. IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO KEEP YOUR HEAD ON A SWIVEL AS THERE ARE OFTEN NEW STRAINERS. Once you get to the bridge, beware and you will be arriving to the second major drop. The rest is 1km of class IV boulder gardens out to the Ottawa river straight to your car. This sums up to a steep, fast, spring run with lots of wood and 2 major class IV drops to beware of.

Ottawa River - In low water, flatwater from lake McConnell to the convinience store. Beautiful mangrove like channels below the bridge and bouldery shores pretty much until Colten bay. Multiple put in and takeouts possible with it being roadside/trailside. Medium water when they release is swift water to class 1 waves. Perfect for beginners. At Highwater, it is class I-II. I have seen waves up to 8ft in size and solid class III+ rapids at extreme flood levels. At medium-highwater, there can be wood in some of the side channels and even main ones causing some problems if not avoided. If you’re a beginner, be with at least an intermediate.

Dumoine River - Very beginner friendly run with easily scoutable class I-II+ rapids. There can be rocks however and a swim can result in a slightly bruised bottom. There are 2 major rapids, Panet chute(Class III+) and Ryan’s chute (Class IV) which both have fun creeky lines although it is preferable for most people to poratge at least Ryan’s chute. There is amazing scenery all along and there is great potential in seeing wildlife.