With big rains coming to our region Wednesday night everything was flowing on Thursday, giving us the opportunity to do some summertime creeking. While some of the regular creeks that make our region so great were definitely a go and would have made for a super day, we decided to see what new runs we could knock out given this opportunity. Using Confluence as our launching point we set out for two creeks we had heard mention of but had never run, Cucumber Run and McClintock Run, both rumored to be class IV creeks that flow into the Casselman River.
Cucmber was first on the list, being the smaller of the two runs. Art Barket and I (Jason Hilton), put in off of State Road 3001 and immediately began to dodge the kind of wood one expects on these sorts of seldom run micro creeks. A little duck here a portage there and we were off. The creek began with some simple technical stuff winding its way through the forest and having the same general beauty one would associate with regional creeks such as Drakes and Fikes. About a half mile in, the creek began to take a dive towards the river, granting for Art and myself some of the best boofs and tight little drops we have encountered in a while.
The two largest rapids of the creek were a two-tiered waterfall we boofed down the center on and a tight rock jumble before the tunnel that required a stroke or two to keep from getting beat up in the hole and taking a trip through the tunnel sans boat. Out of the tunnel, off a short waterfall and we were moving down a swollen Casselman river to our cars.
We elected after our first run to go into Confluence and have lunch at the Lucky Dog Café, an area restaurant known for its tasty and environmentally conscious food. In both regards the restaurant was an excellent choice. While waiting for lunch, we were joined by Matt Pascal and Beau Smith, who had come to meet up with Art and I for McClintock.
Back out to the river we went, using the same takeout as in the morning, we setup to explore McClintock Run using a similar shuttle to Cucumber but just requiring one to travel another mile or so up the same SR 3001. Once on McClintock we were pleased to find relatively no wood in the way of our paddling. The creek had a steady downhill feel to it, similar to local Fikes creek, however as the creek approached the Casselman, it took a decidedly steeper turn through some bedrock rapids. The best of the rapids was a long three-tiered slide, which alone would make this creek worth doing again.
Continuing along were a number of additional ledges and bedrock formations that makes this creek resemble an easier version of close by Drakes creek. One last rapid, through yet another tunnel, gave us some cause for concern as there is a piece of wood that looks like it could bash out your lights were you in the wrong part of the tunnel’s exit, especially given the speed at which the water was roaring out of this tunnel. After much deliberation we decided to give her a go and as usual found that the rapid was much easier and less threatening than it had appeared, giving all of us that mission accomplished feeling as we once again flushed out into a roaring Casselman river.
More photos of the day can be viewed
here.
