Had we finally been defeated after a month of bushwhacking, cold weather and minimal flows? During our time in Newfoundland we put for the effort, driving over 5,000 kilometers, including a trip to Labrador and Quebec in pursuit of water. While checking the flight schedule in Deer Lake we found we had several hours to kill before Ben flew out.

Going to a local eatery to capture Chris’s footage, we were able to check the weather and email. Our local contact, Chris Buchanan, had sent an email about rain on the west coast of the island. Chris and I had a flight out of St Johns and several errands to run in town, so we dropped Ben off for his flight and embarked on the all day drive to St Johns.

It was nearly midnight when we arrived, tired but energetic from the lack of exercise. Lacking a phone and not wanting to wake our locals, we camped out in town and waited to see what our last two days would bring.

While cleaning out borrowed gear and our car we got in contact with Chris, who had the afternoon off and thought flows might still be up a little. We ran just out of town for a quick run down Bay Bulls Brook.

Chris Korbulic having a great run down the largest drop of Bay Bulls.

Chris Buchanan on the same.

Our appetites were awakened by this bit paddling, and when an un-run waterfall within two hours of town was mentioned, we were in. Joined by KNL member Dave MacDonald we set off for what was promised to be a “fifty minute” hike on a “trail” accessing Little Harbor River. We all knew Chris was blowing sunshine up our skirts on this one, and soon enough the trail disappeared into bogs and tuckamore.

Darin McQuoid, photo courtesy Dave MacDonald

Where did the trail go? Dave MacDonald enjoying the view.

It wasn’t too bad at first, but in the last half kilometer it turned into a full on mission through thick blowdown.

Darin McQuoid, photo courtesy Dave MacDonald

We could hear it long before we got there. Chris and Dave thought it would go but weren’t completely sure. What a beautiful sight after the hike.

Typical to Newfoundland this drop had many ill placed flakes and ledges, but we knew there had to be a line in it somewhere. After some fairly extensive scouting we found a good looking line about three feet wide, dropping over a green tongue between two flakes and melting a fold and freefalling into the hopefully deep pool.

Lining it up at the lip, Darin McQuoid, photo courtesy Dave MacDonald

Following a perfect eddy line as a line up marker, I dropped over the lip expected to bump a flake a little on the way down, but accelerated over the lip with no contact and tucked halfway down, melting into the bottom and resurfacing upright with a grin miles wide. Epic photo taken by Dave MacDonald.

With the line being even cleaner than it looked, Chris Buchanan followed next, stomping a great line.

Dave MacDonald went next, and as he dropped over I slipped on the steep slope, missing the shot but still getting a bit of one as he melted into the fold.

All good to go, Chris Korbulic stomps a perfect line down the falls.

There was no better way to finish our trip that running the first descent of a proud forty footer. During the paddle down to the inlet and our cars we enjoyed gorgeous scenery and good company, dreaming of coming back to Newfoundland with better flows for more kayaking.

While driving south from the Torrent River, we caught a glimpse of a gigantic waterfall in Steady Brook, a ski mountain village only five minutes north of our destination; Corner Brook.

Scouting the waterfall, Chris Korbulic and I enjoyed the view and then wrote it off, and from the viewing platform it looked pretty flat above the falls too.

A cliché waterfall slow shutter picture was mandatory.

When we talked to Ben Stookesberry back in town, he checked the topographical map and sure enough there was plenty of gradient above the falls, and with a light overnight rain we headed back up to Steady Brook in the morning. Our access was great, we followed the road all the way up to the inlet for the town water supply and put in below it.

Right off the bat this river felt like home to me, kind of small, a bit manky and steep. Nick Troutman paddles off around a blind corner on Steady Brook.

With steep gradient and blind corners, we had already scouted several times before arriving at a decent sized slide. I got a quick verbal of “down the left channel, enter just to the left of the rock” followed by “it’s manky, just keep it upright and pointed downstream”. I came in the right spot and kept it downstream, but ¾ of the way down pitoned something and came all the way over the handle bars onto my face and chest. I distinctly remember thinking “I’m so glad I have a full face and body armor on”. It paid off on this one, I rolled up before the bottom and was ok, didn’t really even take a hit.

Ben running the mank slide on Steady Brook.

Nick went next and had no problems, skipping down the mank with ease. Chris lined up and his bow got pushed a bit left in the entrance, causing his boat to catch on the shallow rocks and tip him downstream.

To our surprise he stopped upside down, in a low volume slide pin, but using just his knuckles he pushed his way upright and out of the pin.
Chris, with a good attitude towards the most torn up knuckles I’ve ever seen.

We regrouped at the bottom of the slide and Ben hiked out due to some equipment issues, and Nick, Chris and I debated hiking out but opted to push down for this “quality first descent”.

Surprisingly enough the run started to clean up, and we ran some fun rapids and boofs before the next major horizon line.

Nick Troutman

Chris Korbulic

Chris Korbulic

Nick Troutman

Then all the sudden we were at a markedly larger horizon line. We scouted down the right and then began to debate our options. The drop was nothing too huge, a thirty foot waterfall, but it had a tricky lead in, with at the lip move and questionable depth landing. We discussed options of portaging, which looked bad, hiking out, which looked ok, and splitting up. After the slide incident we understood why Chris just wasn’t feeling it, and Nick’s back was sore from the Leg Pond Feeder incident. Beautiful rock really set this falls off, and I had a special feeling about it. However I really wanted someone else to go first because the photograph from above would have been epic.

We decided that I would probe and see how it went, if it was a soft hit Nick would follow and Chris would take video and then hike out on the left. It was exceptionally cold out, just a few degrees above freezing, so I did a bunch of jumping jacks and arm swinging to get my blood flowing again, knowing I would have to paddle a bit for this one.

The entry was a two foot boof landing on the lip of a sticky pour over hole, then the water slalomed from wall to wall and slid moving to the right off the waterfall, which had a shelf on the right. The key would be not getting stuck in the first hole, and then making a late right to left move at the lip of the falls, straightening out just at the last second.

All fired up and ready to go I eddied out above, signaled to the team and peeled out. Boofing the first hole, and melting into the second hole, I wasn’t surprised to have to power through the backwash into the slalom, which went by quicker than I expected. As the lip approached I drove to the left, and at the last second took a bit left stroke to straighten out and tuck, melting at the bottom. Resurfacing upright I was thankful that my line had worked out as well as I had imagined.

Nick Troutman gets left on the waterfall.

I quickly scouted around the blind corner that was downstream, and saw a large eddy. Nick and I paddled around the corner, and sure enough, we were at the take-out! The horizon line of Steady Brook Falls was just gigantic, so we had to get a picture of it. The house by Nick’s leg is all the way on the other side of the Humber River.

Grateful to have another fun run in the books, we headed back to Corner Brook to find a coffee shop, warm up and check the weather.

The Cloud River is one of the larger drainages in Newfoundland. We had perfect flows and it had still not rained, so we knew we had our work cut out for us to find something with water. We also had to make it back to Deer Lake to drop off some of the crew at the airport in two days.

We started the drive south with our fingers crossed, but found everything to be dismally low, and pulled into Rocky Harbor to check the weather and stay the night.

The evening was delightful and the forecast called for overnight rain.

As evening turned into night it brought minimal amounts of rain but plenty of wind, at speeds high enough to blow me around in the tent. Good thing it was tied to the car.

Water levels didn’t come up overnight, and after dropping off some of the boys and getting a new rental, we headed up to Labrador figuring that there would be water in at least the Bradore River.
The wonderful ferry to Labrador.

Once in Labrador we drove straight to the Bradore and camped out. Waking up to a cold morning we found that flows were way too low.

So we drove south all the way to the end of the road, literally.

Then we drove more heading north.

We drove all the way up to the Pinware River and found that it had a class II-III section flowing, but caught a spike from a snow machine in a tire and had to turn back south to get it fixed.

Discouraged by no water and a daytime high of one, and with a forecast for “frozen rain pellets” we got back on the ferry to Newfoundland.

Ben looks at the options.

Back on the island we decide to head south, hope for good weather, and if there wasn’t any in the forecast, fly standby home.

We had driven past the Torrent River three times already, but knowing Brandon Knapp and Johnny had already run it, we ignored it. Knowing they had a serious lack of water when they ran it prompted us to take a look, and it turned into a quick park and huck in the cold weather. We were psyched just to get on the water at this point, and the chunky waterfall looked pleasing.

Nick Troutman

Chris Korbulic

Jesse Coombs

Then we quickly packed up and headed to Corner Brook, hoping that the rain in the forecast would come through for us.