Would anyone know if the river is canoeable
normally in mid July from Booth Lake to Kitty Lake.
Of course, around the dam will be portaged.

thanks

Have not done this personally, but did witness it being down by a group from a camp one August. We saw them walk around the dam, and then we saw them again coming out at the bottom.

They were all in ABS canoes and were bouncing their way from rock to rock like the balls in a pinball machine. Lots of shrieking, hootin' and hollerin' not that much paddling.

Looked to me like there was precious little room to spare between rocks and it is not clear to me that you can paddle it if you aren't prepared to bump your way down.

Peter B.

If we're thinking the same thing, AFTER portaging around the dam and launching from the rapids at the end of the ~500m portage, you can paddle right through.

I saw this done with two people in an ultralight swift 18'.

i do think they took their gear out though (two packs), but also recall the sternman claim that they had a fair bit of clearance. i didn't wanna take the risk with my Kip.

That little rapids cost my friend $1,000. He rented a canoe, it flipped and got pinned on the rocks facing the flow. He pulled it out, it torqued, and snapped... It was so famous that it was the pin-up centerpiece of his 2009 calendar named: "Because of you I own a canoe".

LOL on the calendar bit. Doable without bottoming and bouncing off the rocks depends on the water level in July. This year it's normal to low, so I'd side with Peter B's assessment, even if you portage your gear down first. I've done that run below the dam to Kitty in both directions - lining/canoeing upstream and running her downstream in July and October. Due to the normal to lower water levels this year it's doable of course but I'd advise you to get out at the shallower sections and walk the boat through the tank traps of emergent and shallow rocks, of which there are a few sections. Between these sections there are wider and deeper pools, and a few deeper swifts which shouldn't be an issue. I've listened to groups run those rapids downstream from the portage in Summer as well, and echo Peter's experience of the auditory hijinx of many direct boat hits, scrapes and kids/adults hooting/hollering, lol.

The WW section between Kitty and Farm is doable in July during normal water levels - just keep to the main channel as there will be boat scrapers just off the channel and closer to shore on the Farm lake side (if memory serves).

This would be better done in May when you have sufficient water (but also "bigger" water) and you should know something about running the rapids and basic manouvers.
I only know this section in May, never having been there at other times of the year