If you’re kayaking in an insanely popular summer spot, getting it all to yourself would seem to be impossible. However, sometimes the early bird gets the worm. And our Sunday morning kayaking in Jacques Cartier National Park was an outdoor lover’s dream.
Jacques Cartier National Park
The legendary French explorer would be proud that Canada named such a spectacular national park after him. Those majestic green mountains with a deep blue river cutting between them. It’s the stuff of postcards.
On our previous trip to the park, we’d hiked up in the mountains and admired the beautiful river down below. From each of our scenic overlooks, the river looked cobalt blue and refreshing.
We didn’t get a chance to do much more than dip our feet in the water to cool off at the end of the hike though. With tourists filling each parking lot and roadside pullout, this was clearly a popular place. Nonetheless, we vowed to return another day to focus on the water.
Kayaking on the Jaques Cartier River
The portion of the Jacques Cartier River that runs through this national park is fairly diverse. It has sections ranging from pristine flat water up to Class III rapids.
For those interested in a fast and bumpy ride, the park office offers kayak and raft rentals, along with shuttle services to various points up river.
Some of the rafters we saw on the swifter part of the river after our hike.
We, however, were more interested in spending a few hours on the lower portion of the river, where it was calm.
With heavy rain predicted for the afternoon, we decided it was best to get an early start. That would allow us to paddle our inflatable kayaks upstream a bit until we got tired. Then we could enjoy coasting our way back to the starting point before the ugly weather moved in.
The beautiful flat water
When we arrived around 8 am, and the lower river’s parking lot was completely empty! The only soul around was a lone park ranger getting ready for her day.
We knew the park wasn’t closed. We’d spoken to a park ranger to pay our entrance fee. There weren’t any notices or alerts posted. Nonetheless, the eerie quiet was such a contrast to our previous visit, it had us wondering if we’d missed something.
It turns out the park’s kayak and paddle board rental shop didn’t open until 9 am on Sundays. Since we didn’t need to rent anything, this was good fortune for us.
It meant we had our choice of all the parking spots close to the riverbank. And we had plenty of space to inflate the kayaks before the crowds arrived. More importantly, it meant that when we entered the river, we had the whole thing to completely ourselves!
The whole river all to ourselves!
Our last kayaking trip back in Michigan taught us that my arms would soon be burning if I let Keith and Finn paddle together. So, Finn rode with me this time around. We played around the slow moving water for a bit. Just enjoying the opportunity to have this beautiful place all to ourselves that sleepy, sunny morning. Once a few other early birds showed up though, it was time to head upstream.
Kayaking, portaging, and rapids
Although the park touts this portion of the river as flat, it’s not a lake. There was still a little bit of water flow to work against. And, every so often, the wind would join forces with the current and try to push us back down river. We made steady progress up river, paddling around the rocks and sand bars until the river became shallow enough that we had to portage for a bit.
One of the downsides of the inflatable kayaks is you really need to take extra care about bottom hull. Sharp rocks or a tree branch stuck in the mud could sour your day quickly. However, the benefit of the inflatable is they’re fairly light and easy to carry when the water gets dangerously shallow.
Too shallow for kayaking. Time to portage….
Once past the first obstacle, we had a bit more current coming downstream and had to amp up the effort. We paddled our way through some smaller easy rapids, but eventually, we hit our nemesis – the churning water of real rapids.
Unlike the short, hard-sided whitewater kayaks, our inflatables are designed for recreational paddling on flat water. They can’t fight their way up fast moving rapids. It’s not like we didn’t try though.
I paddled my arms as hard as I could to try to make it through this obstacle. But, I could clearly see I was only keeping pace with the rapids, not conquering them. A rock in front of me never seemed to get any closer. The two of us were locked in a race to nowhere.
At that point, we had the option of portaging again to get around the rapids. Or, we could just ride back down what we’d already conquered back down to smoother water.
The answer was simple when we looked upstream. This wasn’t the only set of strong rapids we could see. We’d be walking…a lot. Better to face facts. The reality was we were destined for kayaking the calmer stretches of water. So off we went — downstream.
Taking a break after carrying the rafts
And kayaking the beautiful flat water
Back to reality
By the time we made it back to the flat water, people had found their way to the river. Kayakers, rafters, standup paddle boarders, swimmers, sunbathers… They were all out in force two hours after our arrival. It was no longer the idyllic placed where we’d originally put the boats in.
We used our time back on the flat water to putter around and goof off. Finn even got an impromptu training session on exiting and re-entering the boat from the water.
And, at least we got to enjoy a small slice of perfection!