FEATURE STORY:

Ashuapmushuan River: Notice to Paddlers

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Our difficulties began at the first rapid, which is rated at a grade I-II. Two canoes capsized, forcing some of us to swim. Camping gear fell out of the canoe. After finding what we could of it, we paddled without much difficulty through a few more small rapids and made our camp. Later that evening, a strange person appeared, a black knife in his red vest, two blue barrels and two paddles in his yellow canoe, although he was alone in his canoe that looked like a banana. In a hoarse voice, he asked us if a man by the name of Vigeant was in the group. When we answered in the affirmative, he pulled some things from under the front air bag of his canoe. It was all of the gear that we had not been able to find after we had tipped into the river. He advised us to be careful, "Tomorrow, it will be bigger," and then he disappeared without another word. Who was this hermit with the sad and severe face, all alone on the river? The next morning, he appeared again, to warn us that the next rapid is much bigger and much longer than those of the day before, " The Petit-Giroux rapid gets progressively bigger and more difficult, and…" His speech was quickly ended by one of our guides who assured him: " I have already done this river without any problems. We have ropes and if it becomes too difficult, we will pull the canoes along the side of the river." The old hermit left without saying anything more. "Good for us; he is at least an hour ahead and he is a much faster paddler than us," we thought. In any case, we didn’t need him. What would it change if he were with us or not? And if he couldn’t find someone to do the river with him, that is his problem. We did not want to be embarrassed by him.