I have just spent one of the most amazing weeks of my summer paddling the Noir River in Quebec. Working with camp I had the chance to help lead a canoe trip down this river. It was by far the best 5 day canoe trip I have done.
I do not exaggerate when I say that everything about that week was epic. Things were either epically slack, or intense. On Wednesday we did a 1.34 km portage, with a sheer drop at the end of it. My feet are still recovering.
The rapids were sweet. In the picture, we are running a class three, with empty boats, while the other trippers carried the gear to the bottom of the rapid.
Our game plan was as such: paddle down around the first rock, then eddie out, then do a c turn down to another eddie, then ferry across to the eddie on the opposite shore to pick up the gear. By some stroke of luck, we tried to eddie out 3 times, and failed 3 times. However, we instead of things going south, we just went straight into our ferry, and things went mostly perfect. Except when we tried to start with a back ferry (going backwards), that just ended up being sloppy.
The blue canoe that you see in this picture took quite a beating. Not ten minutes after running this rapid beautifully, we came upon another rapid, where disaster hit. When all was said and done, water was coming into the boat like a severed artery. We did our best to repair him, but I fear the Big Blue has seen better days.
Big Blue, I salute you.
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