active 1 year, 7 months ago
Clyde River Canoe Trip
The Clyde River runs from Clyde Lake into the Mississippi River after Lanark – 40k’s of picturesque landscapes, wildlife and some great class 1 and class 2 rapids in the Spring! The Clyde can be run in 1 or 2 days, depending on your put-in.
Summary
The Clyde River is the Mississippi's largest tributary, and can provide some nice class 1 and 2 rapids but only in high water! (It gets bone-dry once the summer heat kicks in!) The Clyde River is pretty much unmarked and without campsites or portages, which makes for a nice rugged feel to it, despite running through some inhabited areas.
View Clyde River map from NRC/Canadian Atlas (15mb)
Schedule
The Clyde River Runs 40 kilometers from Clyde Lake to the Mississippi River near the Village of Lanark. For canoeing purposes, it can be divided up into three sections:
Clyde Lake to Highway 511/Brightside - Approximately 15 km.
This is a very pretty section of river. There are numerous drops in water elevation that are characterized as short swifts. There is one exception at Craig Chute where a big ledge makes it impossible to pass by canoe. Familiarize yourself with this location and be prepared to bypass these falls.
511/Brightside to Wolf Grove Road/Hopetown. - Approximately 9 km.
This is the best stretch of the Clyde river known for Class One and Two rapids, sometimes touching Class 3 at the peak of Spring runoff. This section of the river features about a half a dozen sections of nice rapid, mostly before Cederdale. You'll hit Boyle's rapids, (my favourite:) Widow's Rapids, Watson's and then Anderson's rapids, plus two more unnabmed sets. After Cedardale the river smoothes out for a bit before one final set of rapids at the Wolf Grove Road Bridge.
Wolf Grove Road to Clydesville//Lanark Village - Approximately 11-14 km.
This section is looks fairly flat with a couple small swift currents thrown in to keep you awake. After about 7k you will come across Herron's Mills, with a broken dam you should watch out for. Up next will be Drummond rapids, after which you can pull out at Clydesville at the 511, or carry on to Lanark if you don't mind 3 kilometers of flat water to wrap up your trip! There's a little beach on river-right as you pull into town where you can pull out and take a final dip.
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Ian MacDonald joined the group
Clyde River Canoe Trip 1 year, 7 months ago -
Brian Woodward joined the group
Clyde River Canoe Trip 2 years, 8 months ago -
Dave published the post River Levels Crazy Low! in the group
Clyde River Canoe Trip: 3 years ago
Gearing up for a weekend up at Palmer Rapids in a few weeks, I decided to check on the water levels up at my favourite river, the Madawaska . The great folks at MKC are kind enough to post their regular Madawaska River water flow measurements up at their website and the numbers don’t look good! As you [...] -
Dave created the group
Clyde River Canoe Trip 3 years ago
