JOURNEY #34 - June 12, 2003

"If You Haven't Been, You Have To Go" (Barron River, Squirrel Rapids To Brigham Chute return)

MAP

See http://valleyexplore.com/canoe/barron_canyon/map_barron_canyon.gif

PICTURES

A Small Cascades Near Squirrel Rapids
The Bottom Of The First Portage
Bear Carcass At Top Of First Portage
The View Of What Awaits As You Paddle Towards The Canyon
Dizzying Heights
Layered Cliffs
Julie Exiting The Canyon

TRIP REPORT

OK, for those of you with short attention spans, let's make this simple. If you have never been in Barron Canyon, just go. It's just incredible.

Now, you can turn it into a multi-day adventure full of portages and related excitement, with the special reward being the last 8km when you actually paddle through the canyon. Alternatively, you can do what we did, and put in at the Squirrel Rapids access and paddle upstream. There's one 450m portage (which makes 900m for the return trip, or 1800m in the case of two people carrying their kayaks one at a time) but it is well worth it.

Before we reached the first portage, we enjoyed the antics of a mink who swam past a small rock face and clambered up the bank.

As we approached the portage, there was a group coming from the opposite direction. They were high school kids and leaders from Petawawa on an outing. They had done (or were at least about to complete) the entire Grand Lake to Squirrel Rapids route. And they were none to happy about it. The number of portages appeared to be the main objection, those ojbections being expressed quite often in words totalling four letters.

It was fun chatting with them, but thankfully, those were the last humans we would see on the day. Once we got to the top and started on our way to the canyon, we were free of human contact, and it was wonderful. We had heard of Barron Canyon often, but always with the caveat that it was a busy place. Obviously mid-week in the early season has its advantages!

We put in short of the marked portage area near a little wooden pedestrian bridge, because it was less rocky. After rounding the first corner, something didn't smell too good...we had discovered the bloated body of a dead black bear, which we guessed had landed there as part of the spring runoff. We figured that the park staff would be aware of it, but when we informed them on our way out, they said they were not, and took down all the details and seemed quite anxious to check it out.

This area (even without the bear carcass) is quite eerie, with all the deadheads and the shallow water. But it's only a couple of km before you can see the start of the canyon in the distance, and it is hard to take it slow and appreciate the immediate beauty around you.

Paddling into the canyon is a breathtaking experience. The sun was out today, and the water was like glass. There were a number of cascades tumbling down the cliff faces, which aside from the occasional call of a raven was the only noise disturbing the silence.

We both found it difficult to take photos of the cliffs. Looking up at them had a bit of a dizzying effect that threw of our balance. But we managed. It is hard taking photos of something so big, you just can't capture what it is you are seeing, and certainly not what you are experiencing.

There was no logic to going ashore for lunch. We paddled to the site of the next portage, got the feed bag out of the hatch, and drifted with the current as we ate.

The sun was behind us on the way back, so we had an even better view of everything. Once we left the canyon we were lamenting that the one thing we had missed was the red-tailed hawks described by Michael Runtz, when suddenly two of them appeared above the tree-tops. They were later joined by a pair of vultures who soared in the wind currents to unbelievable heights.

The portage on the way back was a bit more of a challenge because it was nearing 6pm and the mosquitos were out in droves. We didn't waste any time getting back to the van. We picked up a couple of souvenirs and reported the dead bear to the park staff before taking off. We figured had just enough time to take another drive down Basin Depot Road.

The statistics on the day:

Total distance (including portages): 16.5 km

Moving time: 3 hours 15 minutes

Stopped time (including portages): 1 hour 45 minutes

Average moving speed: 4.8 km/hr

It would be hard to think of a better way or a better place to spend 5 hours!