Jacques-Cartier

Put in on a raft put-in on river-left 100 yards upstream of the Tewkesbury bridge.

The paddler's gage is on the river downstream of the center bridge abutment of the Tewkesbury bridge. Most people prefer a sane level in the negative numbers.

Put in across the street from the rafting facility. Don't park here since buses need the area to turn around, instead park in the rafting parking lot. There are changing rooms, restrooms, and showers here. A primitive campground is on the other side of the parking lot.

After a 15 minute flatwater paddle, the first rapid appears when the river turns right.  There are nice play spots all thru the rapid.

The first class IV drop. There are two routes separated by a small rock island in the center of the river.

Pull off on river-right just upstream of the island to scout.

The left route is a creeky steep drop over a ledge into a squirrly eddy below the island.

The right route is pushy at high or medium levels, going past multiple overlapping holes as the channel bends to the left.  At the base of the rock island is the biggest drop with a large hole extending out from the right bank. There was a fatality here in 1993 [1995?] where a raft flipped in extreme high water. Go left (or far left) to avoid.

At the bottom punch thru one large reflecting wave into the flat area.

A delightful rapid. The rapid gets its name from the melon-shaped rock in the center of the river at the top. At medium or high levels follow the right side, moving to the center then right again. At low levels go left a the top then cross over to the right at the bottom. Scout from river-left and get a good look at the bottom before running this drop, the route is far-right (a far-left small drop also exists). There is a dangerous whirlpool (which might be caused by a sieve) just above the center of the waterfall at the bottom. At the bottom the waterfall in the center has created a hollowed-out-room underneath that can trap swimmers.

The channel narrows here.  Two overlapping compression waves meet in the middle forming the 'V' of the wallet.

Literal translation: 'Mincing Machine' or 'Chopper of Meat'. One of the toughest rapids on the river.  Pull out along river-left and scout.  This rapid is so long it is not possible to see the entire length from the top.  Be aware there is a waterfall along the left side of the river at the bottom.  The waterfall has a narrow runnable slot.

Alternate translation: 'Whirlpool Narrows'. Below Meat Grinder the river narrows and makes an abrupt right turn.  There is a meaty play wave here in the center of the cauldron. A nice lunch spot is on the right where the gorge opens up into a lake.

There is a huge and deep hole here at the bottom of the drop extending from the river-right bank almost all the way across. Avoid the hole on river-left at the top, then cut left to avoid the big one.

Translation note: The french phrase 'Sac a noeuds' literally translates to the words 'Bag of Knots'. The closest cultural equivalent in english is Gordian Knot; an ancient Greek legend of Phrygian Gordium associated with Alexander the Great. It is often used as a metaphor for an intractable or impossible problem. The best description of the french name is 'a complicated, confusing, or tangled affair or set of circumstances'. Other suggested meanings are the english slang phrases 'a tangled web', or 'three-ring circus'. It is a common french phrase; there's even a movie by that title 'Sac de noeuds (1985)' [ English description here], with the english release title 'All Mixed Up'. For more info see this Wikipedia entry in french.

English speakers sometimes translate 'bag' into the english slang 'capture'; As in—The river 'bagged' another paddler and tied the bag shut with a knot. This makes more sense to paddlers scouting the hole at the rapid bottom. It's the only hydraulic where the Streamkeeper has seen both a paddler plus boat recirculated as a single unit.

A big wide-open rapid with multiple routes.  A hard boat slot along the left edge; two big drops in the center (the left-of-center run for rafts and a few hard-boats, and the center route thru the pothole at higher water). Finally the slalom route, a technical hard boat route on river-right.  At the bottom the channels come together into a large wave-train that is a fun ride.

This drop is one of the most difficult on the river. There have been two fatalities in recent years. One in 2005 where a guide was ejected from a raft and snagged a waist-attached throw-bag on the rocks during high water; the second in 2010 where a kayaker swam in shallow water below the island and snagged his sprayskirt on the rocks.

Scout from the island in the center of the river just at the top of the rapid.  If doing the left-edge slot, scout from shore just above the drop to ensure it is clean.

Literal translation: 'Field of Rocks'. Turn left at the end of a lake where an island splits the river.  This rapid is wide and shallow.  The low level boatable limit of 15 cms is primairly due to this rapid since it becomes unboatable before any other part of the river.

In high water skip this rapid and paddle straight at the end of the lake for a similar difficulty (but rarely traveled) run.