Algonquin Adventures / Lower Petawawa Thanksgiving Weekend Run

**Posted by RobW** 10/14/2021 10:20 am

This was a bit of a milestone trip for me and it was more ambitious than I should have been for my first trip of the year, especially at that water level. We made it, but I definitely questioned myself along the way.

The good thing about the Petawawa is that you can portage all the rapids if you need to. The bad thing is that some of those portages are brutal with spots where you really have no choice but to drag a boat up and down some steep rocks. I had forgotten just how brutal the portages around Rollway and the Upper and Lower Natch were, but we'll come to those sections later.

For now, this is how our trip started out on Big Thompson Rapids at the outlet from Lake Travers. I have video from all the rapids that I'll try to get posted over the next week or two.

**Posted by Jdbonney** 10/14/2021 4:39 pm

That was unexpected.

**Posted by RobW** 10/14/2021 5:20 pm

Once we started taking water, I was surprised that we kept it upright as long as we did.

**Posted by MooseWhizzer Dave** 10/16/2021 4:06 pm

That had to be a bit chilly. Glad you were prepared for it, including puppy. Looking forward to more about this trip, including how you dealt with the immediate aftermath, warmth, etc.

**Posted by RobW** 10/16/2021 8:13 pm

Here is what it looked like from shore before we ran it. There was loads of room on the right if we had just started drawing right coming around the first rock outcropping like we had planned.

With the dry suits we didn't have to worry about drying out and we were quite comfortable. Air temperatures this weekend were warm too with highs around 20C and lows around 11C. Once we had the canoe emptied out and reloaded we headed on down to Little Thompson, the next rapid. Raven happily jumped right back into the canoe to continue on.

Last edited by RobW (10/16/2021 8:13 pm)

**Posted by RobW** 10/17/2021 12:59 pm

We portaged the next rapid which is Little Thompson, but it has me thinking more of getting a different canoe for whitewater trips.

Last edited by RobW (10/17/2021 12:59 pm)

**Posted by RobW** 10/22/2021 3:03 pm

Sunday morning started off with running Grillade Rapids. This is an easy Class 1 at any water level and it was a good start to the day.

**Posted by RobW** 11/06/2021 6:14 pm

The next clip is the section above Crooked Chute. Not too exciting but I figured it was worth including for anyone who wants to see what that section is like.

**Posted by yellowcanoe** 11/06/2021 7:35 pm

RobW wrote:
We portaged the next rapid which is Little Thompson, but it has me thinking more of getting a different canoe for whitewater trips.

Your boat did look a little small for the load you had. The boat my wife and I were paddling when we saw you preparing to depart from the Travers access point was a Swift Yukon which is a whitewater design intended for long whitewater trips. It's a pretty big canoe and while it has never been on a whitewater trip it is a good boat for family trips or no-portaging trips where we want to carry a lot of extra stuff.

**Posted by RobW** 1/15/2022 5:38 pm

Our 3rd day on the Petawawa run started with the Lower Natch Rapids. At 50 CMS it's pretty much washed out with an easy line between the island on river left and the hole on river right, and then just riding the waves. After our swim on the first day we weren't taking the waves for granted but this was a nice smooth run to start the day. The guide book as the Lower Natch rated as a Class III or IV but there aren't any technical moves at this water level and personally I wouldn't rate it any higher than a III. From pictures that I have seen, I expect it is a lot more technical at lower water levels.