Quebec Day 7 - Riviere Rouge

The goal for Friday was to make ground back towards the states and do a little boating on the way at the Rouge River, which was running a little over 80 cms about an hour north of the NY border. After lots of driving from the Mattawin area, we made it to the Rouge in the early afternoon, paying to park at a little campground on river left where the Rouge meets the St. Lawrence. We headed upstream and found a rafting outfit where former guide Smokeless Steve schmoozed it up and got us a put in and a little beta.

After some continuous class II-III we reached the first rapid, Elizabeth's. We all grabbed a quick surf up top before dropping through a powerful but flushy hole, good stuff. A little more boogie water and the rapids were picking up to good big water class III-IV which was super fun and not very threatening. We rounded a corner and things steepened a bit. Some us stayed in a river left eddy while others scouted from river right. After getting a few signals, we surfed some nice waves (note to self: this is a great playboat run) before spinning and dropping into some pushy curlers as the river bounced off the right bank. After the left turn, thing went back downstream for a great big water hole punch. It was powerful and fluffy, but super fun and not too threatening. A little more class III with a nice wave or two brought us to the seven sisters.

Supposedly this stuff is good from 20-50 cms, but we all took a quick look anyways. 1 and 2 were big time, with life threatening holes but a definite line. 3 looked to be a great big water falls, but 4 into 5 looked to be the real terror (although it's probably survivable if you're into russian roulette style jedi-plugs). It didn't take long for the tales to be tucked and the portage to commence. We found a nice seal launch under the new highway bridge and headed down to check out the final sister. This one was top notch: a big chute into a powerful hole that wasn't too sticky. Just a great way to finish up a chill big water day. A couple hundred yards of moving water and we were walking up the hill at the campground to the truck.

Surprise, surprise. The Rouge also exceeded expectations and was a great big water day. It's not quite as classic as the Tewksberry, perhaps only due to the portage at the sisters, but the play was super fun even in creek boats and I wish I had been to this one long ago as it' not far from Western NY and runs all summer. One more note, when leaving the Rouge buy your beer in Quebec as you'll have a tough time finding any in Ontario.

Smokeless Steve at the First Nice Hole Bash of the Rouge (Photo: Jeff Moore).

After Some Nice Big Water Boogie You Come to this Beaut (Photo: JM).

Mr. Zendel Getting In Up to His Head in the Finish to the Previous Rapid (Photo: JM).

I Don't Think Anyone was Looking Too Seriously, But You Could (Photo: JM).

It Probably Does Suck Birds Out of the Sky (Photo: JM).