Post by dbradford on Jul 23, 2012 14:43:16 GMT -5
These were my crown waters for the year; a river I have wanted to see for a long time. Dad and I left on Sunday July 15 and it took us a little more than 7 hours to get to the takeout, where we met a Quebec ranger who shuttled us up to Mile 23. I rented the camps on the Quebec side of the river: they were only 30$ a night and since Dad is 77 this seemed like a good idea. If I ever do this again I will rent them again, it is so much more comfortable than being in a tent! The paddling was very easy, I guess I was expecting it to be a bit more challenging considering the territory. The one place I was cautioned about was Hell's Gate: I had us in our life jackets, and everything tied in but as it turned out the 'drop' was very easy. We went through it and kept looking for the rough waters around every turn until we realized we were through it. There were few salmon in the river; I only caught two grilse and one salmon, but there were plenty of sea trout in the 2-3 lb range to keep things interesting.
We ran about 28kms in three days because we were fishing, but it could easily be done in a day if a person wanted to. The water is crystal clear and the beauty of this region amazed me. Our timing was good because I figure in another few days it would be a bit too low. The Restigouche gauge was reading 1.08 near Kedgwick for future reference.
If you ever plan to run this river the Quebec rangers provided us the shuttle service for 50$ and could likely do the same for someone who just wanted to paddle the river without fishing (the whole thing is Crown Reserve). It is a lovely river about the size of the Renous, nice easy paddling just perfect for drifting along and relaxing. Attached are some pics from the trip if you are interested. They are not in order unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to move stuff around on photobucket.
s1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii575/otterNB/
We ran about 28kms in three days because we were fishing, but it could easily be done in a day if a person wanted to. The water is crystal clear and the beauty of this region amazed me. Our timing was good because I figure in another few days it would be a bit too low. The Restigouche gauge was reading 1.08 near Kedgwick for future reference.
If you ever plan to run this river the Quebec rangers provided us the shuttle service for 50$ and could likely do the same for someone who just wanted to paddle the river without fishing (the whole thing is Crown Reserve). It is a lovely river about the size of the Renous, nice easy paddling just perfect for drifting along and relaxing. Attached are some pics from the trip if you are interested. They are not in order unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to move stuff around on photobucket.
s1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii575/otterNB/