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I'm planning a trip for August and my party is looking to complete the section of the Petawawa between Travers and McManus. We'll be skipping any runs of class III or higher, but we don't know what the sections of class II rapids will be like. Most photos and descriptions online depict class II rapids as something we should be able to handle with ease, but some show more formidable runs. I'm wondering what people with experience canoeing that section of the river think about an experienced lake paddler's ability to run the class II sections. Additionally, will kevlar canoes be up to the task, or should we go for the heavier, more resilient abs hull? Should we proceed as usual? Will trying a class II section somewhere closer to home be enough preparation? Should we have helmets? Do we need training? I don't know what to expect, so any light you can shed on the situation is helpful.
Thanks everyone!
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In August you can expect to be walking big chunks of the river due to low water. You could get lucky with higher water but you can't count on that in August.
I've known folks to paddle that section of the river with composite canoes before and just portage everything they needed too. As you will have noticed there are some long sections that you don't really want to have to portage. Those longer sections are mostly "rock gardens" where you would expect to be scraping bottom even in higher water.
Here is the write up I did many years ago now:
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You can run the Pet in late August in a Kevlar canoe. Just be prepared to portage a lot. Small price to pay to visit the most beautiful part of the park. On my last trip down the Pet, ShawnD joined me in an ultralight Kevlar solo lake canoe. He has never run a river. He portaged where needed and ran what was within the capability of his boat and his skill set. Shawn didn't run into any trouble but he also had me taking the guess work out of what he could or couldn't run. This would vary by water levels.
When running the Pet in high water the power of the water can easily kill you. Don't do it until you have lots of experience! Running a river at any time should be taken seriously. Entrapment can happen at any water level. That said, in August you should not find yourself going down a raging torrent. All the take outs are well marked and in low water there is little danger of inadvertently getting sucked down a rapid. Like RobW said, the trouble with the Pet in August is that it becomes a rock garden. Lots of spots to grind out and the number of obstacles to avoid increases exponentially. If you are in Kevlar canoes you probably want to take most of the portages. In ABS you can just bump and grind.
If the water is covering most of the rocks:
Big Thompson Rapids - Questionable, probably don't run. If you do, SCOUT IT. Start right, move to left of centre at the end. Like this
Little Thompson - Don't run.
Everything up to the 2nd take out of Crooked Chute - Run.
Crooked Chute - Don't run.
Rollaway - Don't run.
Natch - Don't run first part. Run second part after chute. You won't know where this is so probably portage the whole thing.
Upper Schooner - Questionable, probably don't run. Could be a boulder garden with some bigger standing waves near the bridge.
Lower Schooner - Easier but probably a boulder garden and you can't see that from the start.
5 Mile Raps - The entrance has some big waves and pushy current perhaps portage to the first campsite then run. Definitely a boulder garden.
Dumps and trouble spots will likely come where you least expect them. Usually, when crossing eddy lines that you are not used to or glancing off unseen underwater obstacles in a swift. Another forum member with hundreds of days of flat water experience unexpectedly dumped on an unassuming swift and lost very expensive camera equipment. There are no guarantees. The only things that minimize the chance of this happening are luck and experience.
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