Iron Ring/Little Trickle to Garvin's Chute

This description of the Ottawa River continues with the first section of the Middle Channel - a very different (yet equally enjoyable) experience from the Main.

If there is such thing as a "typical" Canadian Shield river, the Middle Channel pretty much fits the description to a tee. Definitely a more sedate and low-key run than it's bigger brother, the Middle winds it's way through dense boreal forest and offers shorter, more technical rapids separated by long deep pools. The one exception would be Garvin's Chute, a river-wide waterfall that is runnable (for those NOT in squirt boats) down ant of four routes. At medium to high flows, the Middle can be technical AND big, but at the lower levels of summer it is a very pretty cruising run with a few excellent squirt spots tucked into the corners of several rapids along the way. This piece will focus on the first half of the run, from the "Split' (where the two channels separate) to the bottom of Garvin's Chute.

Sitting in the pool at the bottom of McKoy's, across from the Rocher Fendu dam, one is faced with two options. Bearing hard right will lead to the start of the Main Channel and the thunderous waves of The Lorne. Choosing the path straight ahead will lead one down an ever-narrowing channel that ends abruptly at the entrance to two small, class 3 drops, signifying the beginning of the Middle Channel. Here, the river splits in two around an island, and offers a two-rapid option whichever way one chooses to run. By heading right, you will find yourself looking down a leftward-winding sluice which is the entrance to a rapid called Little Trickle. So named for what runs down your leg when you see it for the first time, at high flows this rapid can be a very BIG trickle. At low summer levels, though, it is a bony sort of bump-and-grind ride down the sluice and around to the right to a second steep slide which is rather shallow at the bottom and can offer a significant pitoning hazard even at higher levels for squirt boats. Perhaps best carried around (if only for the sake of preserving one's boat), Little Trickle is followed shortly by a small ledge known as Angel's Kiss. At medium levels, this is a big, friendly hole that is a truly superb blasting spot and possibly the most forgiving playhole on the river. At lower levels it's not much more than a low breaking wave that can be fun to toy with, but there are better playspots to be found elsewhere on the river.