| "A thousand miles from home, we enter the unknown on the Ruisseau Castonguay. Before today, it was just a small blue line on a map." |
| "A thousand miles from home, we enter the unknown on the Ruisseau Castonguay. Before today, it was just a small blue line on a map." |
At Lac St. Francis, we couldn't find a public put-in. We picked a house under construction, reasoning that there would be no one to complain. As with all good trips that include good old Hal, the rain moved in and we loaded our boats in the wet. As we were bringing our gear down, I noticed the workers (who were away at lunch) had left all their tools out. I covered stuff up as best as I could and put their tool aprons inside. They arrived just as we were ready to put in and thanked me (I think).
Ruisseau á Castonguay drains Lac St. Francis and doesn't become Riviere St. François for about five or ten miles when it hits another stream out of Lac Long. Castonguay is a lovely gem of a run! Meandering through marsh, then a rocky chute and lovely current. It is a pleasure to paddle. We maneuvered through floating dri-ki at the inlet of an eight foot diameter culvert under the railroad grade. There was a one or two foot drop both into and out of the pipe, making for a great run. Soon after we passed under the road in Whitworth, which I have to assume is a non-town. Only one car has passed by since we've been camped nearby on a handy abandoned roadbed jutting out into the vast marshes. So far, I'm loving this trip.
