A tandem canoe team finishes a rapid on the Grand Cascapédia. Ron Chase photos I don’t have a bucket list. At my age, my singular outdoor objective is longevity.
If I had one, the Grand Cascapédia River on the Gaspe Peninsula in eastern Quebec would be on it. On several occasions while driving along the beautiful river that flows east out of the Chic Choc Mountains on my way to winter skiing and mountaineering adventures, I speculated about the possibility of paddling it. In 2011, a group of us passed the Cascapédia at high water en route to a Bonaventure River expedition, which parallels it.
Although the Bonaventure is more renowned, the extremely scenic mountain river looked majestic and exciting. For several years, I’ve paddled many of Maine’s northern rivers in May with a group of friends. The supply of appealing in-state rivers nearly exhausted, we needed to expand our horizons.
The Cascapédia came to mind. Actually, to be precise, it came to my mind. The Cascapédia is one of the most famous salmon fishing rivers in the world.
However, it’s very difficult to find information about paddling it. After quite a bit of research, I stumbled onto an indication that an old paddling friend, Andy Abello, was a veteran of a Cascapédia River expedition. Branch Cascapédia flows out of Lac Huard.
Contact with Andy was very productive. Not only had he paddled the Cascapédia but wanted to join me on a trip. Andy lavished praise on the Grand Cascapédia, calling .
