| Noire River
Stephanie, Jeff, Nicole, Spencer & Fraser Banfield
Guides: Karen Messenger, Nick Morantz, Heather Sinclair
Day 1
The day got off to an early start, as the Banfield's and their fearless
leaders arrived at the put in above Rapides de L'Ours ahead of schedule!
After many rousing games of 20 questions during the drive, everyone
was anxious to get on the water. An introductory paddling lesson on
shore proceeded getting into the brand-spanking-new boats, thus beginning
the trip down the lower Noire. Minutes later at the portage, the group
encountered a traffic jam and experienced their first "river rage".
Hard work on the portage helped to work up an appetite, and the group
enjoyed a floating lunch of rolls and fresh veggies. After lunch, the
group had a leisurely paddle to a beach which proved to be a wonderful
campsite! Heather, Karen, Fraser, Nicole and Spencer spent the afternoon
splashing around in the river. We all learned to watch out for those
shark, dolphin and whale attacks!! After a sandy stir fry and s'mores
for dessert, we all crashed in our tents before dark…
Day 2
For our first morning we took our campsite down at a leisurely pace
whilst eating many helpings of French toast. Once on the river we had
an 8 kilometre paddle to Hunt Club rapids, where we had our river safety
talk. We ran the rapids and everyone came out relatively dry, and with
smiles on all our faces. Our next swift took us under a bridge which
Nick caught with our a-frame poles! All our hard work deserved a floating
lunch break, where we all fell in love with jalepeno and feta cheese
spread. We picked up our paddles and headed down the bendy river to
the diving platform where we had loads of fun jumping off the cliffs.
Our perfect campsite was only one bend away. Karen, Spencer, Nicole
and Fraser went on an adventure while dinner was being prepared. Nick
and Heather soon discovered two snakey guests in their packs, quite
annoyed that their naps had been interrupted! For dinner, Heather's
spectacular spaghetti was topped off with Karen's bodacious brownies
(aka moose poo!), leaving eight full bellies. We read ghost stories,
but no one quite understood what the one about the hair and barrette
meant!!! As the stars came out we tucked ourselves into bed in the cool
night.
Day 3
Glorious sunshine burned the swirling mist off the river as we rose
early. We took camp down quickly and sent Nick ahead to "50:50"
to reserve our site for the night. We took a break and spotted a set
of large wolf tracks on one of the Noire's beaches. We also spotted
Nick tracks before we came to our first rapid of the day, double ferry,
which was smooth sailing all the way down. We ended our day at "50:50",
finished our trip and returned to the hostel at Esprit.
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