La Riviere Romaine, Day 2

Day 2:
26 miles

We packed up camp in cold, cloudy weather and paddled about 12 miles of mostly flat water (with some class II here and there) to a nice bedrock lunch spot next to a Hydro Quebec gauging station and helipad. Shortly thereafter, we came across Entrance Exam, the first huge rapid.

Boyce in it.

Greg showing us just how big the waves in the runout were. Photo Isaac Levinson.

Shortly downstream we found the next big one, a long, complex rapid we called the Ferry rapid because in years past they'd run down the left through the leadin only find themselves faced with a shitty portage or a very difficult ferry between two holes. We found a nice line down the center and right that didn't involve any terrifying ferries.

Isaac about to style his way through the seam of a huge crashing wave/hole.

Next up was (after, of course, some more flatwater) was the Micrometer of Doom, a riverwide ledge with -- surprise -- a huge hole, and a sweet boof on river right.

Me boofing the Micrometer. Photo Levinson.

Next up was a super fun slide to autoboof rapid, after which we paddled another ten or so miles of flatwater to Fowlersville on Acid, a huge rapid with three channels -- on river left, Fowlersville on Acid, a rapid that looks like Fowlersville on the Bottom Moose but with a much bigger hole. River right was a slide into a big crasher called Nascar, and the center was a low stress low volume slide (I think "Pit Stop" would be a good name, although it's also a good name for the campsite there). We camped on river left at the bottom of Fowlersville on Acid at an amazing beach with plenty of wood. Unfortunately, I found out on this night that my bivy was not nearly as waterproof as it claimed to be, and I woke up soaked the next day.

Greg Hanlon accelerating down Nascar. Photo Boyce Greer.

On our way to the gym, or trying to dry off our drysuits? Boyce, Jonathan, me, Isaac, and Greg at Fowlersville on Acid camp. Photo Scott Murray.

Read on to hear about day 3.