Quebec Spring
by: Phillip Kompass
Home of
beautiful women, tasty casse-croute and unbelievable whitewater, each
spring I try to get myself and a crew into the Mauricie / Portneuf /
Jacques Cartier area in and around Quebec City as much as we can. The
river there run the gamut from continuous long boulder gardens to pool
drop park and huck, to granite slides. It is a wonderland and honestly
offers amazing paddling opportunities for any paddling ability.
The
ZEC roads are usually passable in a regular car. There is loads of
free, quality camping to be had, and you still have a great sense of
exploration.
Earlier in May, we rallied a crew
to get into the Neilson River north of the town of St Raymond (paddling
paradise by the way). The Nielson easily ranks on my top 10 list of
best rivers ever paddled. I have something like 70+ rapids along its 14
km length. There is next to no flatwater, mostly solid read-and-run
class IV with a few class V rapids sprinkled in. The online resources
in Quebec put the runnable range between 7 and 30. Personally, I have
never been below 35 and have run it as high as 75. All of these levels
offer something different, and are really good quality. Ive never done
it at 7, but I have heard reports from people running it around 15 and
they absolutely loved it.
Anyway, the pictures
are terrible, but it was 2 degrees with a mix of rain, snow sleet and
high winds. Welcome to creek boating in Canada...
The
next day we headed over to the Blanche River in the town of Riviere A
Pierre. Cool little town where they quarry and mill granite slabs.
Really cool granite porches, picnic tables, polished granite decks,
houses.... you name it. Head into the hills above the community, and
somehow you are transformed into the high Sierra's of California. There
are a few choices, but the Blanche is my favourite. Big, beautiful,
runnable slides. This run has finicky water levels, and no gauge. As
an guesstimate, I would target hitting the Blanche when the Neilson is
around 30 - 50.
We had a good crew, and ran
every rapid that day including the Blind Date line (Boydo fired it) and
"Energizer" aka "Le Zed" which is among the largest drops of my kayaking
career.
Anyway, enjoy the pictures.
Gear List:
Sweet Wanderer
Werner Powerhouse
Stohlquist Descent jacket with Level 6 tether
NRS Toaster Mitts
Kokatat Drytop
