Canoeing Lac des Deux Montagnes from Montreal island

Lac des Deux Montagnes (Two Mountain Lake) is actually the end of the Ottawa river that bounce on the the northwest end of Montreal island. It appears as a big lake but that is just an illusion. It is home of monster Muske, Sturgeons and to the Lepisosteus Oculatus (a kind of Longnose fish that looks like a jurassic survivor). Two Mountain lake can look almost like an ocean when there is a 10-15 knot or above wind in a West or North West direction. It is a lot of fun to paddle in the waves that are generated during those days. I usually bring an anchor so I can rest on the lake and so that I do not loose the small distance I was able to make counter wind. To get access to Two Mountain lake from the Island of Montreal take the highway 40 toward the west part of Montreal island. Take chemin Ste-Mary exit. Go on chemin Ste-Mary. Turn right at the Couche-Tard convenience store if coming from the east than straight until the end of the road. Turn right, past the stop sign. You should soon see on your left the Anse à L'Orme municipal park. Parking fee is 7$ (credit card only). Here are some pictures when Two Mountain lake is peaceful. Following will be pictures when Two Mountain lake is mad (mad fun of course).

Above: Canoe landing spot is circled. Colored code map is from canoeing association Fédération Québécoise de Canot-Camping.

    

Here is the same place (in front of the the little island on the picture above) when there is a good west / northwest wind. Sorry for the lower resolution, these pictures are from a video I did while resting after putting my anchor in the lake.

I swear this is the same place.

The canoe I have (officially a Madriver Caption but I suspect it is actually an Outrage) have strapping gears that allow me to keep my balance in weaves and allow me to go counter wind since the straps gives a much better leverage when paddling. Surprisingly, I get sore legs after a paddling session like this and almost no soreness to my arms !!!!! The Madriver Outrage reacts very well in waves.



The rope of my anchor is visible on this picture. I suggest to someone that would want to use an anchor as I do to get a T shape paddle to allow you grab the anchor rope when you want to paddle again. I bring also a cheap surfing board I keep in the bottom of my canoe in case something wrong happens.

When there is no wind (rare) or a NE-ENE wind it is possible to cross straight from the bay of Anse à
L' Orme on the other side which correspond to Oka beach. There you will find a very nice beach around 5 km long. Crossing straight with a NE-ENE wind means that you will have the wind perpendicular to you both on your way there and on your way back. Covering your canoe with air ballon (as picture above) and / or by other means will help you being more aerodynamic. Near the Oka beach you will cross the boating waterway, so be careful. The waterway is typically made of two floating structure (usually one red and one green) that boats cross (every km I think). Boat people do make an effort normally to not get too close to canoes but sometimes they can only see you at the last minute, typically when you stand between the sun and the boat due to blurring effect of the sun on the water (from the boat perspective you could be invisible if you are in the blurring section on the water). The safest procedure I use is to assume the boat does not see me and then to adjust my pace and direction to either let the boat pass me in the front or to accelerate to make it pass behind me. Depending on your pace, you should be able to cross from Anse à L'Orme to Oka beach in an 1 hour or 2. Here are some pictures.

Above: Oka beach in sight. Most of the crossing is done at this point. There are plenty of space on the left also where there is almost no other people.

Above: Oka beach. Lots of birds. Beware poison ivy observed at some spots at the frontier between sand and green (poison ivy is typically only observed at the no vegetation frontier).

Above: Oka beach. Beach goes very far down the picture.

Above: Hydroplanes are common on the Oka beach side of Two-Mountain lake.

Canoeing the Diable river hydrographic bassin

Since the water level this spring is just incredible in rivers in Quebec in general, we expected the tributaries of  average size rivers could be canoable. The Diable river is an average size river for Quebec standards and its debit was around 50 m3/s on may 22nd according to an hydrological station. Its flows generally north to south near Mont-Tremblant ski resort in the Laurentides region. Laurentides region is all hills covered with mixed forests and plenty of lakes and rivers. Diable means Devil (Devil in french in Quebec is not a strong word; it is used in popular tales to make kids scared). Diable river ends in Rouge river that itself ends in the Ottawa river around 50 km upstream of Montreal island. Day 1 was to try to find a landing spot in either two of the Diable river tributaries which are the Le Boulé river or the Archambault river. We exited the 117 route at St-Faustin around 1:15 hr north of Montreal. Then took Lac Superieur direction. Around 10 km further turned right turn toward Lac Quenouille direction. Stopped at the bridge 2-3 km down where a resting Inn was on our right. We parked in the parking across the Inn which didn t seem to bother anyone. We landed our canoe at the end of the parking spot before the bridge. Our landing spot was at the end of Le Boulé river which ends in Archambault river. Went downstream into Archambault river and then upstream. There was too many rocky rapids to make it enjoyable when coming back downstream. Went back to Le Boulé river, then went upstream.  Didn t go far until we encountered a nice drop in the river flow. The drop could be portaged on the right but we just wanted to chill out near that drop which was very nice. Here are some pictures.

Above: Canoe landing spot is circled. Colored code map is from canoeing association Fédération Québécoise de Canot-Camping.

 Le Boulé river is ultimately a 4th degree tributary of the Ottawa river. We stopped here before a drop and chilled out.

The river drop and a following basin. Portage on the right side in the woods appeared doable.

Trying to find a sweet spot for a little surfing. I am not an expert, it is still a trial and error process.

Trying to surf the white water coming out of the drop. A lot of water and air mixed together gives almost no leverage when paddling. Because of this I couln t go much more upstream.

There most be a big speckled trout hanging under this drop !!!!

Day 2 we wanted to canoe the Diable river. The resolution of our topological map is not high enough to be sure the rivers sections we want to paddle are flat enough to paddle upstream. So it is always a gamble when you decide of a spot for paddling upstream a river. After analyzing the map we expected the current of Diable river south of St-Jovite (renamed Mont-Tremblant) should allow us to canoe upstream. We identified two potential landing spot. First option was to use a tiny tributary coming out of Lac Maskinongé that end up in Diable river. From the 117 route we went south on the 327 toward Arundel village. Stopped our car around 5 km further south on the 327 were Lac Maskinongé tributary goes under the 327 road. Here are some pictures.

At first sight this little tributary of the Diable river seemed canoable down to the river but soon there was this (see picture below)

The tributary is actually a creek that looked canoeable from the road because of this tiny dam !!! Need plan B to getaccess to the Diable river.

Plan B was to go further south on the 327 road then first road to the right to the bridge on the Diable river that our topo. map predicted. Bridges are not always on option to have access to rivers. It all depends on the steepness of the river banks. This time the gamble paid off. See the pictures.

Above: canoe landing spot is circled. Colored code map is from canoeing association Fédération Québécoise de Canot-Camping.

Standstill tangled logs and trees were common on the river and allowed us to pause behind them during our upstream paddling. Need to paddle in zigzags to counter the current.

Another standstill tangle of logs and trees for a little rest. The current in general was deceptively strong since it looks so flat on the picture.



That spot was the further upstream we went. Time for beers.

Paddling downstream back to our car.

Canoeing the Petite Riviere Rouge and Riviere Petite Nation

Petite Riviere Rouge stands for Small Red River (for the other Red river, the raftable one, see blog ''Taking Quebec......''). There is a few Red river in Quebec. Red probably comes from ferric oxides (rust) that can be abundant in several river beds of the Laurentian mountains. Petite Nation stands for Small Nation which was the name of an indian tribe. These two rivers meet downstream of St-André Avelin which keeps the Petite Riviere Rouge name and ends up in the Ottawa river at Plaisance on Quebec side. Plaisance is an 1:30 hr drive west  of montreal toward Ottawa or 30 min drive east of Ottawa toward Montreal.

Someone can unload a canoe at Plaisance National Park. Go to Plaisance than go south and follow the signs for the park. From there someone can go upstream on the river or downstream to hangout on the Ottawa river. Here are some pictures from the river going upstream.

Petite riviere Rouge is a primary tributary of the Ottawa river.

Sorry, I am kind of a train bridge stalker

These pillars in carved stone are just perfect. I cant not take a picture.

Second section we canoed was downstream of St-André Avelin. No obvious parking this time, just pure luck. There are a few farms going north coming from Portage-de-la-Nation. One of the farmer allowed us to cross one of his field to reach the river bank. Its always possible to find people that gives permission to go on their private property when you ask in a friendly way and given that canoes dont pollute and makes no noise. We went upstream the Petite Riviere Rouge and then on the Riviere Petite-Nation on the left. Here are some pictures.

Yes there is a river somewhere.

Maps dont lie. I am confident we will see water soon.

There it is. The ride in the field was kind of surreal.

Canoeing upstream on this part of the river is no challenge.

Stopped here for a brake then came back. Having more time we would have roped our canoe up this rapid. To bad because that seemed a nice rapid to hangout in.

A journey into the gone virginity of Montreal island

Here is how I imagine how would have look like a lot if not most of Montreal island shore line in the spring of 1642 (fondation of Montreal). Spring 2011 in the Montreal area is very wet and rivers around Montreal either flood or are at record highs. But nothing is wrong around Montreal island. This is because the water levels of the gigantic Ottawa and St-Lawrence rivers that embraces the Island of Montreal are highly regulated. Here are some pictures taken from a tiny river that flows down the Island of Montreal into Deux-Montagnes Lake (end of the Ottawa river) in Pierrefond area that is probably 10X larger than normal. The flooding of trees around its banks is probably a snapshot of what would have look like the shore line around the Island of Montreal EVERY spring before the arrival of dams.

This one is more for the artsy look because of the reflexion in the water. No flooding observed here !

Monstrous ivy like this one sarcophaging a tree must have been every where near the water front in the settlers years. It would have been probably impossible to walk through the woods ounce the waters back to normal on the Island shore line.

Canoeing the upper Chatauguay river in april

The Chatauguay river starts in upstate New York than crosses the border of Quebec and then flows parallel to the St-Lawrence river. It ends at Chatauguay in the St. Lawrence river across Montreal Island. Water level in this spring was suberbly high. Landed near Huntingdon than went upstream. The current was deceptively strong and on several occasion roping from the banks was the only way to go upstream stronger current stretches.

Above: canoeing landing spot is circled. Colored code map is from canoeing association Fédération Québecoise de Canot-Camping

Above: Chatauguay river. The Chatauguay river is a primary tributary of the St-Lawrence river. Just a look on the space remaining bellow the bridge gives a good idea of how high the water level is.

 The Chatauguay runs in farmland country. Despite its general smooth slope the river has generally good current and on several occasions stretches of R1-R2. I was told that dams are present when the river goes trough towns.

Nice spot to rest under the trees and away from the current.

Time to go back. The ride will be much more easier. Paddling upstream is such  a high energy leisure but   

you dont depend on others to get the car back as when you go downstream. And at the end of the day there is the final reward.