Gens de Terre river, QC

[leclercraven]

I am planning a 5 day trip on the Gens de Terre river in Quebec starting June 20. I was told that the water level right now is of 6m3/s. Has anybody out there ever done this river? Is it just too low right now? I've seen videos of this river at 50m3/s and she looks fantastic, but at 6m3/s?????

[DougB]

Most flow info for QC rivers can be found here, although I don't know if gen de terre is listed.

http://www.cehq.gouv.qc.ca/Suivihydro/default.asp

Charles Leduc's map has some information on flows:

http://www.cartespleinair.org/Canot/04/ ... uc2008.pdf

[h2sk1]

I am planning a 5 day trip on the Gens de Terre river in Quebec starting June 20. I was told that the water level right now is of 6m3/s. Has anybody out there ever done this river? Is it just too low right now? I've seen videos of this river at 50m3/s and she looks fantastic, but at 6m3/s?????

It will be low but mostly runnable. Maybe this is a good intro to the river, as at high water it is far more committing than some of the videos show - either that or you're in for a lot of portaging. In the canyon section, the portage is pretty tough. The canyon is fairly continuous, with some stout drops, technical lines, pushy water. Catching smallish eddies on the fly is a good skill at high water.

Try it out at 6, and learn the lines. Take lots of photos so you'll remember the rocks and obstacles for a higher water run. At least that's my 2 cents.

BTW - questions of this sort will likely get more specific answers and many more responses if posted on myccr. Far more tripping types lurking on there.