Sept. 2nd, 2019 Day 3 Petawawa - Crooked Chutes to The Natch

Today was likely going to be one of our more challenging days. Everything I read about and saw on YouTube said that Rollway Rapids had to be portaged by us and that the portage was a difficult one. And after Rollway Rapids came Natch 1 and Natch 2 rapids with their respective portages. And before all of that we still had to complete the Crooked Chute portage.

Our campground upstream of Crooked Chute in the morning.

At least the weather wasn't too bad, but not good either. To shorten the Crooked Chute portage we decided to launch our canoes again from our campground and paddle downstream to the "last-takeout" right before Crooked Chute itself. We managed all of that without problems. The water levels were low enough, that we were not at risk to accidentally float down Crooked Chute. We got all of our canoes and our gear up on high ground. Then something funny happened. I was the last of the group to get organized and the others went ahead with their canoes. Somehow I recall thinking they are not going the right way, but figured they would take a turn a bit later and organized my stuff. Then I picked up my luggage and carried it a few hundred meters towards the end of the portage. But there was nobody. Either they or I had taken a wrong turn. I was pretty sure it wasn't me. When I arrived back at the starting point, I looked more closely and detected that Steve, Zandra, Tobi, Anna and Margaret had managed to get some canoes down a super steep hike right below Crooked Chute. I pointed out to them that the true portage went a much smoother different way. After some considerations, Steve and Tobi decided to paddle/line one of the canoes from below Crooked Chute to the portage end-point and that we would get the other canoe back up again and I would carry it the normal portage route. We also had yet to manage the rest of our gear towards the portage end. So everything took a bit longer then expected but in the end we made it.

Getting a canoe towards the 3rd takeout right before Crooked Chute.

Managing one of the canoes back up again the steep decline right below Crooked Chute! What a waste ...

The Crooked Chute hut: It is located about a 100m downstream of the Crooked Chute portage end point. To my knowledge it is possible to book a stay in the hut. But on this trip we did not book it.

On the way from Crooked Chute to Rollway Rapids the Petawawa crosses several eskers with pine trees. I found it a very pleasing, and different again scenery. We also passed a few swifts and finally arrived at Rollway Rapids. This time we played it safe and carried our luggage towards the end of the portage first. The portage way was fine the first half, but definitely not so nice during the 2nd half. Maybe not as bad as the one in Killarney from Nelly-Lake to Murray Lake, but definitely not too far away from it and our Royalex canoes were much heavier. Nevertheless I decided to portage my canoe. Whereas Steve and Tobi definitely wanted to paddle and line their respective canoes downstream. I have to say, in the end they managed their canoes down, but I was happy that I carried my canoe about two-thirds of the portage way and then launched it at the first possibility (actually Tobi and Anna paddled it from there downstream for me). I was very happy with my decision, but the others also felt elated with their decision: They definitely overcame a challenge. During the lining job the weather also deteriorated and we had a few short showers.

Here is the description of making it through Rollway Rapids in Steve's own words:

For Rollway rapid we had intended to line the entire route but it became impossible 1/2 way down because we ran out of shoreline to stand on to line. So, we were faced with the choice of hauling the canoes up the little cliff to the portage path or to run it. In the end Tobi and Anna decided to go for it first, while I waited for Zandra to give my shoes back which she accidentally took with her at the start of the portage (I was doing the lining job in bare feet). By this time it had started to rain, so the rocks were very slippery which was another reason we had to abandon the lining job. After Tobi and Anna made it down, Margaret and I followed. It was a rock garden as can be seen from the pictures. It was a long slope so the water was flowing pretty fast. It would have been a wild ride in higher waters but we made it after a few blows to the canoe from the submerged rocks.

Downstream of the Crooked Chute portage (close to the hut).

Passing some sandy eskers with Pines on the way.

Paddling somewhere upstream of Rollway Rapids.

Some Impressions from the Rollway Rapid Portage. It was not straight-forward to portage a heavy canoe here.

A challenging lining job at Rollway Rapids.

More lining at Rollway Rapids!

And still not done lining! Zandra and I watched all of this from a rock way up there close to the portage way. :-)

Steve and Margaret paddling the lower section of Rollway Rapids. No more lining! They are doing well!

Steve and Margaret paddling Rollway Rapids. Further down Tobi and Anna are paddling my canoe to the portage end point to pick up the luggage.

By the time we reached the First Natch Rapid we were running a bit late again. Again I decided to portage our canoes a very challenging but short portage and the others decided to line their canoes (we did portage our luggage). I was happy with my decision, because I felt it was much faster and easier to portage the canoe than to line it. But so what. As we wrestled with the First Natch Rapid the weather improved. The scenery below Rollway Rapids towards the Natch became very nice again: Steep rocks on both sides and a relatively narrow river. Very different to the eskers we had experienced earlier in the day. Because we were running late, we did consider looking a bit earlier then planned for a campground but there were no good ones and we kept on moving.

Somewhere between Rollway Rapids and the Natch Rapids.

First Natch Rapid: The begin of another lining job. Only I portaged my canoe happily ...

First Natch Rapid: Steve and Zandra in lining action!

First Natch Rapid: A lining job well underway!

First Natch Rapid: A nearly completed lining job! Well done! :-)

By the time we arrived at the 2nd Natch Rapid I did become a bit chicken. I decided to carry our luggage right with us on the first scouting trip and go down the whole portage way with Margaret. Whereas the others checked out a potential campground on the other side of the shore. From there they had a good view of the 2nd Natch Rapid and decided to canoe it. By the time Margaret and I were back at the begin of the portage, they were already on their way. Based on what they told us, it was clear that we would try it as well, despite some lingering concerns on my side, because the rapid from our side looked not so easy (especially we could not see all of it). Anyway, we canoed it. And it was sheer bliss and similar to what we experienced a week earlier at Palmer Rapids. Natch 2 had enough water, enough white water to make it fun and threw also a few turns into the mix. Margaret was a bit miffed, because we had wasted all that time carrying a good chunk of our luggage down the portage. But the river definitely had done us a favor and sped things up with this nice rapid.

Steve and Zandra confidently paddling towards the Second Natch Rapid. They had every right to be confident!

Margaret and I approaching the 2nd Natch Rapid.

We knew that a super campground was coming up a few 100 meters after Natch 2. We actually had booked that one and we were back on schedule :-). The campground was indeed gorgeous and the weather also improved and we had late evening sunshine and a clear night sky.

The last few hundred meter stretch from the 2nd Natch to our actual campground: Very nice indeed.

Settling into our "gorgeous" campground in the Natch area.

A beautiful evening view from our gorgeous campground.

And another picture featuring the same rocks!

Evening impressions from our Natch campground. Just gorgeous.

A well deserved dinner: Chickpea curry with noodles!

Misc: We completed the Crooked Chute portage (I guess 800m). We portaged our luggage and one canoe (two-thirds) at Rollway Rapids (800m or so) and lined and paddled the other canoes. We portaged our luggage and one canoe at Natch-1 Rapids (300m) and lined the other canoes. We portaged the luggage of one canoe at the Natch-2 rapids (250m).