In June I embarked with five friends on a short open canoe descent of the Lower Madawaska River aka the “Lower Mad”, a classic 40km section of river which is quite easy to get to from major cities in Ontario.

It had been almost 10 years since I had last paddled this section of river in its entirety. Compared to the previous trip water levels were much lower, but unfortunately I cannot say the same about the number of mosquitoes. These buzzing pests were a major challenge on our first evening in camp and really threatened to dampen our enjoyment of the trip. Fortunately our second evenings camping spot had a nice breeze and we were able to enjoy the beautiful weather in peace for the rest of the trip.

Looking clean and fresh at the start of the trip.

Loading the boats. Photo: Aynsley Merk

Kaitlin and Mark are first down the rapids.

What goes up…

…must come down!

Making camp on our first night.

Stopping on an island.

Lunchtime in the middle of the river. Reading the guidebook to see what rapids lay ahead.

Excellent conversations around the fire.

On the rivers edge after dinner.

Beautiful evening light.

Evening skyline.

Waking up to a beautiful morning.

Making falafel to eat at lunch.

Scouting the rapids.

International man of mystery – Mark Kojima.