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Went down Opeongo River last weekend. It's a whitewater day trip, from Shall Lake to Aylen Lake. So it starts in Algonquin, but quickly leaves and ends on crown land.
My son paddles a whitewater SUP, I paddle a L'edge.
The run is outlined in George Drought's guide to Madawaska River. Mainly class I/II run, but has a couple of class III (maybe IV) sections. It was still high enough last weekend, but is gonna be pretty rocky the rest of the year (although still paddle able). Would definitely need a royalex boat, not kevlar.
To get there, it's about 10k of flat water. The last lake is Victoria, and apparently most of that land is owned by the Weston family - they prohibit any land use, or use of their private road that accesses the start of Opeongo River... hmmm. not nice.
One question: has anyone fished it? Cause... there's not a lot of pressure, and sure seems like a nice trout stream....
Cheers!
Marko
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crazy stuff M.M. , how do you top that trip.
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Very cool trip! I've never heard of a whitewater SUP
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hahaha oh it's definitely a thing.
we were at MKC the following day. 
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That looks awesome Marko!
When we ran it in 2017, we couldn't see any of the bridges foundations. Water was right up to the underside of the bridge. Maybe 3 feet higher than in your pic. We stopped for a shore lunch at the camp on Lake Victoria and met the caretaker. He told us the Weston's no longer own it. They donated it to the Salvation Army. Not sure if that includes all the rest of the land around the Lake.
The Weston's originally bought all that off the one time Governor of Vermont. He owned the whole lake and it is why there is that unusual jog in Algonquin Park's border. I did fish Victoria Lake briefly and caught one small Pike.
For us it was one long Class 2/3 river almost completely washed out with nothing to hit. I don't think anything was Class 4. Maybe Victoria ledge was pushing it.
Camp Madawaska on Victoria Lake
Victoria Lake from the camp. We were standing on what was normally their beach
I made a short video. Such a fun river!
Last edited by MartinG (Yesterday 7:17 pm)
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Martin, that's really interesting!
Talking with the shuttle operator, they've been asking for Victoria Road access for years (i.e. including this year), and denied every time - so I think the donation is only for the camp, but the rest of the land is still with the Westons...
You're right about the water level, that's far higher. Ou level was low, but a lot of fun as the features are a bit more prominent.
@Martin, did you actually get a boat shuttle to the start of Opeongo river? Cause... that would save 2.5 hours of paddling on flat water...
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