Back to back new runs!

- Our mess preparing for the missions ahead - Photo Josh Neilson

- Our base at Pat and Veroniques house on the Shipshaw - Photo Josh Neilson

So with some nice warm up runs under the belt it was back to the reason we are here! Finding new rivers. Last year we found a section of the Riviere du Portage that looked like it had potential but didnt not have the time to do it. This year we were about to go in when I spotted a higher volume run a bit further away that we decided to check out first and see what it was like. We arived at the forestry road that was our entry into the put-in and found in the middle of nowhere a gated community and surveillance everywhere. We were forced to abort and the next morning took a longer harder road up.

- Camp at Put-in of Petit Saguenay - Photo Tyler Fox

- Translation - Bridge Closed! - Yeah Right - Photo Lou Urwin

- Road works 101 - Snow shovel/paddle - photo Lou Urwin

We were almost there when we got shut down due to bad road and snow so we set camp and walked our kayaks in to the lake that was our put-in. At the lake we found out that we were one lake short of out intended put in but this was all good!

- Hiking our boats into Petit Saguenay - Photo Tyler Fox

- "I think we are at the wrong Lake"..."Yes we are" - Photo Lou Urwin

- Fishing for fish - Caught mostly weeds - Photo Tyler Fox

The rest of the day we set shuttle and did a spot of fishing with no success!
Early the next day we walked in and got started. The river was a bit different to what we expected but still had some sweet drops. Half way down we came into sight of the private land and while Tyler was out scouting a drop out of nowhere a big truck pulled up telling us we were not aloud there! with some broken French from our Irish translator we were let off and got into the best drops of the section.

- Sam Melting a big hole on the Petit Saguenay - Photo Tyler Fox

- Josh on the big one, melting the middle line - Photo Tyler Fox

- Sam running the boof line on the bigger one - photo Tyler Fox

Lou on the Bottom slide midway - photo Tyler Fox

After 18km of kayaking we were out to the main road and stoked to have run a nice section of whitewater. We didnt take many photos due to the length of the run and the unknown ahead.

- Josh on tight drop - Photo Lou Urwin

- Lou on the tight drop - Photo Tyler Fox

From here we boosted up and did shuttle and headed to a small town to re-fuel and headed into another forestry area. Heading up the road we were stopped by a gate which Lou lifted up and we thought we were away free till a drunk guy on a motor bike started chasing us! Once again Dave the french speaking Irish man got us away and even scored us a sweet topo map of the river. At camp we studied the Topo map and decided the next day was going to be a lot steeper than the Petit Saguenay!

- Tyler on the top drop of the Portage - Photo Lou Urwin

- Sam at the bottom with a dislocated shoulder! - Photo Tyler Fox

On the first main drop of the day Tyler and I ran ahead with sweet lines but then Sam hit a rock at the top, flipped into a slide ran that upside down then backwards and hit some rocks on the bottom section. At the bottom he was in a lot of pain and decided he would walk out and Blake went with him. Back at the car they got his gear off and realised his shoulder was dislocated so they rushed off to Hospital!

- Josh bottom slide - photo Tyler Fox

We carried on for a sweet day of steep gorges and nice drops. The 2 main big drops unfortunatly were un runnable but still some fun in there for sure!
At the bottom we loaded the car and headed back to Chicoutimi to check in to a hotel and get stuck into Lou's Birthday celebrations!! Needless to say the next day we did nothing!
A great few days with some good new drops!
Again photos were limited as we had 28km to cover! Check back soon as the next update is from our mission to Huit Chutes, Translation - 8 Waterfalls!!!!