View topic - Paddling Low Water on the Petawawa

So I've had this plan since the spring to do a trip down the Pet (Travers to McManus) with the guys in late September. It seems its the only time we can all get together for one. I'm now starting to plan the trip in earnest and I'm looking at the flow gauge for the Pet and if I'm reading this properly we are looking at record low flows??

Only having paddling the Pet once I'm wondering if the collective wisdom of the forum can inform me what paddling at this flow might be like. I was looking for some white water fun but I'm now concerned that I might have to portage more than I had planned (especially wondering about 5 mile rapids). Even if we do get rain what might be the minimum that you'd paddle the Pet at?

Thanks in advance for the input people.

Dave

PS Yes, I'm starting to think Plan B as well.

If I'm reading the gauge right, it looks like it's running just of 5 m3/s right now which would be pretty low. Probably to the point where even lining those long shallow rapids wouldn't be an option.

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Rick Reid IIRC has guided fall WW trips and might be able to comment on how it is this year.

http://discoverpaddling.ca/about/bio_rick.php

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That is stupid low. You would be dragging through 5 Mile at levels around 25cms. I would skip it.

I agree on skipping it at this level. I ran it last October around 25 and it was ok. I've run it as low as 15 and it was brutal. You'd be better off on the Dumoine at current levels for a comparable trip.

It depends on what you are after. I have paddled this river at spring flood in early May through late October. I even paddled it once when the folks at Sand Lake gate told me that I would be dragging my boat down most rapids including Schooner and Five Mile. The only place that became a real issue was Whitson Lake when the water was so low that sand bars made us get out and pull the canoes several hundred yards to reach the end of the lake. In the real low water it becomes a very technical series of rapids. I had the cleanest run ever down the bottom half of Crooked Chute on a route I had never taken before as the deep water channel was exposed and left no choice of routes, there was only the one. It was not a route I had ever really identified at any water level before and was very surprised at where it was! Mind you, I paddle an Evergreen Sunburst solo tripping boat and tandem canoes may not have been so lucky.

I am planning on running that section around 21 September on a personal trip. Low water won't turn me away, but I enjoy the technical runs the most. Read the water quickly, make a decision and act now, then be prepared to react immediately. You get practice reading water in an intense environment. What can be more fun!

If this sounds like fun, you should just go out and enjoy the river!

Rick

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[i]Rick[/i] discoverpaddling.ca

Thanks for the input gentlemen! Some of the guys that I'll be paddling with have been restricted to flat water family trips for a number of years so they're a bit rust on whitewater paddling so Rick I don't think I'll try to put them into something too technical. I appreciate the info. Unless a tropical storm makes it to Ontario ,ala Hurricane Hazel, I think I'll cross the the Pet off my list this fall. DougB I like the idea of the Dumoine. My fall back is always the French. Not as far a drive from southwestern Ontario and there is the dam to help regulate the flows. At least it gets the guys out on a river.

Any other suggestion for a moving water trip with Friday put in and a drive home Sunday night?

Thanks
Dave

Skip it. I'll post a recent picture from Five Mile Rapids soon.

Here's a couple of photos from Five Mile Rapids from September 08.

No WW, but Algonquin's Oxtongue river might be an option... the silver maples often color up earlier than sugar maples and might make for some good scenery. I haven't done it myself but there are TRs that may be helpful.

I have been on the York river east of Bancroft many times... put-in at Hwy 28, take-out at Combermere or a little further upstream on a side road (McPhee Bay road). The Madawaska rapids are nearby and you might be able to check whether there's enough water to play in, with the Bark Lake dam releasing water to maintain some flow... right now levels are at 10 cm/s, the minimum according to Boatwerks.

There are northern pike in the York so trolling while covering distance is a possibility. Conroy's Marsh is a feature worth seeing, silver maples late Sept near there below.

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Slipper,
Thanks for the photos. It does look very tough going for sure. I will pray for rain lots of rain in the next week.

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[i]Rick[/i] discoverpaddling.ca

Yikes, Ditto, thanks for the photos Slipper. If the forecast bear out and we get a couple of 10 mm dumps in the next couple of weeks in the Petawawa area, I question whether that will resurrect the flow to a point that is worth paddling. Any experts on the Petawawa watershed hydrology?

The mean flow rate in September 2008 was 28.1 cms. https://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/report/his ... =1&y1Min=1

It's running at 5.2cms today. You're going to need a lot of rain!