The water level was quite high during my outing, and I would roughly estimate that the flows only reach this level 10 days or less most years. I paddled out to these waves earlier this year during higher flows and things were mostly washed out. During a previous year I was here at what would of been slightly lower levels, and those two top waves were better defined while the third wave wasn't really happening at all.
Upper Farmers Rapids, Gatineau River from Dave Howlett on Vimeo.
The paddle out to the waves from the shore is a challenge from both sides of the river. The river-right side is easier, but attaining the eddy to launch from is quite a struggle. This could be greatly mitigated with a bit of bush cutting during the dry season. The top wave is pretty much split into two waves due to a ridge-like feature that is there. That ridge would make it very difficult to go from surfer's-right to surfer's-left side, and it is surfer's-left that looks more interesting. I only once launched into the current from river-right, and while trying to catch that top wave I clumsily flipped and never got to feel what it was all about. Next time!
For accessing the bottom of these rapids I unloaded by boat and gear across the street and ~30m North from Rue Paquin. There is a rough spot there to pull off this busy road:
From this boat drop off site follow a short trail that leads straight away from the road, and then turn right after descending a steep but short hill. Watch out for glass! You will soon hit water and from here you can paddle through the bushes. After hitting the open-river, follow the river-left bank up to the waves; you will be crossing over the hydro-plants trail-race along the way.
If parking and playing then it is likely best to park along one of the neighboring streets. Alternatively one can run the river down to Alonzo Wright Bridge, but beware of the hazards down at Lower Farmers. If paddling this lower part then you might want to check out my earlier post: http://howlinglab.blogspot.ca/2013/06/farmers-rapids-and-lower-gatineau-river.html
So I went to this location again today, and things were not as pleasant as last Sunday. The level was lower, the waves were smaller and it seemed even harder to catch them. If I was going back out at this level, or any level I guess, I'd be prepared to do some brush clearing for the river-right eddy and then try to use that side to get to the goods.
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