The Joy of Paddling

THE RIVER RUNS ORANGE starts off with Meg Harris frantically paddling a canoe with Eric Odjik, her friend and lover, down a river swirling with the white water of rapids. Although Eric is well versed in whitewater paddling, Meg isn't and experiences the same dry mouth and butterflies in her stomach as I did on my first whitewater paddle. At the same time, she also experiences the joy and wonder of paddling down an untamed river surrounded by limitless wilderness, past endless stands of towering trees, bald eagles perched high in their branches, beaches of round river stone a landscaper would die for, or sliding down a rushing swift or drifting downhill on the flat, racing water of the river.

Meg's whitewater venture is based on the first whitewater trip my husband Jim and I did down the Dumoine River in West Quebec. Like Meg we flew in by float plane, with our canoe strapped to the pontoon and landed on a remote lake that borders La Verendrye Park. The only way out was down river. There were no roads, no cottages, nobody - Just us and the animals. - Fortunately we weren't alone, but with a group of 10 other canoeists and 2 guides. It was quite an experience. It took us 7 days to reach the mouth of the river where it poured into the Ottawa River. Although we did manage to navigate our way through many rapids, we did dump twice and filled our canoe numerous times with water. And of course we portaged, the most memorable being the kilometer long portage around Le Grand Chute - I called it the portage from hell. Even though I decided afterwards that whitewater wasn't exactly my thing, I did enjoy the magic of river travel.

Since then Jim and I have done several flat water canoe trips in Quebec's La Verendrye Park, about a 3.5 hour drive north of Ottawa. The lakes are enormous and numerous, the portages few and relatively short with many different canoe routes available. Plus the park is empty. Apart from fisherman on road accessible lakes, we rarely encounter other canoeists. Often we have the wonders of its wilderness to ourselves.

I thought you might be interested in some of our canoeing photos from these trips. I've also included a few shots from a canoeing course Jim and I took on the Madawaska River in Ontario, which also flows into the Ottawa River.