A crazy month on the Ottawa River…

We were up at the Ottawa River for the month of August this year and it was fabulous… It all started with a trip that Hunter and I took last year when we paddled the Ottawa River for a week and he participated in the inaugural “Little Rippers” program at Ottawa Kayak School (a primer for those too young to attend Keeners). We had so much fun that Hunter declared he wanted to attend the Keeners sport development camp this summer… so off we all went!

We kicked things off with an impromptu birthday party for Hunter, pulled together by our amazing group of River Moms (thanks Kristine, Kathy & Carol!!!). There was a water balloon attack, competitive ping pong and pool, an amazing potluck smorgasbord and of course, cake, candles and singing. Hunter was thrilled to get to celebrate his 14th birthday with his river friends.

It was quite the community of families, which made things super fun. I call this the grown up version of living in a van down by the river. Definitely not a failure in life in any way – more like a huge success; all these amazing families that spend their time living outdoors with their kids while still making a living.

We managed to get one day on the river paddling together before we had to get Hunter all packed up to go to OKS Keeners Camp. We got all of his boat outfitting figured out, pulled together his new gear from our partners at Jackson Kayak, Salus Marine and Level Six, and managed to shove it all into one small duffel bag to cover him for three weeks.

Normal late summer flows on the Ottawa River are between 1 and -2, with the sweet spot being between 0 and -1 for features like babyface and garburator to be in. Over the course of the month that we were around the Ottawa, it only hit those lower levels for a few days. Almost the whole summer has been unseasonably high, with levels in the teens in late June and people surfing Buseater into late June / early July.

Shaggy Designs has an online gauge  which became super handy as we woke up each morning and checked the gauge before making any plans. Once on the river we would also paddle by the physical gauge after McCoys to see if anything had changed. We would often see 1-2 foot swings while on the river with one day having a 4 foot drop within an hour. The blue line above is 2017, the red is 2016 and the orange is 2015. This really shows how wacky the water was from “normal” flows. Lots of speculation on why but no definitive answers…

With higher water levels we spent most of our time on the middle channel exploring new (to us) rapids and playing with the Walker family. It was fun to be a part of helping another family stretch their paddling muscles and really exciting to see the progress being made over our two weeks together. Tim’s new rack system for the truck worked out super well and left us feeling pretty pleased about having a shuttle vehicle.

Keener Camp is a kayak leadership camp, with equal emphasis on whitewater kayak skills and personal leadership skills. The kids live in houses together and are responsible for cooking their own breakfasts, dishes, and cleaning. They are also monitored to ensure they have a shower at least once a week as they are teenagers… The kayaking focus is all about progression. They figure out where you are and then gently support you through learning new skills and challenging yourself every day. Hunter loved it and is already talking about going back again next year. His description was that he learned to be a better kayaker and a better person…

Left to our own devices we managed to get out and kayak almost every day as well as go on some adventures. Our first woods walk was really buggy and we regretted forgetting the bugspray. For our second walk we thought about the bugs and put on long sleeves and long pants but yet again forgot the bugspray, which turned a 2 hour wander through the woods into a true effort of perseverance. At about 45 minutes in we decided to continue to push forward, having no idea where we were, purely because we didn’t want to turn around and walk back through the ravenous bugs we had just made it through! There are lots of walking, hiking and biking trails in the area to help fill your time off the water.

One Friday evening we all headed out to the Corner Wave Classic event (like a hometown throw down competition). Transportation is always a fun challenge. With the main event being spectating and the secondary event being fishing, we managed to get 8 boats, 8 people, coolers and fishing gear on and in the suburban. It was a super fun night out with friends, treats and a campfire. Pretty impressive when the local friday night competition has Dane Jackson, Nick Troutman, Clay Wright, Bren Orton, Emily Jackson and Claire O’hara in it!

The Ottawa Valley runs right along the Ottawa River and has strong french influences from Quebec, which is just on the other side of the river. One of the must-haves when in the valley is Poutine, and you need to get it from Tammy’s Taters chip truck in Renfrew (in the Walmart/Canadian Tire parking lot). YUMMY…

While the Ottawa River has some amazing rapids, it also has big chunks of flat water. The warm water makes this a great time to practice all of your flat water skills and generally goof around with friends!

Tim had a small mis-hap on the river (accidental paddle to the head from a kid) so we went to check out the Renfrew ER and then wallow in ice-cream cake from Dairy Queen, because it makes everything better!

Being a teenager, we really didn’t hear much from Hunter unless he needed something (laptop, go pro, blanket, money etc.). It was nice being just down the road and able to drop things off as well as get glimpses of him on the river.

Our time on the river ended with one last family day after Hunter finished camp. It was pretty great to see all the new skills he learned and how his confidence has increased. One Lower No Name, one of the last rapids on the middle channel, he snagged a 5 minute surf while everyone else was coming down the river around him. Tim sat at the bottom of the river and said “that’s my boy” full of fatherly pride, which is priceless.

We definitely recommend the Ottawa River as a kayaking destination for families. We stayed at River Run Resort in their new RV sites and it was super handy being at the take out, just a short distance from the river. Lots of places to play for kids as well as washrooms, showers and internet.