Here's my synopsis of our recent whitewater canoe trip on the Coulonge river. First of all, some background on the river. The Coulonge River is a river in western Quebec. It is 217 km long and runs into the Ottawa river at Fort Coulonge, Quebec. It is in the Pontiac region of Quebec which is known for its huge white pine forests. This river is often grouped together with the Dumoine and Noire as three of a kind. All three are in the same area, have similar characteristics, and are very popular with white water canoeists like us. The Coulonge however is known as the most dangerous of the 3. The reason for this is that many of the rapids have nasty consequences as we would later find out.
The drive up was relatively uneventful. We left at around 4 pm from Waterloo. Got Jimmy at around 5. His office mates bidded us a safe trip and asked us to ensure that we didn't bring Jimmy back :). We prolonged the drive by missing our turn off at Napanee and made it to Kingston before we realized we'd gone about 60 kms out of our way. We made it up to Tim Horton's to meet Steve (Andy's brother) and Jacques(our favourite Frenchman) who we waiting for us in Pembrooke Ontario. This was about 11:30 at night. After happily greeting our long lost canoe buddies, Jacques and Steve, we headed up on the first stage of our adventure to get to the Riviere Noire Inn. The drive in to the Inn was down a logging road. We drove for about 30-45 minutes until we came to the end of the road. We got out of thecars and saw a picturesque Inn that was located right on the lower part of the Black River. It was a late 19th century auberge.
The stars leaped out at us as we were so far away from any ambient city light. We rested peacefully with the sounds of nature filtering through the walls of this historic Inn. We awoke bright and early to a wonderfully cooked egg and bacon breakfast from Jean the Inn's caretaker. We chatted and enjoyed the hospitality of the Inn and reminisced about the previous canoe trips we'd had and not so idyllic first night lodgings of past canoeing experiences (ie. the gruesome motel just outside Sudbury). At this point Jean interrupted our breakfast and wondered if we planned on getting our stuff packed onto his trailer before the bugs descended upon us. Well this got us going! We are very familiar with how bad the bugs can get. No sooner did we leave the Inn than the black flies began to feast on our necks and other exposed body parts. Thank the lord we had Jim Kerr's nice white flesh to divert the nasty black flies but that still didn't stop us from spending about 30 minutes being bug bait while we frantically packed Jean's trailer with our gear. After loading our gear onto Jean's truck we followed in our trucks up to Lac Jim where we dropped our trucks. This was our intended takeout point.
Andy, Steve and Jacques at Lac Jim - the take out point
From Lac Jim, we all jumped in Jean's truck to take us up to the put in point at the Gauthier Falls. Jim and I started off in not so fine fashion. After loading our canoes we decided to have a little fun at the bottom of the falls. Not quite having gathered our canoe legs yet we nearly experienced the first dump of the day as we entered at the base of the rapids with the canoe sideways and nearly went in the drink.
Gauthier Falls - the put in point for our trip down the Coulonge
We continued down the meandering river until we got the Chute Diable which was where we decided to set up camp for the night. We met another group of about 8 canoeists from Michigan who had been on the river for 8 days. They were extremely happy for the warm weather as they had had snow during their trip. The group was a mixture of young strong guys and wily river veterans. Andy and I chatted with them as they loaded up their gear. After they departed a number of us went swimming in a cold but wonderfully refreshing swimming hole at the bottom of the rapids but out of harms way.
Swimming hole at Rapide Diable
Rapide Diable
Andy in front of Rapide Diable
The next day we woke up and were itching for a bit of adventure. We hit the rapides Petits Diable (little devil) which was a class II. We managed to make it through that unscathed and more confident for the next one. I believe we did one more set of rapids and again took in very little water. I indicated to Steve to his surprise that we'd only ever dumped once in our white water experience. Unfortunately the river gods must have heard this for the next set of rapids we were not so lucky. This rapids was called Rapid Enrages (Enraged Rapids).
From Hap Wilson's book it was tough to tell how far away the chute was at the end of this rapids. It looked like there was a calm stretch between the rapids at the top and the chute below. There was a small writeup. None of us felt very comfortable at the top of the rapid since it seemed very difficult to scout the rapid. However we were in the flow of the rapid and managed to pull over to an eddy pool to discuss our strategy. There was an island towards the middle of the rapid which we decided to try to canoe to and then scout from there. Jimmy and I felt a bit uneasy about this but thought we could make it. From there the plan was to line the boats around behind the island and canoe from their to an eddy pool on the right where we'd be able to scout the rest of the rapids from. Andy was paired with Jacques, Steve was in the solo canoe, and Jim and I were in my canoe. Andy, Steve, Jacques made it out to the island. Jimmy and I set off as well. In order to get to the island, it was a tricky maneuver. We had to ferry across the rapids with the nose of the canoe pointing up river. Its tricky because you MUST keep your nose pointed into the flow of the rapid at a slight angle and use the current to pull you across. I underestimated the pull of the current and before we knew it the force of the current had swung the canoe around and we were heading down the rapids without the opportunity to scout to see what was ahead. A feeling of panic struck me as I realized just how strong the current was and how heavy the flow of water was. We hit a haystack wave and this swamped the canoe. At this point we started to see and hear what was ahead of us and this was the chute. There was no flat water for us to flow into. We took in another wave and at this point I knew we were in trouble. I looked left and there was a high rock wall with no opportunity to climb out and to the right was the main flow of the rapids. Jimmy fell out to the right where as I jumped with all my might towards the safest spot I could see on the left side. Andy would later remark
I had never seen Alan jump so high!
Then came the shock of the cold water and the swirling rapids. The water was intense but now Jimmy and I were in survival mode. We swam with all our the strength we had. Jimmy was on the right side of the canoe and this was worrying me as this was where the main flow of the rapid was. We swam as hard as we could for the last remaining bastien ... an eddypool just to the left of the chute. Jimmy grabbed onto the last rock perched at the top of the eddy pool just before going over the chute. A supreme being must have been watching over us as both Jim and myself managed to make it into the last eddy pool. What a shock ...but what relief! As I clambered up onto the rock and seeing Jimmy safe on the rock. I watched the canoe go down the chute. It looked like it might make it down okay but towards the bottom, the raging rapids kept it upright almost vertically for a second and then brought it crashing down spraying all of our gear at the base of the rapid. Jimmy and I clung to the rocky shoreline and stood up to hug one another thankful that we were alive. Then we turned around and to my horror I saw Andy coming down the rapids. By the time we saw him, he had already dumped and was in the water. We both yelled Andy get over to where we are the chute is right here!" Like a nightmare being replayed, I could see Andy struggling to get out of the current. He went in higher up the river and we saw him go under and then his body came shooting out of the waves to the left of his canoe. He swam for his life to the same eddy pool where Jimmy and I were. Similar to us he managed to clamber up onto the rocks as his canoe went over the chute as well.
At this point we were all in a bit of shock. I saw Steve on shore on the right bank of the river. Not knowing why Andy had come down the river I yelled to Steve NOT to come down that the chute was right here. Steve had no intention of putting his canoe anywhere near the water as it might have been our only way down the rest of the river for the entire group. The reason Andy dumped was this. When Andy, Jacques and Steve saw us go down the rapid, they responded quickly. Andy was now in the solo canoe and put his canoe in a little quicker than he would normally have had he not just seen his friends disappear into the rapid. The flow of the water was heavier than expected and he immediately tipped and was in the rapids. Steve watched in horror unable to assist as he saw his brother now go down the rapid. He actually held a throw bag but it was best that he didn't use it as it would only have pulled Andy closer to the chute. After seeing Andy go in, Jacques and Steve jumped in their canoe and immediately got spun around and were in a very precarious position going down the rapids backwards. They managed to keep their heads and took advantage of this position to forward ferry to an eddy pool on the right side of the river. When assessing damage to ourselves once we were all safely on shore Jimmy felt a wracking pain in his ribs and realized that he must have broken a few ribs probably falling out of the canoe. Thankfully though we all still had our lives! Needless to say we made a number of errors that we normally never do. The guidebook had a more detailed description of the rapid a few pages further in the book which we hadn't seen. The rapids had a portage to the right which we should have taken and if we had, we would have seen the magnitude of the chute at the bottom. Hap Wilson's guide book had the following comment
It's a fun place to play and spend a few days
Well I feel like sending him this email! I imagine that the high water made this much more treacherous. But still this is an unrunnable rapid at almost any time. We analysed our mistakes over the next few nights. With regards to our canoes, mine was damaged at the front. When the rapids stood it up, the front gunnel was tornoff, the nose was dented in, and a small hole was torn in the front of the canoe. Jacques' solo canoe did much better and had a few minor gashes. Our gear managed to make it through which speaks highly of barrels and waterproof gear. Luckily my tent was still strapped into the canoe. The base of the rapid looked like a disaster zone with our barrels and other gear floating randomly at the bottom of the rapid.
The lost gear was our booze barrel, which we sorely needed that night, Jimmy's water jug, a paddle and a few other pieces. With all that had happened we were lucky that there was a campsite at the bottom of the rapid and so we gathered our gear and setup camp there. There wasn't much discussion that night as we all did a bit of soul searching as to whether the whitewater was really something we were cut out for. Jimmy had a rough night but he was a trooper. Imagine having cracked ribs and sleeping on a Thermarest with a life jacket as a pillow. He took as many Tylenol as he could and then went to bed early. I had a fitful sleep dreaming about what could have been as I listened to the roar of those same rapids. At about 2 am Jimmy awoke in a lot of discomfort and I had to help him out of the tent so that he could relieve himself.
The next morning we awoke and had a light breakfast everyone still in a bit of shock from the events the day before. I went down and patched up the front of my canoe as best I could with duct tape. It actually seemed to seal the canoe quite well. At least to the point where I felt I could get it to the take out point. We loaded up the canoes and left the site. We had a very easy class I rapid to do but after the events of the day before even this seemed like Niagara Falls. No problems getting through that however. We continued on and our spirits were brightened by the beautiful day and the beauty of the river.
Slanting Pines Reaching Out Into the CoulongeThe river started to become much more interesting. The flow of the river even in the calm areas was very strong. It was very interesting seeing how fast one could paddle relative to the banks of the river with such little effort. This part of the river was much more scenic and sandy banks or tree lined bank met us around every corner. As we were paddling, we managed to find some of our gear (paddle and water jug but still no booze barrel). We portaged our gear around both sets of falls at Rapid Gallinotes then paddled the canoe on the section between the falls. We had a wonderful lunch at these rapids. As we were portaging the gear back and forth Andy shouted to me,
Hey look what's caught in a whirl pool at the bottom of the first set of rapids".
I looked down and sure enough there was our green booze barrel looking not worse for the wear. We hastily went down to the whirl pool with a large stick and rescued our prized treasure. We captured the experience on camera as each of us got to have their picture taken hoisting the barrel above our heads like the Stanley Cup.
Jimmy holding the cupFrom the Rapid Gallinotes we paddled down to Lac Jim to pick up our cars. This paddle was very entertaining as the flow of the river was quite strong yet the banks were lined with trees. You could measure the speed of the river by the speed at which we were passing the trees.
Jacques and Steve passing by a Rock Wall
Sandy banks on the CoulongeWe portaged our canoes up a steep incline to the damn where Lac Jim emptied out into the Coulonge. We put the canoes in at the top of the damn and canoed to where we had parked our cars. Jim's ribs were still bothering him but he agreed to stay on one more night so we set up a make shift camp at a beautiful part of the Coulonge just outside of the town of Fort Coulonge.
Grand Chute outside Fort Coulonge
Rainbow over the Grand Chute
Mist From the WaterfallWe spent the evening swimming skinny riding the currents down the river and the eddies back up. The water in that part of the river seemed warmer and the bottom of the river was a sandy bed which made it wonderful for swimming. Having found the booze barrel we all helped ourselves to plenty of beer and wine and finally began to discuss the ordeal of the day before. We spent a good part of the evening until the early hours of the morning discussing what we should have done and outlining how we have to behave as a group in order never to run into that sort of thing again. It brought us all much closer together as this sort of thing does. To sum it up an unforgettable canoe trip!
Us at a bridge over the Grand Chute
