N.S. Marathon Canoe Home Page - Chebucto Community Net

We woke to a warming sun - agood thing since the temperaturedropped below freezing duringthe night, requiring toques andextra layers. We took our timewith breakfast and then packedfor our first fully loaded day ofpaddling. The river is still shallowand only about 5 metres wide,moving at a good clip.Approximately one kmdownstream around river km 117we arrived at a gravel bar and alarge logjam. There are alsoseveral small islands dividing the river up into channels. There is the appearance of a trail leading off tothe left through some thick brush 30 metres to an open channel. We reloaded after a short portage andlined the canoes down the channel to a larger island where we found a portage trail leading off to thefar end of the island about 40 metres. We re-loaded in a small channel and carefully picked our waythrough brush and the occasional deadfall as the channel twisted back and forth. Finally 2 channelsjoined and the river volume doubled. As we rounded a bend in the river, we confronted a cow moose,slowly making her way upstream. She stopped and peered myopically at us for a second and thenquickly turned and strode downstream and into a thicket. The river bend offered good landing on anarrow gravel point where we ate a quick lunch and moved on.The river volume and speedincreased as we passed the firstof several small feeder streams.The first rock outcrops appeared,forming river-wide ledges. Thesebecame increasingly common aswe moved downriver towardsKickinghorse Canyon. The lackof distinct features made itdifficult to locate our exactposition. We did not want toenter the canyon late in the day,but were unsure how far awaywe were. We finally identified twosmall streams and with thatbegan to keep an eye open for agood campsite. It was near herethat we had the first of manyencounters with Harlequin Ducks- a species extremely rare in the East. These colourful little clowns prefer fast moving water and rapids.We found a lovely, long gravel beach at a bend at river km 102 about 3:30 PM and decided to make themost of a great site and the sunny weather. This would leave us fresh for a series of what we expectedwould be challenging river-wide ledges, and the canyon next day. After a swim and Ian's pastaprimavera, I hiked up into the burn. The hills in the area are steep, and littered with debris, anddeadfalls, but I was rewarded with a wonderful view of the river valley as the sun set behind the hillsopposite. From here I could also see the southern edge of the burn. Once again we have the luxury of ariverside campfire and an endless supply of driftwood.