The Upper Petawawa (Ben Heath)

Today was our roadtrip day! The day started for us at 6:30, and by 7:00 we were out to the river. The river was only about two hours away, so the drive was not bad at all. However, the Upper Pet, like almost all nature runs, had a bit of an approach to it. While the two mile flat approach was not bad in comparison to many other longer and steeper approaches, it was still hard for someone who was not used to hiking with all of their gear, and a kayak on their back.

 By the time we all finally got to the put-in, it was cold, and had been raining for twenty minutes with no sign of letting up. When we finally got on the river after eating a quick lunch, many of us were cold, tired from the hike in, and put down by the rain. However, as soon as we reached the first rapid all of those feelings were replaced with excitement and adrenaline. The first rapid consisted of a beautiful 8 foot boof. With no hole or real pourover  underneath, this was a great, safe place to practice boofing. After running a few laps on the boof, we continued down the river. 

Scouting on the Upper Petawawa

The river was not like the Ottawa. Instead of having mostly big water, this river was much more creek like; shallow, rocky, technical, and lots of little but powerful holes to boof. It was definitely fun to switch things up and try a different style of whitewater. Throughout the day we would get out to scout the bigger rapids we came across, as well as practiced reading the river as we went, following the coaches. Towards the end of the day we came across another big 5-8 ft boof, which was super fun and safe to run. After running a few laps on that, we proceeded down to the end of the river, where we were fortunate enough to take out right by the van. After loading everything up, we embarked on our journey back home! And thus ended our day. 

Upper Petawawa

Paddling the Ottawa River everyday is an amazing thing. It is a great river that at every water level has something to offer. However, paddling the same river for three weeks with the same water level can sometimes become a little bit boring. That is why every keener session has a road trip. A Keener road trip consists of traveling to another river. There are three river where we normally go to. The Gatineau, The Rouge and Lachine. My favorite is the Gatineau at high water.

For this session none of those rivers were available due to water levels, so our coaches decided to try a new river. The Upper Petawawa became the river for our road trip. It is a very different river than the Ottawa, it has less volume and is steeper. Most of the rapids consisted on little pour overs and wave trains. There were no huge rapids but every rapid had a fun hole to boof or a green wave to kickflip. It was a fun river to run but I don't think it can be compared with the high water Gatineau.

The Third Rapid on the Upper Petawawa

Mauricio Martinez Laresgoiti