Post by Northern NB Rob on Jul 10, 2022 8:56:43 GMT -5
On June 9th, we did a 3 day trip starting in the Zec Zone 3 of the Patapedia. Getting in was harder than crossing the US border, but we eventually did after the warden/guard vetted us for 30 minutes or more. We were told we were getting dropped at "30 Mile" which is just the name for the area. We later learned it was near 38M. Ok. That throws off your GPS tracking and route planning. You need high water for this stretch above 23M (or for that matter from 23M to 11M). It was 1.9 on the Restigouche Rafting Grounds gauge. It is fast and furious. Once you get in, you're gone and very few spots to stop, let alone eddy, save for 1-2 boats at a time. It felt like a never ending class I with little spurts of class II at times. Around the 27M marker, you need to be alert for sweepers and strainers. It's a 3-5 km stretch, you'll feel the river change, you come into more of a wide valley region. We did 30 km on day one, 50 km on day two and 33 km on day three. We avg over 10kmph on the water. The Restigouche was running high, around 2M, and I have never seen rapids like that on it before. We did it higher once, it was close to 3M, and there were almost no rapids. But in this case, every rapid you know of what was bigger (except Gilmore which runs better on low water for rapids). Chamberlain Shoals had 6' standing waves. You'd never think it's usually a shelf drop on low water. Anyhow, above 23M is very rare on this river, so if you ever venture up, reach out as I have more info. Oh, camp spots are rare up that way, great one around 19M. And there is a defunct camp a little higher on the right side, can't miss it. I would guess it was around 30M.