Take your pick: adrenaline packed or slow and contemplative?
Published on Jun 6, 2022
Leisurely kayaking downstream, a swim and a picnic on an island, indeed, happiness abounds on the Saint-François River, in the Eastern Townships.
By Simon Diotte
The most important waterway in the Eastern Townships, the Saint-François River’s drawbacks bring about several advantages. Its rocky bed and shallow depth make it impassable to motorboats; however, the river is a true paradise for canoes and kayaks.
Paddling between Richmond and Ulverton, you enter a quiet, green valley where the humming sound emitted by all kinds of engines is replaced by birds singing and the whisper of the wind blowing through the leaves. A much-appreciated therapy for both your ears and your eyes.
Added to the spirit of the great outdoors is the almost total absence of dwellings on the river’s shores. It’s as if developers had never spotted this waterway on their maps. We want to pinch ourselves when we realize there are still rivers like this in southern Québec, where we find very few signs of civilization, except for the bridges that span over them.
We can find this well-hidden Eastern Townships treasure as we hop in our Canot-Kayak Richmond boats. This rental service offered by the Municipality of Richmond since 2005, proposes two routes on the waterway along with a shuttle service.
The Richmond-Ulverton circuit, a route for beginners, covers 10 km and can be completed autonomously or as I experienced, using a guide-accompanied formula. François Séguin, Richmond’s Recreation Manager accompanied me, along with Marie-Emmanuelle, our guide.
As soon as we slip into our kayaks, we head out. The river is wide, beautiful, majestic! Our adventure companions are such shore birds as Canada geese, ducks, lesser Yellowlegs and kildeers. Even though the weather that day was very hot and muggy (read heat wave) it was quite endurable on the river; it was as if we were in our own microclimate. Over there, they also have a very effective ancestral custom against heat stroke: you land on an island, of which there are quite a few along the entire route, and you jump in the water to your heart’s content. All you need to do is keep an eye out for the deeper pools.
The circuit takes about 3 hours to complete in a “I’m-in-no-hurry-because-I-love-to-wallow-in-the-water-here” mood. The route ends at the Ferme Pégasus Campground. A shuttle picks paddlers up every hour and drives them back to their base camp in about ten minutes. A well-deserved ice cream treat was waiting for us at the Fromagerie le Campagnard, about 1 km from our point of arrival.
Canot-Kayak Richmond also offers a second circuit. This one requires a guide, and is more challenging as it takes you through several rapids from Windsor and Richmond over a 17 km route. Honestly, I wouldn’t hesitate to try it!
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